Afghanistan Follow

ANYONE WHO listened to the debate in parliament on 8 October about the war in Afghanistan would have been struck immediately by one fact-nobody spoke clearly for an immediate end to the attacks by the US and Britain. A handful of MPs raised serious questions about the war aims, details of the attacks and what should happen next. But nobody said the war was wrong in principle.

IF YOU were a president trying to run a war, what would most scare you? Because Afghanistan is desperately poor, let's leave aside here the possibility that your enemy has bigger weapons than you. Mind you, some of the briefings and reports would have us believe that £1 billion jets flying at supersonic speed over Kabul are facing terrible risks. Apart from a pilot choking on his chewing gum, it's difficult to see any danger awaiting the US air force.

PROTESTERS will blockade the Faslane Trident nuclear base on the Clyde near Glasgow on Monday. The demonstration will have a special urgency because it will also be against the bombing of Afghanistan.

"EVEN THE threat of military action has made the humanitarian situation worse. Military attacks on Afghanistan will make the problems worse." That damning comment came from the director of the charity CAFOD. It exposes Bush and Blair's lies that they are waging a "humanitarian war". The meagre aid dropped from planes will not feed the millions of starving Afghan people.

US DEFENCE Secretary Donald Rumsfeld now argues openly that bombing Afghanistan is to be "part of a much wider effort. It will likely be sustained for years, not weeks or months."

IMPERIALIST WARS like the one that has just been launched against Afghanistan always put the left to the test. It's always possible to find some excuse for supporting imperialist rulers.

"EXECUTED AS planned." That was how US president George W Bush described the bombing of Afghanistan this week.

THE ATTACK on Afghanistan has provoked a wave of anger against the US and Britain across the Middle East. As the first bombs fell, protests erupted in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and many other countries.

THERE IS no such thing as a "clean war" or "precision bombing". The same US and British generals who now say they are using "smart weapons" in Afghanistan were only two weeks ago telling the media they were "resigned to civilian casualties".

A KEY aim of the US attack on Afghanistan is to intensify the civil war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The forces of the "Northern Alliance" were informed of the timing of the first air strikes and began shelling areas held by the Taliban. The Northern Alliance is composed of rival groups.

THE movement to stop the war against Afghanistan is growing. People are united in opposition to war. But within the movement for peace a whole series of debates about the alternatives to war have sprung up. People opposed to the war are quite rightly advocating a political and not a military solution.

BOMBING THE weak and starving. That's George Bush and Tony Blair's plan for Afghanistan. And in a sickening hoax they claim to be helping the ordinary people there. On Monday the US and British governments made sure pictures were beamed around the world of bags of wheat emblazoned with "USA" going to Afghanistan. But that cynical display is much too little and much too late.