As the carnage in Afghanistan continues, with millions facing starvation and even UN workers not safe from being killed by "precision" bombing, we've started to hear quite a bit about the "Northern Alliance" opposition forces and their war against the Taliban government. They are an alliance of various groups with various backers, and we probably haven't heard that much about them until now because the main players behind them have hitherto been Iran and Russia. They both have had obvious cause to advance their interests in an area strategically important for oil (like the US and others) and have thus been attempting to wrest control of Afghanistan from Pakistan (and, indirectly, US) control through support for the Alliance. It might, therefore, not be surprising if the US, Britain etc. stay a bit luke-warm about such "freedom fighters"... But what are they like? Well, not a shit load better than the Taliban from the point of view of the ordinary people of Aghanistan... Their atrocities are quite well documented, and include mass executions, "ethnic cleansing", shelling of civilians, rape, use of child soldiers, large-scale opium production etc. etc. Yeah, much the same as the new Public Enemy No. 1, the Taliban (who apparently weren't that evil that they didn't deserve massive injections of CIA dollars until very recently!). As for US/British spiel about "supporting the Afghan people" - yes - like a rope supports a hanged man... So, whoever "wins" here (and Afghanistan will certainly not be allowed to be governed "independently" of US and other Great Power direction) things will continue in the same awful way for our Afghan sisters and brothers. One bunch of bastards or another, to suit the interests of capital. The ONLY solution to this cycle, here and elsewhere, is for working class people to take direct control of their own lives - in opposition to capitalism and all of its gangs of butchers. http://communities.msn.com/realworldsocialism __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrCn8.bUNmfL Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF=" http://topica.com/u/?bUrCn8.bUNmfL "> AOL users click here.</A> T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
