Afghanistan

Afghans have absolute right to resist foreign occupation

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Afghans have absolute right to resist foreign occupation

A political analyst tells Press TV that Afghan people have an absolute right to resist, by any means possible, the US-led forces who have occupied their country for more than a decade.

On February 5, the Geneva-based UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said in a report that the “attacks by US military forces in Afghanistan, including air strikes, have reportedly killed hundreds of children over the last four years.”

The UN body further said it is “alarmed at reports of the death of hundreds of children as a result of attacks and air strikes by the US military forces in Afghanistan.”

Press TV has conducted an interview with Caleb Maupin from International Action Center to further discuss the issue. What follows is the text of the interview.

Press TV: The report by the UN accuses the US-led foreign forces of killing hundreds of Afghan children. The US troops have been in Afghanistan for more than eleven years. Besides the Taliban, who else is to blame for the killing of civilians and especially children in Afghanistan?

Maupin: Well, it is very disgusting that these allegations are not being taken seriously. When children were ruthlessly murdered at Sandy Hook elementary school, the whole world was concerned about the brutality that was committed and these innocent people that were killed.

But because these children in Afghanistan were killed by US-backed forces, no one seems to care, the accusations not even being taken seriously and why does the life of people in Afghanistan not matter as much as the lives of people in United States, in Britain or any other country?

The fact is that the US troops are in Afghanistan, are killing people, have killed people and now it is coming out that a very serious murder of civilians went on and yet it is not being taken seriously. The media in the United States is largely silent about this and that is very frightening.

Press TV: How can Afghans take action against US troops, especially with the legal immunity that Washington is after in Afghanistan?

Maupin: The people of Afghanistan have the absolute right to resist the occupation of their country; their country has been invaded by the United States, their government has been overthrown and they are being occupied.

The US military, a foreign power, is occupying their country and they have the absolute right to resist by any means they choose to use, by any means necessary, just like the people of the United States have the right to run the United State, the people of Africa have the right to run Africa, the people of Asia have the right to run Asia, the people of Afghanistan have the right to run Afghanistan, have the right to self-determination and have the right to fight people from foreign countries who are trying to dominate.

The US needs to leave Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan are justified in any resistance they carry out to foreign occupation.

Press TV: What about the government of Afghanistan? I mean how strong it had been in demanding an explanation from Washington?

Maupin: Well, I can only hope they would be as strong as possible and demanding that any US troops that murdered innocent people in Afghanistan be counted accountable.

However, the fact that this government is backed up by US guns and US troops, makes me think that there is not at all, it is not likely to occur. However, I hope the Afghan government will pursue and try to win justice for these people that were murdered.

Press TV: And of course this report has come from the United Nations. How much is there for the United Nations to do?

Maupin: Well, you know the United Nations is very good, in some instances, at documenting injustices that go on and let’s be real about this, if this were alleged crime committed by the government of say, Syria or the government of Venezuela, the US media would take it very seriously and would be projected everywhere, even if it were obviously false.

There is probably a large deal of truth about what went on in Afghanistan and yet it is being ignored and that shows an extreme double standard. All kinds of crimes have been committed by the US troops in Afghanistan and we have seen that, all kinds of disgusting things, corpses being defiled, civilians being killed, so it wouldn’t be surprise to anyone in the world if this latest allegation about the murder of children were true, it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, it would just be continuum of the pattern of repression of the people of Afghanistan that we have seen.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if US troops have been engaged in these kinds of activities. This is what occupiers do, when people are occupying someone else’s homeland, they are forced to subjugate and brutalize the people in order to keep their role, that is the foreign domination, exploitation, that is what it is about, so it shouldn’t be any surprise if these allegations were true.

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