Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Biden’s Economic Warfare on Afghanistan Is Killing Thousands and Empowering the Taliban

Despite a historic humanitarian crisis, the Biden administration’s economic measures against Afghanistan, as well as the sanctions on Russia and war in Ukraine are making it harder for Afghans to access food and survive. Biden’s policies are also making it harder for Afghans fighting back against the Taliban.

Facebook Twitter Share
KABUL: People protest near the former U.S. embassy in December, blaming the freezing of Afghanistan’s assets for widespread hunger. Bilal Guler/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Months before U.S. economic warfare on Russia threw the world’s economy into crisis, U.S. economic warfare on Afghanistan was imposing a famine on the country. The impact of these policies are coming to light and the results are horrifying. Recently Human Rights Watch published a report showing that 13,000 Afghan newborns have died of malnourishment since January of this year, primarily because of the Biden administration’s economic blockade on Afghanistan. The starvation and poverty are leading some Afghans to sell babies and young girls to survive and some estimate that Biden’s sanctions on Afghanistan threaten to kill more people than two decades of war.

Undoubtedly, the war in Ukraine and the sanctions being imposed on Russia have plunged countries throughout the world into even greater crises with the rising costs of important commodities but the situation is especially dire in countries like Afghanistan which were already in the depths of historic humanitarian crises as a consequence of imperialist intervention. 

Biden froze the Afghan economy almost immediately after the United States withdrew troops from the country. He has continued to justify this new form of war on Afghanistan as necessary for countering the repressive Taliban. While it’s true that the Taliban has been stripping women of their basic right to work, attend school, and exist on equal terms in society, Biden’s policies only inflict greater suffering on the Afghan people and women in particular.

The Afghan people and Afghan women are already resisting the Taliban, without any assistance from the United States. Last week more than two dozen girls took to the streets in Kabul to protest the Taliban’s decision to shut down secondary schools for girls. The Taliban has responded to this and similar protests with arrests, crackdowns, and raids on the homes of women’s rights activists. The repression of progressive movements and women’s rights is inexcusable. Yet, the economic warfare carried out by the United States will only make it more difficult for these movements to challenge the Taliban’s oppression.

The famine that Biden is imposing on Afghanistan is a clear example of the brutality of economic warfare, even when framed in “humanitarian” terms. As the brutal sanctions on Iraq showed,  economic warfare can be even more deadly than outright military occupations and bombs, while garnering less public attention and scrutiny.

The working class and oppressed communities in Afghanistan are the only forces that can effectively overthrow the Taliban’s regime. Decades of foreign intervention in the country have shown that imperialism only causes more suffering and further empowers the most reactionary elements of Afghan politics. Afghan women are waging a fierce struggle for their basic rights. Solidarity with them from workers and feminists in the imperialist United States means opposing the Biden administration’s continuation of war on Afghanistan through economic means.

Facebook Twitter Share

Maryam Alaniz

Maryam Alaniz is a socialist journalist, activist, and PhD student living in NYC. She is an editor for the international section of Left Voice. Follow her on Twitter: @MaryamAlaniz

Twitter

Sam Carliner

Sam Carliner is a socialist with a background in journalism. He mainly writes for Left Voice about US imperialism. He also tweets about imperialism as @saminthecan.

Asia-Pacific

The Roots of the Rebellion at Foxconn

Jenny Chan is a researcher and professor at the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. She is co-author of the book Dying for an iPhone. She spoke with La Izquerda Diario about the causes of the rebellion by workers at the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China.

Josefina L. Martínez

December 7, 2022
Participants in a memorial ceremony lay flowers to pay respect to a deceased 23-year-old worker in front of the SPC headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. She died in an accident at a baking factory in Pyeongtaek affiliated with SPC on Saturday.

How Workers and Socialists are Responding to a Workplace Death at One of South Korea’s Largest Food Manufacturers

Following a workplace death at SPC group, one of the largest food manufacturers in South Korea, a consumer boycott quickly gained traction. Organized workers and revolutionary socialists are playing a role in this struggle.

Sam Carliner

November 12, 2022
A man holds a Sri Lankan national flag during a protest outside the Parliament complex in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Protests Against Inflation and the IMF Return to Sri Lanka

Protesters, along with unions and political organizations took to the streets of Sri Lanka on Thursday, mobilizing against inflation, staggering food prices, and new IMF adjustment programs ushered in by the the illegitimate government of Wickremesinghe, which replaced Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government by mass demonstrations in July.

What’s behind the Escalations in Korea?

For the first time in five years, tensions in the Korean peninsula are escalating. This comes in the context of a U.S. military buildup in the Pacific, driven by greater capitalist competition between the United States and China.

Sam Carliner

October 7, 2022

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023