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Vol. 72/No. 43      November 3, 2008

 
Oppose the U.S. war in Pakistan
(editorial)
 
Washington’s nearly eight-year occupation of Afghanistan and stepped-up operations in Pakistan register its broadening “war on terror” in the region. Bombing and missile strikes by U.S. military fighter jets and Predator drones along the border region inside Pakistan—a blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty—are increasing. In at least one instance, U.S. ground troops attacked a Pakistani village. Special forces from Washington and London are now training and fighting alongside Pakistan’s Frontier Corps. The U.S. government has announced plans to upgrade Pakistan’s air force to draw it into these operations in a bigger way.

With Gen. David Petraeus taking charge of the U.S. Central Command, further moves are being made to broaden out how the U.S. military conducts counterinsurgency operations in the region. As was done in Iraq, Washington is working to enlist tribal militias to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda, something the Pakistani military has already successfully begun to do in Pakistan.

These moves are being combined with boosting U.S. and NATO forces on the ground in Afghanistan. Some 8,500 additional U.S. troops will be stationed there by early 2009, joining the 64,000 U.S. and NATO troops currently occupying the country. An additional 15,000 U.S. troops are being requested by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan.

Washington is ratcheting up the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan with little opposition. This course has the backing of the Democrats and Republicans. Both Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain call for increased troops to Afghanistan. Obama says he would use a drawdown of troops from Iraq to bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. He openly backs direct U.S. military intervention in Pakistan.

The so-called war against terrorism is really a war aimed at the rights and living standards of working people around the world, including in the United States. You can see its immediate toll in the increased civilian casualties from Washington’s military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the United States, we’ve seen new laws expanding the scope of spying and surveillance by the FBI and other government police agencies and the deployment on U.S. soil of the first combat unit dedicated to the U.S. Northern Command. The ruling rich are preparing to confront workers in the class battles over health and pension benefits, union power, wages and living standards, and work conditions that they know will come as workers and farmers begin to resist the affects of the economic crisis.

Working people need to demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, Pakistan, as well as Iraq and everywhere else U.S. forces are stationed. Not one person, not one penny for Washington’s wars!
 
 
Related articles:
Washington, Islamabad intensify Pakistan war  
 
 
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