Comrades, Regarding recent questions raised regarding Klo's position on the US attacks of Afghanistan and the "defeat" of the Taliban, I've gone back to my earlier post of December 2, 2001 to try and refresh my memory on Klo's position with regards to the United States imperialists and the Taliban.
I also refer to recent posts of the 1998 statements by the Afghan Liberation Organisation. Firstly I earlier wrote:- ================ Comrades, Klo wrote in response to my post:- > > I've been observing the debate going on between Cde's Javad and Klo for a few days now, as well as this post by Cde Sanjay and they all have their merits. > > > > Klo maintains that the current defeat of the Taliban opens up space for leftist, progressive and people's organisations to begin operating again in Afghanistan and as Sanjay pointed out the his post above, as well as the earlier report by the Times of India report on the stands of the Communist Party of Afghanistan and RAWA posted by Barry Stoller -- this appears to be already happening. > > > > On the other hand, Javad maintains that the US/UK imperialist victory in Afghanistan (with the help of the Northern Alliance which did most of the fighting on the ground) will embolden the imperialists to attack other groups and countries they deem as "terrorist" and we can already see signs of that happening -- including threats against Iraq and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- and they will eventually attack progressive and leftist forces and people's movements which they deep "terrorist." > > > > The question is what is the bigger threat to left, progressive and anti-imperialist forces worldwide? > > > > Like Sanjay said, I believe Marxist-Leninists must oppose US and other imperialism and condemn their attacks against Afghanistan, while at the same time not support the Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Northern Alliance or the terrorist attacks against the WTC, and more importantly to support Afghan progressive forces like the CPA. > > > > I still doubt if RAWA has the correct line in calling for a UN peace keeping force or the return of the exiled King since while these may deny the Northern Alliance of power and get them off Afghan women's backs, the presence of these externally imposed forces could be to the detriment of leftist, progressive and the people's forces -- as can be seen from the experience in East Timor. > > > > Fraternally > > > > Charles To which Klo replied:- > Charles. > > With the overthrow of the Taliban my position is quite direct. I say to the imperialists: "Get out of Afghanistan, Get out now and don't come back." They have eliminated the Taliban as the leaders of that beleaguered country and so the main task has been accomplished. The imperialists say the war is not over and a lot more has to be done such as destroying bin Laden and the network he and others lead. That is not a concern of the Left and other progressive forces nor should it be used as a cover or pretext for installing a puppet government to the capitalist liking. The wild west atmosphere which the capitalists claim now exists among the many factions in Afghanistan is being used as an excuse to send in more troops to maintain order and impose their will. > All Afghans should oppose this foreign encroachment and I feel confident that as time progresses more and more will. > Just as the Soviet Union called for the withdrawal of the Anglo-American forces from Italy, France, and the Benelux countries after the Nazis were defeated, the Left should now call for the immediate withdrawal of the imperialists from Afghanistan. After all think of how much screaming the capitalists did to get the Soviet forces out of Eastern Europe after they defeated the Soviet forces in WWII. > > For the cause, > > Klo ======================= Here Klo argues that since the US have "defeated" the Taliban, they should now get out of Afghanistan since their task has been accomplished which implicitly suggests that Klo favours the US imperialist attack on Afghanistan in the first place since it removed the Taliban and hopefully opened up space for left and progressive forces to revive and organise. I had earlier taken the stand that in the light of the US-imperialist attack on Afghanistan, Marxist-Leninists should back the Taliban in its fight resistance to US imperialism and that was purely for anti-imperialist reasons. Cde. Sanjay argued that Marxist-Leninists can oppose US-imperialist attacks on Afghanistan without backing the Taliban and taking into consideration the general position of the ALO on imperialism and its various flunkeys, Sanjay's position is correct and mine wrong but Sanjay never called for the defeat of the Taliban which would be a plague on both houses position. However, Klo's position above centres around fait accompli -- ie what has already happened -- and what next for left and progressive forces in Afghanistan and I agree that the the US imperialist "defeat" of the Taliban mainly with the aid of its proxies there has created an unstable situation with factional infighting there provides an OPPORTUNITY there which left forces can exploit and organise, even though, according to a report on another list which I still can't locate, the present regime in Afghanistan has banned both Taliban and Communist political activity, though that should not bother the left too much. With calls for Klo's expulsion or censure, we must ask what is Klo's position on the US-imperialists attacking Afghanistan -- ie. did Klo support the US in attacking Afghanistan even before they actually attacked, even just so that the Taliban could be removed and create conditions for left and progressive forces there to revive? It is wrong for Marxist-Leninists to call for imperialist intervention against another country, however abhorent the regime there may be and as the ALO correctly pointed out, it is the task of the Afghan people to make their own revolution and get rid of the imperialists and reactionaries from their own country and I expect that the ALO would also be against the present US-imperialist attack on Afghanistan and its imperialist adventures into other parts of the world right now. During World War II, neither the Soviet Union nor Stalin called for the imperialist war but since it happened, the Soviet Union played one group of imperialists against another. However abhorent the Taliban may be, they are not imperialists and Afghanistan is far from being an imperialist country. Klo would be wrong and would be backing imperialism if he called for a US imperialist attack on Afghanistan and then call for it to get out once it had "defeated" the Taliban, since as events are now proving, once in, the US is further consolidating its hegemony and power in Central Asia and around the world. Fraternally Charles _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
