Pakistan has been seeking to extend its regional power base in Central Asia. The
attack on Afghanistan by US/UK imperialism constitutes a response to this Pakistani
colonialism. Without Pakistan's support there would have been no Taliban regime in
Afghanistan. Pakistan's strategy is the extension of its influence, even control,
over Afghanistan by ensuring that a compliant force, the Taliban, is in power. In
this way Pakistan would have significantly extended its strategic influence within
central Asia. This strategic advantage would have been of geopolitical and commercial
significance. Under these conditions Pakistan would have significant influence over
the fuel and other resources in Afghanistan. Its influence, even colonisation, of
Afghanistan would have strengthened its position concerning its relationship with
India over the Kashmir question.

An  expanded Pakistan would be better placed to further extend its influence over the
entire Central Asian region. This would provide Pakistan with immeasurable political
and commercial power. This would mean its increased influence over the surrounding
countries. Perhaps even the further colonialist expansion of Pakistan beyond
Afghanistan into neighbouring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Pakistani bourgeoisie
hoped to realise these imperialist ambitions through the exploitation of Islamic
fundamentalism. Through the exploitation of Islamic fundamentalism it hoped to
create a Pakistan that extended its tentacles into all of Central Asia --an Islamic
Central Asian  state or federation. The realisation of this ambition would have
better placed it to proceed to the colonisation of Kashmir. It is these  ambitions
that constitute the greatest danger to the Indian state. Consequently  India utilises
Kashmir  as a political device to thwart Pakistani ambitions.

However the Taliban have been proving  to be less than fully compliant. The Taliban
government has been proving a growing  concern for Pakistan. The Taliban even
entertain ambitions of its own that are not entirely congruent with Pakistani
ambitions.

Given this state of affairs the US/UK attack on Afghanistan is essentially an attack
on Pakistan. It is the expansionist Pakistani state that US/UK imperialism is seeking
to contain. US/UK imperialism cannot tolerate the emergence of a Pakistani regional
power in Central Asia  possessing  increasingly significant geo-political and
economic power.

Musharraf has been cleverly exploiting the domestic unrest in Pakistan  provoked by
Western intervention in Afghanistan to pressurise US imperialism into accepting the
installation of a new regime in Afghanistan acceptable to Pakistan in the aftermath
of the expected fall of the Taliban. If Pakistan is getting its way, and it looks
like it is, this means that Washington has been expending considerable resources in
an attack on the Taliban regime of which the end result will be a new Afghani regime
more compliant to Pakistan while possessing greater international credibility. In a
sense, then, the US will have undertaken a politically delicate intervention to
further the interests of Pakistan while weakening its own imperialist interests. If
this turns out to be the case then the terrorist attack on New York and Washington
will have had its desired effect. It will have provoked an over-reaction from the
Bush administration  leading to the weakening rather than the strengthening of US
imperialism. However this will intensify capitalist contradictions that will make the
global situation potentially more explosive. Rather than its military intervention
leading to the defeat of Islamic fundamentalism it may lead to its growth. The result
in the long run, among other things, will be more terrorist activity. Clearly the
terrorist attack on New York and Washington and the character of Bush's reaction to
it is an expression of the weakness of US imperialism.

Under these conditions the attack on Pakistan, through its attack on Afghanistan,
will have played right into the hands of Pakistan. Obviously the situation is very
delicate. One misconceived move by Pakistan could see its entire strategy collapse
like a house of cards. This is particularly true because of the unstable political,
social and economic conditions that obtain in Pakistan. The recent Musharraf coup
d'etat together with Pakistan's expansionist strategy are confirmation of this
instability.

Regards
Karl Carlile (Communist Global Group)
Be free to join our communism mailing list
at http://homepage.eircom.net/~kampf/