Afghan war

A NEW bloody milestone has been reached in the Afghan war with news that the death of a British soldier last week was the 300th to be killed since the US-led invasion and occupation of the country began in 2001.

This death can be added to the thousands of Afghan civilians and Taliban insurgents killed in the last nine years.

Prime minister David Cameron reckons the deaths are a price worth paying to defend 'democracy' in Afghanistan and to prevent terrorism having a base in that country. However, neither argument holds water. The Afghan government of president Hamid Karzai is little more than a regime of corrupt warlords. Its authority does not rest on the popular support of ordinary Afghans but instead is propped up by 10,000 UK troops and tens of thousands of US and other NATO forces.

The failure of the puppet Afghan government and the occupying foreign troops to tackle the mass unemployment, poverty and insecurity faced by Afghans is actually fuelling the terrorist insurrection.

Withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan is long overdue. Only a democratically elected workers' and peasants' government can begin the process of rebuilding the war-torn country.

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In The Socialist 23 June 2010:

Stop budget attacks with mass action