The political scene in the region being completely dominated on one side by liberal elites who support NATO and on the other side by reactionary fundamentalists pro-Taliban, the creation of an alternative is more than necessary

In December last year, a historic meeting between progressive forces from Afghanistan and Pakistan took place in Lahore. United in their refusal to support either the Taliban or NATO, ten groups from both countries have decided to collaborate in order to build an alternative to the neoliberal politics devastating their region.

Bravest Afghan woman as a guest speaker

Malalai Joya is one of the delegates who came from Afghanistan. Born few days before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, she grew up in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan, taught in underground schools during the Taliban rule and was elected member of the Afghan parliament before she was expelled in 2007 for constantly denouncing the warlords’ politics. She survived several assassination attempts but refuses to leave Afghanistan and her people. He courage won her the nickname of “the bravest woman of Afghanistan”.

She addresses the assembly telling what she thinks of Karzai’s government and his allies: “The government is full of warlords who committed heinous crimes during the civil war and should be tried for their crimes. There is no difference between them and the Taliban they have replaced, except that the Taliban commit crimes in the name of Islam while the warlords commit crimes in the name of democracy.” She tells how an American radio station is broadcasting in Afghanistan and promoting democracy: “ From one side they attack us with bombs and from the other side they promote the benefits of democracy. But my people don’t want of this kind of democracy.” Malalai is also critical regarding the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). She tells how the PDPA took power with a Soviet-backed coup d’état in 1978. She continues:” Afghani people call Najibullah [one of the PDPA’s leaders] ‘the cow’. It is true that when the Taliban came into power people started saying ‘take back your donkeys and give us back the cow’. If they thought the Taliban were worse than Najibullah, it does no means that he was popular at all.”

A heated debate and ideological differences

Malalai’s statement about Najibullah provokes the anger of few Pakistani delegates who are from an orthodox communist tradition and for whom the leader of the PDPA is a revolutionary hero. But the Afghani comrades, some of them who have lived through that time cannot accept it. They are unanimous to denounce the PDPA’s regime and its crimes. They tell how they detained, tortured and killed thousand of political opponents. Some Pakistanis leftist groups tend to be very doctrinaires and the rigidity of their ideology too often prevents them to associate with other progressive groups. The Afghanis groups present in this meeting on the other hand, seem more concerned with ethics and have a more practical approach to their politics. They want to distance themselves from the main leftist ideological currents and some of them refuse to carry the banner of communism or even socialism. The heated debate about the pre-Soviet time in Afghanistan ends with the word of one of the Pakistani delegates who suggests to “ agree to disagree on some issues, especially when these issues are in the past and to try to agree on a common politic for the future.”

News from Afghanistan: a humanitarian catastrophe

Other Afghan delegates from different groups give their account on the present situation in Afghanistan, between poverty, unemployment, violence against women and arrests and torture of their fellow group members. Saman, a young student, activist with the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan tells how ten years of occupation have led to the fortification of a war economy (drug production, arms trafficking, corruption) with tragic consequences for the civil society. But Saman also reports about the reality of a growing resistance movement, that of the progressive and democratic forces. She tells how during one of their last protests in Kaboul, shop keepers would close their shops to be able to join their march. “But I guess you don’t know about the protests we organize because the media never reports them.” The reality is that ten years of occupation have only worsen the living conditions of the vast majority of Afghans. The media in Europe and in the US usually mentions a significant improvement of women’s conditions since NATO’s intervention and women’s protection is amongst the excuses invoked to justify the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and the military operations in Pakistan. The delegates clearly reject this as being pure propaganda and one of them reminds us that after ten years of occupation Afghanistan has received the title of the “most dangerous country for women” and that Pakistan comes third in this sad rating.

The fact is that in Afghanistan today, women in rural areas have no access to health facilities, only 5% of the girls are able to study until fifth grade while girls’ schools are still being attacked, the incidence of sexual abuse is incredibly high and the rate of women committing suicide is on the rise. Women have no access to justice and the Karzai government is passing barbaric laws such as allowing Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to fulfill their husbands’ sexual demands.

In Pakistan, a report has recently exposed the horrors faced by the women of FATA and shown that the women from this war-stricken region are the most susceptible to violence and abuses. Ironically, while the government has been acclaimed for passing women protection bills, the women of FATA will be excluded from appealing to these laws since the Code of Criminal Procedure is not implemented in the area. The selfproclaimed great success of the military operations in South Waziristan does not seem to have brought much justice to the women of FATA.

No possible solution without a withdrawal of the NATO troops

The delegates identify the negative role of the mass media as being one of the major problems they are facing and have decided to develop an alternative media platform to have their voice heard. As Malalai Joya underlines: “This war is not only a military war, it’s also a war of propaganda.” The Pakistani comrades have also committed to denounce the double game played by their ruling class in the conflict. Indeed, the Pakistani oligarchy could not survive without the dollars that are being poured over them for being their partners in the war on terror. Paradoxically, this same ruling class that has interests in fighting the Taliban to receive the American financial support, has no interest in seeing the end of the conflict in the region. This paradox is usually invoked by those who are trying to understand the reasons behind the powerful Pakistani secret service’s support of the Taliban. Some people even push the analysis further and claim that imperialism and fundamentalism are the two sides of the same coin and that both are being used to counter the opponents to the global capitalist system.

Building an alternative to neo-liberal politics

The delegates from both counties recognize the importance of a mutual collaboration for the building of a progressive mass movement against their common enemies in the region. According to them, a withdrawal of the NATO forces would result in breaking the backbone of both the Taliban and the warlords. That would give a chance to groups like those presents in this conference to be able to fight for a political regime where the people would be sovereign. The political scene in the region being completely dominated on one side by liberal elites who support NATO and on the other side by reactionary fundamentalists pro-Taliban, the creation of an alternatives more than necessary. An alternative also for leftist groups in Europe or in the US who wish to support a peace process in the region, just like the Left Party in Sweden that facilitated this meeting. Their representative, Ann Carin comments: “We are totally opposed to the sending of Swedish troops in Afghanistan and have decided to participate in building a just peace in the region by supporting local progressive forces. “

In their common declaration, the comrades also recognize this battle as being part of a larger struggle against the economic colonization of the region in the name of globalization and neo-liberalism. They follow the news of resistance movements and op popular uprising from around the world. They are particularly impressed by the citizens of the US who protest at the very heart of the empire. For them, the Arab spring and now the Occupy Wall-Street movement are the proofs that the dawn of a new day has come, that the people from the entire world have started marching and that it is going to be very difficult for the ruling classes to stop them. What if the 99% of people in the West would support the vast majority of Afghans and Pakistanis and would demand their governments to stop promoting peace in the region by throwing bombs but instead support the alternative presented in this conference?

Cindy Zahnd

For those who want to know more or get in touch with one of these groups:

Malalai Joya’s Defence Committee: http://www.malalaijoya.com

Solidarity Party of Afghanistan: : http://www.hambastagi.org/new/englishsection.html

Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan: http://www.rawa.org

Labour Party Pakistan: http://www.laborpakistan.org/