The U.S. military action in Afghanistan: What is the real strategic objective?

The recent U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan are ill thought out and unjustified. We are told that the U.S. military action is part of a larger ‘war on terrorism’, a war that is supposedly being waged to diminish the threat of international terrorism. Yet the strategic objectives are less than clear; the declared primary objective is to disrupt and fetter al-Qaeda’s terrorist operations and thus to diminish the threat posed by that organization, whilst the secondary objective is to bring about the demise of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Paradoxically, rather than diminish the threat of international terrorism, the U.S. military action in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate it. From the outset, U.S. President George W. Bush has stressed that this is not a ‘war on Islam’ but rather a war against terrorists and those that harbour them. The Bush administration and the British Government have been at pains to get across their message on this point, despite the reference to a ‘Crusade’. In fact ‘Mullah’ Tony Blair has been on a whistle-stop tour of the Middle East, reverently interpreting the Qur’an and Islam for the faithful.

Prior to the U.S. bombing raids on Afghanistan, Bush had been able, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September, to bring on board the majority of Islamic States in his coalition on terrorism. However, the sympathy of Muslims for the terrorist attacks of 11 September will now, no doubt, be eclipsed by the sense of outrage at the U.S. military action in Afghanistan—military action that ultimately will lead to more civilian loss of life than the terrorist attacks of 11 September. Thus, any Islamic State that supports the U.S. military action will undoubtedly face internal turmoil.

Further, it should be borne in mind, that al Qaeda is an international terrorist network; it can recruit and operate throughout the world. Therefore it is not dependent upon either Afghanistan or the Taliban; it is dependent upon enraged Muslims flocking to Bin Laden’s call for Jihad. In the eyes of many Muslims, the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan is itself an act of terrorism. Whilst condemned in the U.S. as a terrorist, Bin Laden is for some a Muslim icon—a contemporary Salah al-din. In fact, were Bin Laden to be killed in the current wave of air attacks, he would pose an even greater threat to U.S. security dead than he does alive.

The secondary strategic objective—to bring about the demise of the Taliban—whilst achievable, is again ill thought out. The U.S. has no defined plan to establish an alternative government in Afghanistan, and President Bush has already declared that the U.S. has no intention of getting involved in ‘nation-building’. In fact, Bush has offered to cease the military action in Afghanistan if the Taliban capitulate and hand over Bin Laden and his lieutenants. Therefore, quite clearly, there is no humanitarian purpose in the U.S. military action. Whatever is said about the humanitarian outrages perpetrated by the Taliban regime, the U.S. is only concerned with getting their man: Bin Laden.

Thus it is hard to see how the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan is anything more than a show of force; a means to redress the impotence of the U.S. vis-à-vis the terrorist attacks of 11 September. The U.S. needs to reassure the American public that it can retaliate, if not against the culprits, against their brethren. For if the U.S. were seen not to retaliate, the American public would not only feel vulnerable to further terrorist attacks but powerless to deter them. Hence, the U.S. needs her ‘pound of flesh’ and if thousands or millions of Afghanis die to fulfil that need, so be it. Yet, it may not end there; the U.S. has not ruled out further attacks against other Islamic nations.

Moreover, whilst President Bush talks of a war on international terrorism, it is ‘Islamic terrorists’ that are the focus of this war. It is only ‘Islamic terrorist’ suspect who are being rounded up and arrested. In fact, all 22 of the U.S. most-wanted terrorist are ‘Islamic terrorists’. Nor is the U.S. willing to debate what groups are to be considered terrorists. The international world is expected to accept the U.S. classification, which includes legitimate resistance movements to the Israeli occupation, which are recognized as such by the United Nations. Yet, conversely, the U.S. will not condemn Israeli State terrorism perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

Therefore it is hard to understand that this is not a war against Islam; Muslims are being indiscriminately targeted in Afghanistan, and it is Muslims who are the focus of the U.S. scourge on terrorism. The inequity of U.S. foreign policy is all too clear. So perhaps the real strategic objective of the U.S. military action in Afghanistan is to show the Muslim world that retribution will be disproportionate and indiscriminate.