EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021

Put a Stop to Geopolitics—the Case of Afghanistan

July 5, 2021 (EIRNS)—Very unfortunately, there has been no advancement in the strategic situation of the United States in relations with Russia and China, since the mini-steps achieved with the Geneva meeting June 16 between President Biden and President Putin. We hear that arrangements are in the works for follow-on meetings between officials of the respective nations on strategic security talks—all to the good, but “nothing has qualitatively improved” in relations, as Helga Zepp LaRouche observed today.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov discussed this yesterday in an interview on Rossiya-1 TV’s “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.” program. He said that the U.S. may be meeting with Russia, but as an adversary, and it is not conducive to good relations. While commending the dialogue as “constructive,” Peskov said, “but, can this constructive stance immediately change the real situation? Unfortunately, no.” He discussed the June 23 HMS Defender incident sternly, calling it “a tool of provocation.” He put the blame on the U.S., by saying it is part of “operations basically planned by senior partners from overseas.” He said that, Russia will be resolute, and not tolerate further provocations like that of HMS Defender.

In this context, the prospects for Afghanistan are bound to be grim and limited. The target date for pull-out of U.S. forces after 20 years, was July 4, which has been mostly done, but the situation is extremely unstable. Today the British National Security Council is meeting to decide its next (public) moves. Terrorism and dope-running has been protected all along during the so-called U.S., U.K. and NATO war on terrorism in Afghanistan, with a terrible toll in loss of life and destruction of the means to life.

By contrast, in the context of peace through development, a real future for Afghanistan can be built, which means security for all. This was spelled out in detail in the 2014 EIR Special Report “The Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge.” The chapter titled, “End Geopolitics in Central Asia,” by Ramtanu Maitra, included a 14-page appendix on “The Industrial Development of Afghanistan and Central Asia: A Russian Vision.” The plan, with 24 illustrations, covers proposals and specifics for industry, agriculture, rail, water management, trade, pipelines, social rehabilitation and more. It had been worked out by regional and Russian experts, but blocked in 2014 by British geopolitical, pro-strife, pro-drug networks.

What happened is, as explained in EIR’s introduction to the appendix, the Afghanistan development plan represented “what Russia was bringing to the table at the June 2014 Group of Eight (G8) summit in Sochi, Russia. President Vladimir Putin’s longtime colleague, Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS) head Victor Ivanov, had announced a campaign to eliminate the ‘planetary narcotics production center’ in Afghanistan, as a focus of Russia’s G8 chairmanship. But the summit was cancelled, when the G8 expelled Russia over the Ukraine crisis.”

The Afghan plan/Russian vision was subsequently excerpted from the EIR Special Report in the weekly EIR March 13, 2015 issue.

Now, seven years later, the Afghanistan development plan is more relevant than ever, and very possible, given the state of advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and if the major nations confer, as called for by President Vladimir Putin’s invitation for a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Four years ago, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for his nation to link up with the BRI, when speaking at a conference in India. On July 2, in a Global Times interview, Karzai said that collaboration is essential with China and the regional neighbor nations.

“Geopolitics must stop,” was Zepp LaRouche’s call today, for what must be done. She said that it couldn’t be clearer that necessity for intervention into the situation had to be based on “the common aims of mankind.” There is a huge need for reconstruction. It is in the common interests of all, who otherwise can be played off against each other—the Pushtuns, Iranians, Baloch, Pakistanis, and so on.

Zepp-LaRouche made the point that “the empire faction”—the British geopolitical networks, including inside the heads of some high U.S. officials—is “not the only game in town!” This will be seen, for example, July 6, at the World Parties Summit, when President Xi Jinping and others will celebrate the success of their development policies, at an online world conference with 500 representatives from 160 nations, and 10,000 total attendees. We are in the most crucial, decisive period, where we can turn dire situations around. We need to mobilize the spirit of people to do this. This is the real “Fourth of July spirit!”