Musharraf and Karzai defend American crusaders from international rejection
On 18 September, the US State Department Spokesman, Richard Boucher, justified America’s continuing role as Afghanistan’s military police force, “Many of the security problems faced by Afghanistan are in the countryside, not in the city…We have US forces in the field working to resolve disputes…Thus far they have been the most effective tool…” This was just one of several recent justifications from US government and military officials, made at a time when America is facing world-wide opposition to any American military presence in Afghanistan, whether as American troops or disguised as ISAF coalition forces.
America stubbornly insists on staying so as to secure its material interests in the region, using its military to complement its political efforts. During the late 1990s, Bush’s current Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was a paid consultant to the American company, UNOCAL, for a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan. After America’s bombing of Afghanistan in 1998, progress on America’s pipeline slowed and it is only after the American military savagely replaced the Taliban with Hamid Karzai, that America’s gas project has regained prominence. By 13 May 2002, Mohammad Alim Razim, Afghanistan’s Minister for Mines and Industries, was able to confirm that the American energy company, UNOCAL, was the “lead company” in the revived pipeline project. And it was Khalizad that meddled in the Loya Jirga so that Karzai became President. Today, America continues to use its influence to follow-up the success of this pipeline. On 12 September, Bush explicitly discussed this pipeline with Musharraf during their 45 minute meeting. Also on 16-18 September, the American proxy, the World Bank, met in Kabul with government officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan about the pipeline.
Truly, America’s exploitation of Eleven September has run out of steam. America’s major competitors have grouped together against American presence to prevent it from effecting their own interests. The Europeans have been strongly undermining the need for military presence for some time. On 20 June, the British Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced that the UK would slash its forces from 1,300 to 400. This came after calls from British politicians and military announcing that the military mission is no longer yielding results. Also on 3 September in Kabul, the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, acidly argued against expanding forces outside of Kabul saying, “We are not here to replace the government of Afghanistan itself.” As for China, on 18 June, its Foreign Ministry spokesman declared that the Chinese hoped that the Americans would leave soon. And on the sidelines of the 57th UN General Assembly, Karzai emerged from a three-hour meeting with major and regional powers, including Russia, to declare that there was no concrete agreement to his request for expanding ISAF to outside Kabul. As for the Islamic Ummah, can there be a sincere Muslim who would feel any sorrow at America leaving the region? In fact, today there is such a strong world opinion against America’s unilateral aggression, that a sincere Muslim leadership would exploit it to demand the ejection of America from the Islamic Lands. So what have Musharraf and Karzai been doing?
At a time when their rejection would completely compromise America’s claim to stay, Musharraf and Karzai instead worked to support the American intrusion of the region. On 25 July, immediately before meeting the US Secretary of State, the Afghan Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, declared to the world, “The extension of ISAF to other regions would be a solid sign of commitment to the reassurance of the Afghan people.” Then on 5 September, the same day as a timely attack on Kabul, the US Deputy Secretary of Defence, Paul Wolfowitz said, “We are also considering the possibility that ISAF could play a role outside Kabul if it could be enlarged.” And these events and statements occurred within a week of Karzai leaving for New York to ask the world to expand ISAF. As for Musharraf’s government, from 2 September, it accused the villagers of Janikheil, Wazirastan, of harbouring America’s enemies and laid siege to over three hundred families, rocketing some houses. This dramatic incident served to underline Musharraf’s claim that America should not leave. On 5 September, Musharraf said, “I feel it is too early . . . They haven’t completed their mission.”
And America has no intention of leaving the Islamic Lands of its own accord whilst it has secured the political support of the rulers of the Muslims themselves. Just like East India Company’s garrison troops of previous times, today the American military presence is to protect material interests. In fact, the American military has formed a noose around the Islamic Ummah’s abundant resources. US army, air force and navy is stationed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea and Kenya, with naval forces offshore in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. And just like the British Raj, the Americans are not planning to leave any time soon. This also applies to the region of Afghanistan. On 15 August, the US General Tommy Franks, was asked specifically whether it was correct to say that the US military would need to stay in Afghanistan for years and replied, "I would agree with that.’
As for Karzai and Musharraf, they have abandoned the Muslims in order to embrace America. Were it not for them, America’s justification for its military presence would be completely shattered before the entire world. It would not have been possible for America to continue its crusade were it not for the continuing collaboration of Musharraf and Karzai. They keep open the gates to the forces of the Kafir states to subjugate and humiliate the Muslims. What adds to their treachery is that they have full knowledge of the American-backed savagery in Afghanistan. They of all people are aware of the slaughter of twenty thousand innocents, the suffocation of noble mujahideen in containers and the ongoing cowardly indiscriminate bombings of civilians for which America is stubbornly unrepentant. Clearly, Karzai and Musharraf have both attached their future ambitions to an increasingly despised and isolated America. Surely, it is no wonder that they themselves are isolated, spending their days behind bullet-proof glass and armoured steel to hide from the very people they rule. They have rejected the Ummah in order to embrace a ruthless power that would discard them without a second thought, should they outlive their usefulness.
The Muslims must re-establish that political leadership which will be sincere to the Muslims alone, the Khilafah. The Khaleefah will never extend any political, military or economic support to the colonialist powers. Rather the Khaleefah will employ all the political styles and means and mobilise the abundant military and economic resources of the Ummah to eradicate all signs of colonialism from the Islamic Lands. RasulAllah (salallahu alayhi wasalam) said,
“Indeed, the Imam is a shield behind which the Muslims fight and by him they protect themselves.”
Political Committee
Hizb ut-Tahrir, Wilayah Pakistan
26 September 2002
www.khilafah.com.pk
