Objectives behind Obama's decision to keep US troops in Afghanistan post 2014

By Zabihullah Mujahid (Afghan Taliban Spokesman)

On last Tuesday night (Feb 12, 2013) Obama announced the withdrawal of 34 thousand troops from Afghanistan.

In the beginning of his first presidential term in 2009, Mr. Obama directed to send 35 thousand additional forces to Afghanistan while most of the Eastern analysts and the American military experts had the divergent opinion about this step of Obama.

When Obama approved the dispatch of 35 thousand additional forces to Afghanistan on the recommendation of Stanly Mc Cristal, the commander general of American forces; even at that time a number of American experts considered this action of Obama as intentionally forcing the American troops into the death trap.

In response to a public opinion survey carried out by ‘The Inter Press Service News Agency’ with some American observers about sending the additional forces to Afghanistan by Obama, the Executive Chief of the Institute of Public Accuracy in Washington, Norman Solomon, had already said that I do not understand why the officials are deliberately sending our children to the ditch of death, because the dispatch of additional forces is just a military insanity which should have been stopped in the year 2009.

Similarly at that time, according to a survey, published by the American television network CNN, 39% people were in favour while 59% were against Obama’s decision.

This was the opinion of the American political analysts and public media, when approximately 50 countries had active presence beside the Americans inside Afghanistan and some of them were sending even fresh forces at that time.

Now everyone has admitted the defeat of all foreign forces in Afghanistan including the Americans therefore most of the allied countries have already withdrawn their troops from Afghanistan and others have announced, July 2014, as the deadline for their withdrawal. How can Obama achieve in the lost battlefield, with the help of his 16 thousand confidence-lost soldiers, what he could not accomplish in the previous 12 years even in the presence of 150 thousand forces?

Now the question is why did Obama insist upon the dispatch of additional forces to Afghanistan at that time as his military strategy?

If the dispatch of these forces has been effective or showed some practical advantage then why is he announcing their retreat?

If they say that they have accomplished the objectives for which they had sent troops, it bears no reality in the perception of the ground realities in Afghanistan; because the circumstances, when they were sending additional forces to Afghanistan and now when they are evacuating them, have changed substantially from military point of view. At that time the operations of Mujahidin against the foreigners were comparatively less and they were fighting defensive war with the enemy on all fronts throughout the country. Now Mujahidin are more powerful and have changed from defensive situation to the offensive condition in the field of resistance. Throughout the country, Mujahidin are carrying out successful offensive attacks over the Americans and their allies and the enemy cannot halt it despite all their might.

The contradictory decisions of Obama shows that he might have lost his mental equilibrium because of military successes of Mujahidin in Afghanistan therefore he is deciding about their military presence in Afghanistan which is obviously harmful for them instead of being useful; because this limited number of troops who have witnessed the defeat of their colleagues in the battlefield and have lost their morale, are in no way in a position to win the war field which they have lost even in the presence of 150 thousand partners.

Then why is Obama insisting upon the stay of these forces?

Obama has the following objectives to achieve from the presence of this limited number of troops in Afghanistan:

A: He wants to protract the American occupation for the achievement of their military and political colonial objectives in Afghanistan which they had started 12 years ago on the basis of various lame excuses.

            B: The Americans, who are renowned in the world as the blood suckers and professional murderers of the oppressed masses, want to keep the war-flames alive in the war-ravaged Afghanistan, so that they could take the revenge through this war from the Afghans who have inflicted devastating corporeal and financial losses on them in the battle field.

            C: Through this step Obama wants to exhibit to his international rivals i.e. Russia, China and Iran that they still have the vigor of rivalry in the military and political fields and the existence of American permanent bases in Afghanistan will be an instance for that.

            D: The Americans want to include Afghanistan in the list of those permanent colonial countries where the American military bases are present since World War‖ so that they could take military and logistic advantage of her (Afghanistan) as per needed.

These are the American objectives that Obama want to achieve through the remaining forces inside Afghanistan but whether the ground realities in Afghanistan are primed that the Americans can manage to achieve them through this number of limited troops?

The answer is quite obvious, No and Never!!!

The Americans wanted to accomplish these malicious objectives with the collaboration of the international alliance, but the Americans as well as their allies saw that the Americans failed absolutely in the attainment of these objectives.

The forces dragged in the American Alliance have now realized that their military presence has been misused by the Americans in the occupation of Afghanistan. That is why that they are neither willing to remain any more inside Afghanistan nor want to support the Americans in this path.

The Afghan Nation has also witnessed the cruelties and brutalities of the Americans under the name of democracy and development in the last 12 years. They can never accept that the same invading Americans should have permanent existence in their beloved homeland.

The neighbouring and regional countries also consider the American presence inside Afghanistan as a potential threat for them and cannot tolerate that the expansionist Americans should endanger their security from such a close region.

Therefore, finally we reach to the conclusion that neither the military and economic conditions of America nor the ground realities inside Afghanistan nor the regional circumstances are ready to accept the American presence over here anymore.

If the Americans and their scatterbrained president want to extend the occupation of Afghanistan just by sheer force against all these facts and figures, then it will be in reality the continuation of the same war lunacy and will never accomplish what they have conceived in their vain-thoughts.