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Afghanistan war in US geostrategic interests: Activist

Saturday, 05 November 2016 2:57 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 November 2016 2:59 PM ]

A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off on a mission at dawn from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. (File photo)

Anger continues to mount in Afghanistan over a deadly US airstrike in the northern province of Kunduz which has killed at least 30 Afghan civilians, including women and children. Washington has claimed that the aerial assault was carried out as an act of self-defense against the Taliban militant group.

An author and peace activist believes the war in Afghanistan is in United States’ geostrategic and business interests, adding that it has nothing to do with security and helping the Afghan people.

“They [Americans] are not defeating the Taliban. They have not gotten anything accomplished. [Osama] bin Laden has been dead for a number of years. They are not sincerely fighting the war on terrorism, this is war of terrorism,” Ryan Dawson told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

The activist went on to say this is just a war for “profiteering” and to continue to hold the “opium trade” open because the CIA uses narcotics traffic to finance covertly terrorist groups across the world.

“It is the same reason they [Americans] were in Vietnam. They were not there to fight communists. They were there to keep the narcotics traffic flowing because that black market budget is how the intelligence agencies foster terrorist groups,” he added.

Dawson also noted another reason for the United States to remain in Afghanistan is that the conflict will prevent any pipelines from reaching China.

“No investor is going to put their money behind a pipeline project that is crossing through a war-torn area where a pipe can be blown up for a matter of hundreds of dollars when they have to spend tens of millions to build it,” he said.

Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the US and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the Asian state still remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

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