Afghan president confirms US demand for permanent bases
WSWS, February 11, 2010
Karzai stated that his government was negotiating with US officials on a range of strategic agreements, including the permanent bases. He said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had discussed the issue with him during last week’s Munich Security Conference in Germany.
Referring to his discussions with US officials and senators, the Afghan president said: "Yes they want this [permanent bases] and we have been negotiating with them." He made clear his readiness to oblige: "We believe that a long-term relationship with the United States is in the interest of Afghanistan."
Karzai’s disclosure, made at a media conference on Tuesday in his fortified presidential place in Kabul, underscores the fraud of President Obama’s pledge that July 2011 would see the beginning of a withdrawal from Afghanistan. It also exposes the White House claim, adopted by last year’s Lisbon NATO conference, that the country’s security would be handed over to Afghan forces by 2014.
Washington’s plans further demonstrate that the protracted war in Afghanistan—now in its 10th year—is being waged not to defeat "terrorism" or promote democracy, but to secure US hegemony in Central Asia, one of the most energy-rich and geo-strategically vital regions of the globe.
When Obama announced his Afghanistan troop "surge"—doubling the number of US troops to 100,000 and the total NATO-led force to 15,000—he insisted that the US had no intentions of permanently occupying the country. In reality, plans are being drawn up for US military forces to stay for many more years, if not decades.
Karzai insisted that any long-term US bases would not be "used as base against other countries and that Afghanistan is not a place from where our neighbours could be threatened". He also said he hoped for a relationship "that brings security to Afghanistan, that brings economic prosperity to Afghanistan and an end to violence".
Nothing could be further from the truth. A number of Afghanistan’s neighbours, notably Iran, Pakistan and China, will necessarily regard the establishment of permanent US bases as threatening. Afghanistan will in effect become a staging post for operations in the region, as well as within the country. As for security and prosperity, the US invasion in 2001 has produced only destruction, carnage and impoverishment, and an indefinite military occupation will perpetuate the devastation.
Karzai claimed that any long-term agreement would need to be approved by the parliament and the Loya Jirga, the traditional assembly of tribal leaders. But his immediate statement of support in principle highlighted his subservience to Washington.
Just last month, Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omer said the issue had not been discussed with the United States. Omer had been responding to a NBC news interview with senior US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who said he wanted the Obama administration to consider such permanent bases.
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