AFGHANISTAN The United States praises the « professionalism » of the Taliban

We reprint an article published in La Tribune des Travailleurs (France) 

Two months after withdrawing American troops and organising the return to power of the Taliban (1), the Biden administration sent its representatives to meet the new masters of Kabul on 9 and 10 October, in Doha (Qatar). 

According to the US State Department, the exchanges were « frank and professional« . Already on 9 September, the US National Security Council had praised the Taliban’s « professionalism » in evacuating US nationals. 

Of course, the State Department noted that it had put the issue of « human rights, particularly the participation of women and girls at all levels of Afghan society » on the agenda. It should be recalled that the Taliban regime has just dismissed all female employees of State institutions, including female teachers, who were asked to “stay at home’” A decision justified by Sharia law… and above all very useful to the Taliban regime, which has been unable to pay civil servants’ salaries for two months. 

The US representatives in Doha reminded the Taliban that it is America, and America alone, that will decide when international funding for Afghanistan – which has been blocked for two months – will be restored. By promising « significant US humanitarian assistance » to its interlocutors, the Biden administration is telling the Taliban that even without a military occupation, we still control the future of Afghanistan and its people. 

As La Tribune des Travailleurs has repeatedly pointed out, the Biden administration, in line with Trump, is obeying the demands of Wall Street capitalists who – in order to recover their profit margins, eroded by the crisis – need to get their hands on the Chinese market. And it was to redeploy the American war machine to China that Biden evacuated Afghanistan. 

Beyond diplomatic rhetoric on « human rights » (and women’s rights), the « professionalism » of the Taliban touted by Washington is the professionalism of the executioners. It is their capacity to reign terror on the Afghan people who, like all the peoples of the world, aspire to live without war and exploitation. 

From Afghanistan comes this information: « On 18 September 2021 in Kabul, the former editorial offices of the newspaper Eteraz (2) were searched by the Taliban regime’s intelligence services. The building’s security guard was questioned about the editorial staff. Fortunately, they were only able to seize a few unsold copies of the newspaper. On 3 October, they searched the homes of three labour activists in the provinces of Kabul, Laghman and Takhar. Fortunately, these comrades had left their homes and could not be arrested. But the authorities warned that if they did not appear in court voluntarily, retaliatory measures would be taken against their families. Behind the Taliban regime’s official declarations of ‘amnesty for all opponents’, they track, arrest, torture and sometimes murder a range of particularly targeted groups.” 

It is the duty of the labour movement to demand of all imperialist governments the unconditional reception of militants threatened with death by the Taliban regime.

Dominique Ferré 

(1) In accordance with the agreements signed in February 2020 in Doha (Qatar) by the Trump administration and implemented by Biden in August 2021. 

(2) Eteraz (“The Protest”) is a progressive, democratic and secular monthly newspaper, published in Kabul from January 2020 to August 2021. La Tribune des Travailleurs has regularly reported on its struggle.