EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
Supporting Afghanistan, for World Peace and Development—Opportunities Not To Be Missed
Sept. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—This Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Schiller Institute is holding an international online event, centered in New York City, titled, “9/11/2021: The Path Forward from Afghanistan, 9/11, and the Surveillance State.” Experts—from intelligence specialists William Binney and Ray McGovern, to 9/11 victims and families suing for disclosure of classified documentation—will bring out the truth about the British, Saudi, and treasonous U.S. networks behind the attack. Covering up those facts with the Big Lie that rogue bad guys in caves in Afghanistan brought off the hijacked commercial jet assaults, is a key part of what has led to 20 years of destructive, failed warfare in Afghanistan, which is now ended. Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche will speak and participate in the dialogue on what comes next.
The event will be preceded on Sept. 10, Friday evening with concert performance of the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus, streamed live from Manhattan, titled, “9/11 Memorial Concert: Beethoven’s ‘Agnus Dei’: Peace for Ourselves, and the World.”
These occasions are not to be missed. They embody the interventionism needed to act in support of what is required at this moment for initiatives to support reconstruction in Afghanistan, to move the world into a new era of cooperation and betterment everywhere, not destruction.
There are reports from the Central Asian region in this direction. Today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China said that yesterday’s meeting convened by Pakistan, which included China, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, all neighbors of Afghanistan, marks what will be ongoing collaboration. Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the meeting
“signifies the establishment of a coordination and cooperation mechanism by its neighboring countries. This mechanism goes hand in hand with other existing multilateral mechanisms related to the Afghan issue and can complement each other and form synergy.... The hope to host the second conference has already been expressed.”
On the ground, institutional support has begun. On Sept. 6, the first of three planes flew into Mazar-e-Sharif, with tons of medical supplies from the World Health Organization. The UN logistics service, run by the World Food Program, tweeted photographs of the plane and cargo, to mark the commitment. Today, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) tweeted that they have been able to keep open the five hospitals they operate in Afghanistan. China announced it will send in 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and $30 million worth of food, medicines, and related aid. The Kabul International Airport is now fully operational, and a flight carrying 100 people, including several Americans, departed today and landed safely in Qatar.
The necessity for a new direction posed by the Afghanistan situation, demands rethinking by all institutions. This was in evidence at today’s heads-of-state annual BRICS meeting, held virtually, hosted by India. All five national leaders spoke. Afghanistan was prominently on the agenda, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stressed that
“the withdrawal of the U.S. and their allies from Afghanistan led to caused a new crisis situation.... Understandably, just like its BRICS partners, Russia has consistently advocated the establishment of long-awaited peace and stability in Afghanistan, where the people have been fighting for many decades and have earned the right to independently determine what their state will be like.”
He said that the partnership of the BRICS nations is in demand in many challenging situations. “I agree with my colleagues who expressed this opinion that the authority of our association is growing. Its role in international affairs is on the rise and it is substantial.”
Also required for a world shift into a positive direction is the role of citizen leadership everywhere—speaking out on what must be done. On Sept. 5, Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche addressed this in her statement, “Can ‘The West’ Learn? What Afghanistan Needs Now!” issued for endorsement and for fostering other statements and initiatives from everywhere.
In total opposition to such mobilization of humanity, Tony Blair, the instigator of every possible “R2P” (“responsibility to protect”) military invasion he could imagine, appeared today in live-streamed broadcast interview on 9/11 by the Washington Post Live. He defended the U.S. and NATO’s 20 years in Afghanistan, and the bin Laden cover story, and demanded continued Anglo-American military collaboration anywhere and everywhere against what he described as never-ending “extremist radical Islamism.” The fact that anyone should listen to this imperial war criminal simply demonstrates the treasonous nature of the Washington Post.
