Taliban, Pakistan and US

Pakistan has been seeking to extend its regional power base in Central Asia. The
attack on Afghanistan by US/UK imperialism constitutes a response to this 
Pakistani
colonialism. Without Pakistan's support there would have been no Taliban regime 
in
Afghanistan. Pakistan's strategy is the extension of its influence, even 
control,
over Afghanistan by ensuring that a compliant force, the Taliban, is in power. 
In
this way Pakistan would have significantly extended its strategic influence 
within
central Asia. This strategic advantage would have been of geopolitical and 
commercial
significance. Under these conditions Pakistan would have significant influence 
over
the fuel and other resources in Afghanistan. Its influence, even colonisation, 
of
Afghanistan would have strengthened its position concerning its relationship 
with
India over the Kashmir question.

An  expanded Pakistan would be better placed to further extend its influence 
over the
entire Central Asian region. This would provide Pakistan with immeasurable 
political
and commercial power. This would mean its increased influence over the 
surrounding
countries. Perhaps even the further colonialist expansion of Pakistan beyond
Afghanistan into neighbouring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Pakistani 
bourgeoisie
hoped to realise these imperialist ambitions through the exploitation of Islamic
fundamentalism. Through the exploitation of Islamic fundamentalism it hoped to
create a Pakistan that extended its tentacles into all of Central Asia --an 
Islamic
Central Asian  state or federation. The realisation of this ambition would have
better placed it to proceed to the colonisation of Kashmir. It is these  
ambitions
that constitute the greatest danger to the Indian state. Consequently  India 
utilises
Kashmir  as a political device to thwart Pakistani ambitions.

However the Taliban have been proving  to be less than fully compliant. The 
Taliban
government has been proving a growing  concern for Pakistan. The Taliban even
entertain ambitions of its own that are not entirely congruent with Pakistani
ambitions.

Given this state of affairs the US/UK attack on Afghanistan is essentially an 
attack
on Pakistan. It is the expansionist Pakistani state that US/UK imperialism is 
seeking
to contain. US/UK imperialism cannot tolerate the emergence of a Pakistani 
regional
power in Central Asia  possessing  increasingly significant geo-political and
economic power.

Musharraf has been cleverly exploiting the domestic unrest in Pakistan  
provoked by
Western intervention in Afghanistan to pressurise US imperialism into accepting 
the
installation of a new regime in Afghanistan acceptable to Pakistan in the 
aftermath
of the expected fall of the Taliban. If Pakistan is getting its way, and it 
looks
like it is, this means that Washington has been expending considerable 
resources in
an attack on the Taliban regime of which the end result will be a new Afghani 
regime
more compliant to Pakistan while possessing greater international credibility. 
In a
sense, then, the US will have undertaken a politically delicate intervention to
further the interests of Pakistan while weakening its own imperialist 
interests. If
this turns out to be the case then the terrorist attack on New York and 
Washington
will have had its desired effect. It will have provoked an over-reaction from 
the
Bush administration  leading to the weakening rather than the strengthening of 
US
imperialism. However this will intensify capitalist contradictions that will 
make the
global situation potentially more explosive. Rather than its military 
intervention
leading to the defeat of Islamic fundamentalism it may lead to its growth. The 
result
in the long run, among other things, will be more terrorist activity. Clearly 
the
terrorist attack on New York and Washington and the character of Bush's 
reaction to
it is an expression of the weakness of US imperialism.

Under these conditions the attack on Pakistan, through its attack on 
Afghanistan,
will have played right into the hands of Pakistan. Obviously the situation is 
very
delicate. One misconceived move by Pakistan could see its entire strategy 
collapse
like a house of cards. This is particularly true because of the unstable 
political,
social and economic conditions that obtain in Pakistan. The recent Musharraf 
coup
d'etat together with Pakistan's expansionist strategy are confirmation of this
instability.

Regards
Karl Carlile (Communist Global Group)
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