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Subject:

Re: Taliban, Pakistan and US

From:

[log in to unmask]

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask]

Date:

Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:46:43 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (151 lines)

I'm sure many list members share, as I do, Dave's reservations about Karl
Carlile's analyses.

However, simply complaining of "lack of knowledge" and "internal
contradictions" doesn't really help; I (know I) don't have the specialist
knowledge to properly assess Karl Carlile's claims, and from a Marxist point
of view an account of the world which contains contradictions does not seem
inherently disabling -- after all, we *expect* the world to be internally
contradictory.

Perhaps Dave would like to point out specifically in what ways this
particular example is defective?

Julian

>-----Original Message-----
>From: David Morgan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 18 October 2001 07:15
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Taliban, Pakistan and US
>
>
>Now I've heard everything.
>This post shows such an alarming lack of knowledge of South
>Asian history as to be truly
>breathtaking, not to mention its internal contradictions
>
>Dave
>-------------------------------------
>Karl Carlile wrote:
>
>> 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/
>

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