London Trying Hard To Kill Afghan Peace, but Being Blocked

Aug. 30, 2021 (EIRNS)—The Afghanistan War is over. U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Frank McKenzie announced Monday afternoon, Aug. 30, the departure of the last U.S. Air Force evacuation flight from Kabul, and said “Tonight’s withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.”

But the furious likes of Tony Blair have not given up. A special session of the UN Security Council, called at the special request of Britain and France, did not adopt the Anglo-French resolution which would have called for a “safe zone” in Kabul supposedly administered by the UN, and similar “humanitarian corridors” elsewhere in Afghanistan. A considerably watered-down resolution, passed 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining, will nonetheless do no good. It demanded of the Afghan Taliban “that every effort be made to allow for the rapid and secure reopening of the Kabul airport and its surrounding area,” with no one preventing Afghans from travelling whenever they wish, and that the Taliban must “adhere to this and all other commitments.

British Ambassador to the UN Dame Barbara Woodward told the UN Security Council president in a speech after the vote, “We have been clear that the Taliban must adhere to their own stated commitments to ensure safe passage beyond 31 August.” Moreover, in a particularly rich flourish for a Brit to make, she declared, “A coordinated approach will be vital to counter any extremist threat emanating from Afghanistan, and we call on the Taliban to uphold the commitments contained in the Doha agreement.”

Dame Barbara’s verbal flourishes showed no interest in any “commitments” regarding the 85% of the world’s opium traffic coming from Afghanistan for more than a decade, particularly from Helmand Province under British military occupation. But in the Wall Street Journal Aug. 28 was reported an interesting development: The Taliban have already started issuing orders to Kandahar farmers that opium poppy will be a banned crop when the Taliban have formed a government, “adhering to a commitment” made by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid at an Aug. 18 press conference. Farmers are quoted saying they will have to obey this Taliban ruling, and the price of raw opium in several provinces has doubled or skyrocketed from $70/ton to $200.