Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Black America and the Imperial War Against Afghanistan
Ken Morgan
31 Aug 2017
🖨️ Print Article
Blacks and the Imperial War Against Afghanistan
Blacks and the Imperial War Against Afghanistan

“Black oppression and U.S. global imperialism are complements.”

Donald Trump recently extended U.S. imperialistic plans for Afghanistan. His “made in America” plan resembles that of his ruling class predecessors Obama and Bush.

Trump’s plan drew mixed reviews from the U.S. Congress. Some thought it lacked specifics. Others bolstered the plan. An overriding question remains. What way forward for U.S. imperialist aims in the region?

And what about Russia? It is a second rate power but matches U.S. nuclear capacity. Does an adversarial relationship still exist? The U.S. harbors relations with former Soviet countries in the South Asia region.

U.S. efforts to build a compliant Afghan government failed miserably. Despite the U.S. invading, occupying and providing aid to the Afghan Army and police, the Taliban -- the enemy -- controls two-thirds of the country. Imperialism contains its contradictions.

The CIA 30-odd years ago brought together the Mujahedeen (corrupt reactionary warlords possessing reactionary interpretations of Islam financed through the opium trade) to fight the Soviet Union defending the progressive Soviet-friendly Afghan leadership. They included the Taliban and Osama bin Laden -- Obama’s trophy.

“We need to see Trump’s actions in the larger context of U.S. and worldwide imperialism.”

All U.S. ruling class circles share concern over China’s growing economic influence amongst its Asian counterparts. China’s planned “Belt and Road” initiative that links Asia, Africa, and Europe, including Russia, provides an example. Disparate trade balances between the U.S. and China makes matters more complex for big business profit makers.

Tehran’s newfound coziness with the Taliban and its joint support with Russia over Syria provide another worry. Still another imperialist eye-catcher is Afghanistan’s newly discovered mineral reserves. Underlying all is the continuing capitalist world crisis fueled by the falling rate of profits.

What do all of these things mean for black people? We need to see Trump’s actions in the larger context of U.S. and worldwide imperialism. He is not just some crazy, racist bigot. It is all part of the same package. Black oppression and U.S. global imperialism are complements.

Eliminate “we” when black people talk about America’s imperialist wars. Remember Tonto’s newfound awareness. The Lone Ranger and Tonto found themselves surrounded by indigenous people in the song “What you mean we white man.” Replace white man with “owner of the wealth and means of production white man.”

We need a 365-day independent, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic black working class led party. A black coalition with similar pedigree will do for now.

U.S. out of Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. Keep hands off Syria and North Korea.

Dr. Morgan is a Black activist scholar. He can be reached at kmorgan2408@comcast.net.

 

 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
    02 Jun 2021
    The Mass Shooting Of The Day— this time was in San Jose… Do you know the way to San Jose?
  • Before Tulsa there was Bethesda:  The Cover-up of MAAFA (Genocide) and the Continuation of State Sponsored Racial Terror
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
    Before Tulsa there was Bethesda:  The Cover-up of MAAFA (Genocide) and the Continuation of State Sponsored Racial Terror
    02 Jun 2021
    The Black community in Bethesda and descendants of those buried in Moses Cemetery demand an immediate halt to the destruction of their ancestors’ resting place.
  • Bob Wing’s Strategy to Build the “Anti-Racist State” to Replace the “Racist State” is Liberal Social Imperialist Nonsense
    Quetzal Cáceres
    Bob Wing’s Strategy to Build the “Anti-Racist State” to Replace the “Racist State” is Liberal Social Imperialist Nonsense
    02 Jun 2021
    What Wing has done is taken an important formulation and neutered it to serve neoliberal multiculturalism.
  • Biden is Anti-Haiti, and His Haitian-American Press Person Doesn’t Give a Damn
    Pascal Robert
    Biden is Anti-Haiti, and His Haitian-American Press Person Doesn’t Give a Damn
    02 Jun 2021
    The current Haitian president is perhaps the most ineffectual US stooge to date, but Joe Biden and his Haitian American press person couldn’t care less.
  • BAR Book Forum: Tamika Nunley’s “At the Threshold of Liberty”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Tamika Nunley’s “At the Threshold of Liberty”
    02 Jun 2021
    How Black women gave the term “liberty” its meaning and expanded the scope of liberty in the nation’s capital during the nineteenth century.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us