US Cannot Downplay Its Atrocities In Afghanistan

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TEHRAN (FNA)- Escalating attacks by US forces over the summer have meant a higher toll among Afghan civilians.

The latest UN report covering July to September found it the bloodiest three month period in Afghanistan since they started keeping data in 2009. Up 42% from the same period in 2018, the report found 174 deaths and 3,139 injuries among civilians. Total casualties in the first nine months of the year are over 8,000, again the highest figure in years. 

The UN emphasized the rate of US attacks across 

Afghanistan have been surging in particular over the past few months, with Trump scrapping the peace plan. The UN report rightly identified a big problem as being a belief that the war can still be resolved militarily. 

While they again tried to pin this position on the Taliban primarily, the Taliban did negotiate an entire deal right to the end to be signed, only for the US to back out at the last moment. The cabal of US war criminals are still under the illusion that if they tell this big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed by the international community. 

But they cannot win that war. 

What is clear is that the worse US violations of International Humanitarian Law get in Afghanistan, the more opportunities there are for the Pentagon to come up with new lies and fake statistics. Anyone who professes to worry about high civilian casualties thus ought to worry about the US-instigated humanitarian crises there. 

Append the further observation that the repeated response by the Pentagon to international criticism and condemnation has been to kill even more civilians, making the humanitarian crisis there even worse.

However, fake reports will do nothing to help fix the problems of Afghanistan. Neither will dramatically under-counting the number of civilians the US has killed, for that matter. 

And it is not just American officials that use such watered-down language. Britain and France also largely echo the US government line to greatly influence what the public thinks about their own complicity in civilian massacres. Their whitewashed lies and reports are remarkably reminiscent of those composed by the Pentagon to cover up the high-profile US-NATO massacre of civilians in Afghanistan. 

The dust has settled and the facts have become clearer. The Pentagon regime cannot downplay its atrocities: Carnage in Afghanistan is surging under the Trump White House. The atrocities committed by US-led coalition air strikes on the pretext of targeting Taliban militants cannot be ignored. Such an approach is a recipe for disaster, as the US and NATO allies have demonstrated a tendency to exploit Taliban attacks for propaganda and military escalation. 

Little ink has been spilled in the Western media for this truth, nonetheless. Also, there is no real discussion at the United Nations, let alone political debate, about whether or not the US-led bombing of civilians on the pretext of bombing Taliban is a good idea - not to mention whether or not these airstrikes are actually legal. 

Per usual, mass casualty “incidents” will continue to rise by US-led forces in Afghanistan. And the United Nations won’t be able to do anything about it. The world body will never investigate these atrocities, much less hold to account those guilty. It simply reflects UN’s deference to power. 

If the US government reports something, there are countless UN officials and allied ambassadors waiting in line to obediently echo it. With acquiescence, if not complicity, the UN has a long history of acting as mouthpiece to war-party Washington.

The Killing Fields of Afghanistan

By: Kayhan Int’l 
  
The blood of the innocent continues to flow in Afghanistan as terrorists, backed by the US occupation forces, revel in carrying out deadly bomb blasts by doling out a paltry sum to some unsuspecting persons to carry explosive-filled bags which are detonated through remote control once the poor guy is in the midst of a crowd.

The cowardly terrorists, aided by the western press, then release statements claiming it was a suicide attack by the self-styled Islamists.

The same scenario was repeated on Tuesday in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, resulting in the death of over 70 men, women, and children and injury to almost 200 others. 

According to reports, hundreds of demonstrators blocking the highway between the provincial capital Jalalabad and the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan, were targeted by the Daesh terrorists, who are being stealthily airlifted to Afghanistan from Syria and Iraq by the US. 

The killing of peaceful protests by the terrorists, came on the heels of the multiple bombings targeting schools in Jalalabad.

The protesters had come from Achin district to demand the removal of a local police commander. It is still not clear whether or not that unnamed police officer has any links with Daesh, which is thriving in Nangarhar. 

Alarms have been raised of more such attacks in view of the parliamentary polls scheduled to be held in October, in preparation of which it is common for political parties and their followers to organize rallies and step up election campaigns.       

Unfortunately, there seems no end to the sufferings of the Afghan people. As usual, the government of President Ashraf Ghani has condemned the blasts but it seem the security personnel are helpless to prevent such incidents in view of the infiltration of terrorists with help from the US occupation authorities.

Former president, Hamed Karzai, has also denounced these attacks of terrorism and charged the Daesh terrorist outfit for carrying out such dastardly killing of the innocent. He also called for probe into the war crimes of the US occupation forces.

This means the Americans, despite their denials, are the main culprits for the ruin and destruction of Afghanistan. This is proven by little attention paid to the continued loss of Afghan life by the West, since these blasts by Daesh do not effect the US or NATO occupation troops in Afghanistan

Interestingly, the latest acts of terrorism came after the unannounced visit to Kabul of US Secretary of War, "Mad Dog” James Mattis. Speculations are rife that that senior American officials normally issue instructions for more violence and bloodshed after visiting Afghanistan.

Afghans are beginning to ask why the United States, 17 years after occupying their country, has neither managed to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan nor done anything for its development. 

The question is: Why don’t the US occupation forces leave our country? What is their motive in turning Afghanistan into a large killing field, with terrorist outfits given a free rein to indulge in violence and bloodshed? 

Economic war on Iran is war on Eurasia integration

US sanctions on Iran should be interpreted as a piece in a much larger chessboard, says Brazilian analyst Pepe Escobar in his investigative article for Asia Times, titled: “Economic war on Iran is war on Eurasia integration”.

Hysteria reigned supreme after the first round of US sanctions were reinstated against Iran over the past week, yet the key aspect of the economic war unleashed by the Trump administration has been overlooked.

The US sanctions offensive, launched after Washington’s unilateral pullout from the Iran nuclear deal, should be interpreted as an advance gambit in the New Great Game at whose center lies China’s New Silk Road – arguably the most important infrastructure project of the 21st century — and overall Eurasia integration.

The Trump administration’s maneuvers are a testament to how China’s New Silk Road, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), worry the US establishment.

On closer look we find Eurasian integration on the rise. Eurasian integration is on display in Astana, where Russia, Iran and Turkey are deciding the fate of Syria, in coordination with Damascus.

Iran’s strategic depth in post-war Syria simply won’t vanish. The challenge of Syrian reconstruction will be met largely by President Bashar al-Assad’s allies: China, Russia and Iran.

Echoing the Ancient Silk Road, Syria will be configured as an important BRI node, key to Eurasia integration.

In parallel, the Russia-China strategic partnership – from the intersection between the BRI and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) to the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the solidifying of BRICS Plus — has immense economic stakes in the stability of Iran.

The complex interconnection of Iran with both Russia (via the EAEU and the International North-South Transportation Corridor) and China (via BRI and oil/gas supplies) is even tighter than in the case of Syria in the past seven years of civil war.

Iran is absolutely essential for Russia-China for the partnership to allow any “surgical strike” — as floated in Syria — or worse, hot war initiated by Washington.

A case could be made that with his recent overture to President Putin, President Trump is trying to negotiate some sort of freeze in the current configuration — a remixed Sykes-Picot for the 21st century.

But that assumes Trump’s decision-making is not being dictated or co-opted by the US neocon cabal that pressed for the 2003 war in Iraq.

If the situation turns volcanic when the US oil sanctions on Iran kick in by early November, an actual remix of the recent North Korea scenario would be in the cards. Washington simultaneously sent three carrier battle groups to terrify North Korea. That failed – and Trump ended up having to chat with Kim Jong-un.

Despite the US record around the world — endless threats of a Venezuela invasion with the only tangible result an amateurish, failed drone attack; 17 years of endless war in Afghanistan, with the Taliban still as immovable as the Hindu Kush peaks; the “4+1” – Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, plus Lebanon’s Hezbollah – winning the war in Syria — US neocons scream and shout about striking Iran.

As with North Korea, Russia and China will send unmistakable signs that Iran is in their closely coordinated Eurasian sphere of influence, and any attack on Iran will be considered an attack on the whole Eurasian sphere.

Stranger things have happened, but it’s hard to see any rational actors in Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh wishing to have Beijing and Moscow — simultaneously — as lethal enemies.

All across Southwest Asia, there are no doubts the official Trump administration – and in fact, the whole Beltway – policy on Iran is change of government, as if the Islamic Republic is a pushover.

So from now on, short of hot war, the new rules of the game spell out stepped-up cyber-warfare.

From Washington’s point of view, in terms of return on investment that’s a relative bargain; cyber-warfare keeps the Russia-China partnership away from direct involvement while in theory digging deeper into what they envisage the economic collapse of Iran, heavily advertised as imminent by Trump administration officials.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry could not be more explicit on the US effort to re-impose sanctions on Iran. It said: “China’s commercial cooperation with Iran is open and transparent, reasonable, fair and lawful, not violating any United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

That echoes the Russian Foreign Ministry on the US sanctions: “This is a graphic example of Washington’s continued violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and trampling upon the norms of international law.”

Trump for his part has resorted to threats, saying any nation that violates the sanctions against Iran will not do business with the US.

Good luck with having support from Turkey or Qatar – completely dependent on Iran for food, use of civilian airspace and sharing gas exploration in South Pars. Not to mention Russia-China assuring Tehran’s back on all fronts.

The die is cast. China not only will continue but also will increase its purchase of Iranian oil and gas. The Chinese auto industry – currently with 10% of the Iranian market – will simply take over as the French leave. Chinese companies are already responsible for 50% of auto parts imported into Iran.

Russia for its part has pledged to invest as much as $50 billion in Iranian oil and natural gas. Moscow is very much aware of the Trump administration’s next possible step; imposing sanctions on Russian companies investing in Iran.

Washington simply can’t “not do business” with China. The entire US defense industry is dependent on China for rare earth materials. Since the 1980s, US multinationals set up their export supply chains in China with direct encouragement of the US government.

The EU for its part has enforced a Blocking Statute – never used before, although in existence for already two decades — to protect European companies, even coming to the point of imposing fines on businesses that pull out of Iran because of plain fear.

In theory, that shows some guts. And yet, as EU diplomats in Brussels told Asia Times, there’s a major conditional: US satrapies/vassals abound across the EU, so quite a few EU-based companies, as in the case of Total and Renault, in the end, will simply roll over.

Meanwhile, what Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said about US unilateralism – the world “is sick and tired” of it – keeps echoing all across the Global South.

This means any wrong move by the US to take military action will result in the unleashing of the ‘Mother of All Financial Hurricanes’.

Those clamoring for war with Iran cannot possibly understand that the nightmare scenario of a Strait of Hormuz/Persian Gulf energy transit closure – the choke point for 22 million barrels of oil a day – would represent, ultimately, the death of the petrodollar.

The Strait of Hormuz can be configured as the Achilles heel of the entire West/US economic power; a closure would detonate the mother of all hurricanes in the quadrillion-dollar derivatives market.

Unless China does not buy Iranian energy, US sanctions — as a geo-economic tool — are essentially meaningless.

Certainly not, of course, for the “Iranian people” so dear to the Beltway, as more day-to-day financial grief is already setting in, side by side with a sense of national cohesiveness in the face, once again, of an external threat.

China and Russia have already pledged to continue to implement the JCPOA, alongside the EU-3; after all, this is an UN-endorsed multilateral treaty.

Beijing has already informed Washington in no uncertain terms that it will continue to do business with Iran. So the ball is now in Washington’s court. It will be up to the Trump administration to decide whether to sanction China for its unwillingness to stop trading with Iran.

It’s not exactly a wise move to threaten China – especially with Beijing on an irresistible historical ascendancy. India’s Jawaharlal Nehru threatened China and lost a big chunk of Arunachal Pradesh to Chairman Mao. Brezhnev threatened China and faced the wrath of the PLA on the banks of the Ussuri River.

China is able to cut the US off in a minute from its rare earth exports, creating a US national security catastrophe. Now that’s when a trade war will enter real incandescent territory.