Creating a Failed State : The U. S. and Canada in Afghanistan

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9781552662625
• ISBN10: 1552662624
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2008-09-01
• Publisher: Brunswick Books

Summary

Taking the stance that the mainstream media sugarcoats Canada's involvement in the U.S.'s war in Afghanistanand equates "supporting the troops" with supporting the warthis analysis looks at Canada's role in light of the politics of oil and U.S. imperialism, making heated calls for Canada's withdrawal. It is argued that the intent of capturing Osama bin Laden was merely a guise for the U.S.'s desire to dominate internationally, and that Canada's historical role of essentially following U.S. foreign policy makes it impossible to justify their continued presence and should be questioned more fervently as an imperialist quest for oil and gas resources.

Author Biography

John W. Warnock is a former professor of political economy and sociology at the University of Regina, and is the author of The Other Mexico, The Politics of Hunger: The Global Food System, and Saskatchewan: The Roots of Discontent and Protest. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. 1
Introduction	p. 2
Humanitarian Intervention: Guns v. Spears	p. 6
US Power is Air Power	p. 8
Depleted Uranium: The Gift from Saskatchewan	p. 10
Our Allies: The Northern Alliance	p. 11
Air Power in Support of the Northern Alliance	p. 12
Strictly an American War	p. 13
Collateral Damage	p. 15
What Was the Alternative?	p. 17
The Victory for Air Power	p. 19
Afghanistan as a Failed State?	p. 21
What Is a Failed State?	p. 22
Afghanistan's Political Economy	p. 24
Socio-economic Profile	p. 25
Afghanistan Six Years after the US Invasion	p. 26
Planning Economic Development: Afghanistan as a New Colony	p. 33
Failed States and "Humanitarian Intervention"	p. 35
Canada and Humanitarian Intervention	p. 38
Modernization and Modernity	p. 40
The Afghan Empire and the Great Game	p. 42
Modernization: The Influence of Ataturk	p. 45
Afghanistan's Social Structure	p. 46
Moving Towards Liberal Democracy	p. 48
Constructing a New Constitution	p. 49
The Rise of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan	p. 50
The Communists Seize Power	p. 52
The Soviet Union Moves into Afghanistan	p. 54
The Rise of the Islamist Opposition	p. 56
The Outcome of the War against Communism	p. 58
The Rabbani Government and Civil War	p. 59
The Rise of the Taliban	p. 60
The United States and the Burden of Empire	p. 62
The Importance of Oil and Gas	p. 64
The Policy Shift in the US Government	p. 67
Full-spectrum Dominance	p. 70
Finding the New Gurkhas	p. 72
National Security Intelligence	p. 75
The New National Security State	p. 76
Controlling Public Opinion	p. 79
The Struggle for Caspian Sea Oil	p. 81
Resistance to the New World Order	p. 84
The New Great Game in Central Asia	p. 86
9/11, al Oaeda and the War on Terrorism	p. 88
Creating the Islamist Rebellion	p. 91
Supporting the Mujahideen Islamists in Afghanistan	p. 92
Osama Bin Laden and the War of Insurgency	p. 93
Al Qaeda Moves to the United States	p. 94
The Blowback Begins	p. 95
Planning the Second Attack on the World Trade Center	p. 98
Numerous Advance Warnings of 9/11 Attack	p. 100
US-al Qaeda Relations After the End of the Afghan War	p. 102
Cracks in the al Qaeda-CIA Alliance	p. 103
Why is Bin Laden Still at Large?	p. 104
Al Qaeda and the War on Terrorism	p. 105
B-52 Democracy	p. 110
The Bonn Agreement	p. 112
The Emergency Loya Jirga	p. 114
Forming the New Constitution	p. 116
The New Constitution	p. 118
The Presidential Election	p. 120
The Election for the Parliament	p. 123
A Democratic Government?	p. 126
Canada's Role in Afghanistan Democracy	p. 127
The Politics of Women's Rights	p. 130
US Government Supports the Taliban	p. 132
Women under the Rabbani and Taliban Regimes	p. 133
The Afghan Patriarchal Tradition	p. 135
The Historical Roots of Patriarchal Culture	p. 138
Patriarchal Practices in Western Cultures	p. 140
The Impact of Islam	p. 141
Women's Rights after 2001	p. 144
Breaking the Move towards Modernity	p. 147
Canada's Role in Afghanistan	p. 150
The Response to 9/11	p. 150
The Canadian Government and the Afghan War	p. 152
Canada and the US War on Iraq	p. 155
The Political Response to 9/11	p. 156
Post Cold War Foreign Policy Direction	p. 158
The Three D Approach to Canadian Policy	p. 159
The End of Peacekeeping?	p. 160
Three-D Policy: Canada's Political Role in Afghanistan	p. 162
Three-D Policy: Canada's Military Role in Afghanistan	p. 165
Three-D Policy: Canada's Economic and Humanitarian Assistance	p. 168
The Complete Loss of National Sovereignty	p. 170
Where Do We Go from Here?	p. 171
What Are the Alternatives?	p. 173
The Alternative Policy for Canada	p. 175
Shifting to Humanitarian Assistance	p. 178
A New Dimension for Canadian Policy	p. 180
Building Peace and Independence in Canada	p. 183
What is Terrorism?	p. 187
Selected Bibliography and Notes	p. 190
Index	p. 204
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