icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
21 Oct, 2014 12:33

‘US seeks to reassert domination in Iraq, not to lose it in Afghanistan’

‘US seeks to reassert domination in Iraq, not to lose it in Afghanistan’

The US authorities see the ISIS threat as an opportunity to regain its position in Iraq where it spent trillions of dollars waging war, but at the same time wants to maintain domination in Afghanistan, Richard Becker from the Answer Coalition told RT.

The US is carrying out air-strikes against ISIS but not as hard as it is bombing Afghanistan. According to US Central Command data, the first month of the anti-terror campaign both in Iraq and Syria there were 253 strikes, while in Afghanistan just in August there were 436 strikes. This August the US dropped more bombs on the Taliban and other targets in Afghanistan than it had any single month in two years.

RT:The numbers of bombs dropped on Afghanistan are shocking. Do you think the US continues with bombing Afghanistan because it sees the failure of its policy in the country?

Richard Becker: When we hear the report that there are three times as many bombs dropped on Afghanistan by the US in August than a year earlier, we have to know that those bombs are falling mostly on civilians in Afghanistan. We know why the US is doing that – they have just signed an agreement to keep troops in Afghanistan indefinitely, not the same number as before but still a very substantial number. They look at what happened in Iraq where the creation of their own army turned out to be a complete failure and they are trying to bring down or degrade the capacity of the resistance inside Afghanistan to this illegal occupation. But what they are really going to end up doing - we understand their desperation – is bringing more people into the struggle against the occupation. The only real answer to this is for the US and its allies to get out of Afghanistan, Iraq and the entire region.

US Army 10th Mountain soldiers shoot at an enemy position with their 120mm mortar 09 March 2002 near the villages of Sherkhankheyl, Marzak and Bobelkiel, Afghanistan. (AFP Photo / Pool / Joe Raedle)

RT:What will happen after the US troops leave?

RB: That has to be a matter that the people of Afghanistan resolve, and the people of Iraq resolve for themselves. After the incredible destruction that has been done by the US intervention, by the US occupation, the deliberate pitting of different sections of the population against each other in Iraq in particular, all these bombing and night raids and everything else that is going on - it’s tearing the societies apart. Only ones who can put them back together are the people who live there.

RT:The media covers every step of the coalition in its fight against ISIS but we hear nothing about strikes on Afghanistan. Why?

RB: Right now the US is pursuing a different tactic...in regard to its struggle. The Pentagon is really driving the policy, and the Pentagon and the US ruling circles see the threat of ISIS as an opportunity in fact to reassert their domination of Iraq on which they have spent trillions of dollars waging war on, uncounted lives at this point on the Iraqi side and on the US side have been destroyed by this. At the same time they do not wish to lose their domination in Afghanistan. We are not hearing much about Afghanistan because it is being carried out undercover, as you suggest, but in Iraq there is a move to mobilize public opinion in the US to support this new endless war in their country.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Podcasts
0:00
23:13
0:00
25:0