US creates managed chaos in a country to control it: Analyst

The United States “occupation strategy” involves a cycle of invading a country of interest, turning it into a chaotic mess and then using the chaos as “a justification” for longer military presence in that country, says American political commentator and peace activist Brian Becker.

A day after US President Barack Obama declared the end of the war in Afghanistan, the longest conflict in America’s history, Republican Senator John McCain said the White House should abandon its strict schedule for the withdrawal of US troops from the country and replace it with a “plan based on conditions on the ground”.

“If this is not done, and if the administration insists on pulling all US forces out of the country for political reasons, Afghanistan will deteriorate just as Iraq has since 2011,” he warned. “That would not just be a tragedy for the Afghan people; it would put the American people in far greater danger.”

“John McCain represents a voice from the military-industrial complex — from the Pentagon itself — and he represents those who really see Afghanistan as a potential, enduring, long-term US military base, from which the US can project military power, not only inside of Afghanistan, but through the entire south-central Asian region,” said Becker, the national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, a protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations.

“The danger of Afghanistan degenerating into a situation similar to Iraq is real,” Becker told Press TV in an interview on Tuesday. “But the reason that Afghanistan, like Iraq, could fall into chaos is precisely because the US military invaded the two countries. It’s precisely because the US occupation strategy has so deteriorated life for the people in those two countries and has retarded or subverted their ability to function as unitary states. That has created the chaotic situation in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere as well, including Libya and Syria.”

“We see a cycle here,” Becker continued. “A cycle in which the US creates chaos and then uses the chaos as a rationale or justification for the US maintaining a long-term military presence in regions that have great natural resources and are geo-strategically important from a point of view of the US empire.”

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but the country remained insecure despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops.

In a statement on Sunday, Obama argued America is safer and more secure after the Afghan war, which was not worth the cost, a great majority of Americans believe, according to recent polls.

Obama said about 10,000 troops remaining in Afghanistan would only be involved in training Afghan forces.

However, Obama has secretly signed an order that allows US troops to be involved in combat operations in Afghanistan throughout 2015, according to The New York Times.

The order will authorize American forces to continue their missions against the Taliban and other militant groups in the Asian country. The new authorization will also let US jets, bombers, and drones be used to aid ground troops.