WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2021) After years of American operations in Afghanistan that have led to violence and destruction in the country, Washington should pay reparations to the people of the conflict-stricken nation, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) group, which stands against American military intervention worldwide, told Sputnik, suggesting that after Washington leaves Afghanistan, it may turn an eye on another country for intervention.
This week, American forces departed one of the country's biggest bases in Afghanistan, Kandahar Airfield, and have already turned it over to the Afghan National Defense Security Forces as the US continues the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country. President Joe Biden vowed to complete the withdrawal by a date redolent with meaning for Americans - the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which sparked the War on Terror announced by former President George W. Bush.
"Like in the wars of intervention in Korea and Vietnam before, the effects of the U.S.-Afghan war will be detrimental to the people of Afghanistan for decades to come. Because of the violence and destruction that its war and intervention created the U.S. should be required to pay and supply reparations to Afghanistan," the SDS said.
The group recalled that US operations have resulted in thousands of deaths among civilians and the destruction of the environment, infrastructure and economy of Afghanistan.
"The U.S. attempted to present the war in Afghanistan as a just war for the freedom and protection of the people of Afghanistan from Al-Qaeda's [terrorist group, banned in Russia] violence, while instead, the U.S. military committed countless war crimes against innocent citizens," it said.
The twenty years of US military operations in Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of over 2,300 American servicemen and the deaths and injuries of hundreds of thousands of Afghan people. The country is still riven by violence between Taliban militants and Afghan forces despite the launch of peace negotiations between the radical movement and Kabul. The Afghan military continues to report on its special operations against the Taliban on a regular basis. The Taliban, for its part, repeatedly criticizes the US for violating the terms of the Doha non-aggression agreement reached in February 2020, requiring all foreign forces to leave Afghan soil by May 1.
As US operations continued in Afghanistan, the American people have become more distrustful of military deployment and intervention in foreign countries, the SDS noted.
"The withdrawal of the U.S. military from Afghanistan is the U.S. military and the Biden Administration admitting defeat in another war of intervention which was highly unpopular amongst U.S. citizens," the group said.
US MAY INTERVENE SOMEWHERE ELSE
Yet as the US retreats from Afghanistan, anti-war groups need to be "prepared to oppose the US aggression as it is likely that after Afghanistan Washington will increase sanctions and "possibly move towards intervention" in countries such as Venezuela or Iran, and "escalate tensions" between other world powers such as China and Russia, the SDS suggested.
"The U.S. warmachine is retreating from Afghanistan, but this will enable the U.S. military to intervene or start new wars elsewhere, and it is the duty of the anti-war movement to resist such aggression and violence," the group said.
The activists recalled that the US still is not fully retreating from the Middle East as the country's administration continues to authorize military operations in Arabic and Muslim majority countries.
"This is why the anti-war movement and progressives within the U.S. must continue to pressure the U.S. administration and military to leave Afghanistan. If the U.S. does not follow through with plans to withdraw the military from Afghanistan, it will result in anti-war protests and demonstrations across the U.S," it said.
According to the group, failure to end the war in Aghanistan will further increase the "gap of distrust" between the country's citizens and the military.
"Anti-war groups and activists in the U.S. should take the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as a victory if the process is completed. The anti-war movement cannot let its guard down during or after the withdrawal of Afghanistan," it added.
AL-QAEDA LIKELY TO BE US ANTAGONIST IN middle EAST
Meanwhile, the SDS assumed the possibility of a potential boost in influence of al-Qaeda after the US withdrawal.
"It is likely that Al-Qaeda will continue to be an antagonistic force to the U.S. in the Middle East, and it is possible that Al-Qaeda could attempt to take over Afghanistan. However, the U.S. must continue to remove its troops from Afghanistan as it does not have the right to choose to continue to intervene in Afghanistan when its intervention resulted in innocent citizens being bombed and killed by American forces who used fighting Al-Qaeda as a cover for their war crimes," the group said, adding that the report may make the US "more hesitant" to leave Afghanistan.
In late April, reports emerged that al-Qaeda vowed to continue waging war against the United States "on all other fronts" unless the American troops are entirely "expelled from the rest of the Islamic world."
The SDS recalled that Washington had once backed al-Qaeda in the 1980s when the Soviet forces were operating in Afghanistan.
"For these reasons, the best-case scenario for the people of Afghanistan to defeat Al-Qaeda and similar groups requires that the U.S. fully removes its military forces from the country, and brings a complete end to the U.S. 's practice of supplying, funding, and aiding paramilitary groups in the region," the group concluded.
Founded in 2006, the SDS, which calls itself the new SDS, is, in fact, the daughter organization of the Students for a Democratic Society movement from the 1960s, which was one of the principal groups opposing the Vietnam War. One of the prominent members of the SDS, Tom Hayden, was one of the key figures who stood the famous Chicago Seven trial. The new SDS was formed in response to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has launched campaigns against US interventions worldwide.
