The rapid developments in Afghanistan following the collapse of the puppet government, which had emerged in the country after the imperialist intervention of the US, NATO, and their allies, and the rise to power of the Taliban obscurantist movement, which had multifarious support initially by the USA and other capitalist powers, show that the suffering of the Afghan people is endless.

It is clearly demonstrated that the US intervention in 2001, which was carried out under the pretext of “combating terrorism” and the attack on the Twin Towers, in reality had other aims and particularly the control of the “soft underbelly” of Russia and China, in the context of the competition of these powers with the USA.

The Biden administration is still lying, presenting “the saving on people's economic resources” as the reason for the withdrawal of US military forces. Its goals are different, such as shifting US attention to other “fronts” such as the Pacific region, and seeking to create a “climate of instability” in Central Asia that will be convenient for it by “instrumentalizing” developments in Afghanistan. It is through these inter-imperialist competition that the Taliban seem to be favoured today.

Right from the first moment, the KKE condemned the intervention in Afghanistan; it rejected the pretexts of the USA, NATO, and the EU; it denounced the responsibilities of all Greek governments (ND, SYRIZA, PASOK, etc.), which from 2001 until today have supported the involvement of our country and the Greek armed forces in Afghanistan. Through every medium possible, it demanded the withdrawal of Greek forces from Afghanistan and any other imperialist mission abroad.

Now the various bourgeois staffs are shedding crocodile tears for the situation of the people in Afghanistan, especially for the position of women. They are the same staffs that have supported and continue to support regimes that took similar measures against women in their own countries.

They are the same staffs that in other historical eras (as in the 1980s) had vehemently supported the Mujahideen obscurantist movement (through which the Taliban emerged), which fought against the People's Revolution and Soviet internationalist military aid.

They also refer with the same hypocrisy to the expected increase in the number of refugees, when the very developments prove what they all want to conceal, namely that refugees are ultimately the victims of wars and interventions.

Today the need for people's struggle against any reactionary and obscurantist force is further highlighted, inextricably linked to the struggle against the capitalist system and the imperialist forces and plans that give rise to and utilize them.

16/8/2021