Principled realism

President Trump’s policy of ‘principled realism’ is neither principled nor realistic. The so-called new Afghan policy is a clear manifestation of this. In his speech to outline the so-called new Afghan policy, he asserted that “We are killing terrorists. Our troops will fight to win. We will fight to win. From now on, victory will have a clear definition: attacking our enemies, obliterating Isis, crushing Al-Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America before they emerge.

“But we will no longer use American military might to construct democracies in faraway lands or try to rebuild other countries in our own image. Those days are now over. Instead, we will work with allies and partners to protect our shared interests”.

After Obama failed to ‘win’ the war by adding tens of thousands of troops, with more than 100,000 fighting in Afghanistan at its peak, Trump should have asked his generals how adding thousands more (reports are between 4,000 and 8,000 troops) would convert failure to success.

Imperialist US never bothered about democracy, civil liberties, human rights, morals and values since its rise as the most dominant imperialist power in the 20th century. It used the most brutal dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and reactionary aristocracies in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the rest of Asia to protect and further its imperialist interests. It toppled democratically elected left-wing popular governments and suppressed mass movements of the working classes to maintain its political and economic hegemony.

The Afghan occupation was never about democracy, women’s rights, civil liberties and human values. It was all about American prestige, power and imperialist interests. In the beginning, American interests in Afghanistan were mainly military and political ones. But now the US has clear economic interests as well. The US came with the short-term objectives to topple the Taliban government, destroy Al-Qaeda and install a handpicked puppet government. It achieved some objectives but failed to reconstruct Afghanistan after spending billions of dollars. This failure enabled the Taliban to regroup and take back large parts of rural Afghanistan. The US should blame itself for the re-emergence and regrouping of the Taliban rather than blaming Pakistan.  

There is nothing new in this strategy and policy. But one thing is clear: the US is planning a long-term strategy in Afghanistan. There will be more bombings, killings and violence in Afghanistan as there is no political settlement and solution in sight. The US will continue to put more pressure on Pakistan to fully cooperate in this long-term strategy. The American policy of blaming Pakistan for its failures in Afghanistan might push Pakistan further towards China and Russia.

Pakistan has its own problems and failures regarding the Afghan policy. It is no longer in a position to pursue its ‘strategic depth’ policy alone without having the support of other world or regional powers.  Pakistan needs to prepare a long-term strategy to deal with this situation. The situation is serious and the American threats are real. The only thing predictable about Trump is that he is unpredictable. He is completely surrounded by war-mongers and interventionists in both White House and Pentagon. The nationalists and anti-interventionists have been forced out. So the military policy and strategy is firmly in the hands of the hawks.

Trump’s so-called new         strategy is the continuation of the permanent war quagmire in Afghanistan, which may be an intentional never-ending war to further and protect the imperialist interests. Some American commentators and experts are predicting that the US will be in Afghanistan for an indefinite period. Afghanistan is of geopolitical importance. So the US wants to keep its military bases and presence in Afghanistan to meet the future challenges in the region.

And terrorism is not the only issue. Economic competition with China, which is quickly becoming the leading global economic power, is increasingly becoming the real issue. The American security establishment considers increased strategic, military and economic cooperation between China and Russia a serious future threat to the American interests in the region. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that India is the new strategic partner of US imperialism in the region, and will continue to play a larger role in Afghanistan and in the region. This strategy might backfire and force stronger cooperation between Russia, China and Pakistan. If the US continues to put more pressure on Iran and impose more economic sanctions then Iran might also be forced to join this alliance.

The reality is that the US and its allies are waging a brutal neo-colonial war of occupation, propping up a corrupt and reviled puppet government in Kabul with night raids, drone strikes and other acts of terror. The Afghan masses are the real victims in this.

‘Principled realism’ sounds very much like a euphemism for continuing to do what the ‘business as usual’ mob reckons will work. As Einstein famously said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The writer is a freelance journalist.