US shows its 'reach is long' — again
By Sean Healy
LAHORE — In yet another demonstration to the world of military might, US President Bill Clinton has bombed targets in Afghanistan and Sudan.
The air strikes, by jet and cruise missile, were ostensibly aimed at "international terrorism" and particularly the alleged terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, in retaliation for the embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Three areas were bombed in Afghanistan, causing 27 deaths. All were alleged by the Pentagon to be training camps for bin Laden's network.
Further targets were bombed on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. US military sources claimed the target was a factory producing chemical weapons, including nerve gas. The Sudanese government described the factory as a private pharmaceutical firm manufacturing antibiotics. The factory was located in the middle of a poor area; there is as yet no figure on the number of civilian deaths.
The motives for the strikes have to do with reasserting US military might in the region and demonstrating that, in the words of US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, "Our reach is long".
The strikes have provoked outrage from the people of the region, including neighbouring Pakistan.
The loudest condemnations have come from Islamic fundamentalist forces linked to bin Laden and to the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The largest Islamic fundamentalist force in Pakistan, Jamaat-i-Islami, has called for a meeting of all Muslim nations and organisations to plan a "fitting response" to the US action.
Progressive and anti-imperialist forces have also condemned the strikes. The Labour Party of Pakistan issued a strong statement condemning the bombings. "The real purpose of these strikes is not to target 'terrorism', but to show the world who's boss", said the party's general secretary, Farooq Tariq.
"The Labour Party of Pakistan has a strong position against terrorism; this includes the embassy bombings", said Shoaib Bhatti, the chairperson of the party. "We have also made clear our opposition to the Taliban regime in Kabul, which is engaging in a terrorist war against its own people. But it is not the place of the US, or any western power, to appoint themselves 'world cop' and intervene where and when they like.
"We demand that US imperialism immediately ceases further such military actions and withdraws its forces of destruction from the region."
The Pakistani government denies that it supports the Taliban, to universal disbelief. Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world that officially recognise the Taliban regime and has called for international recognition to be extended to it.
Pakistan provided the initial bases from which the Taliban launched its drive through Afghanistan in 1994. Since then, the Pakistan military and intelligence agencies have provided information, weaponry and military training. It was the Pakistani intelligence services that trained the Taliban in the use of the fighter jets they captured when they took Kabul.
The latest US strikes put the Pakistani elite in a difficult position, however. Do they follow the lead of their major backer, the US? Or do they persist in support for the Taliban?
So far, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been silent — the Pakistani government is yet to issue any statement on the strikes. The cabinet is bitterly split on the issue.
If the Pakistani government continues backing the Taliban, it risks a total end to US economic aid. The day of the strikes also brought news that US representatives had given the green light to the IMF to negotiate a bailout package for the collapsing Pakistani economy. The US administration has also offered in the last few days to ease or lift the sanctions imposed after Pakistan's nuclear tests.
But if Islamabad cuts its ties with the Taliban, it risks inflaming conflict with domestic Islamic fundamentalist forces and undercutting one of the bases for its own support.
On August 20, Jamaat-i-Islami launched its own campaign to introduce Islamic law in Pakistan. It is not beyond the Taliban's resources to launch expeditions of its own into Pakistan. And Nawaz Sharif's own Muslim League has also used Islamic demagoguery to garner support.
The central Asian region is already a powder keg. The US actions may well prove the spark which sets it alight.