It is halloween, and nothing is more terrifying to an amerikan than Third World resistance. All evidence points to a strengthened Afghan resistance, defense secretary Mattis himself has said “I think the Taliban had a good year last year […] Right now, I believe the enemy is surging.” With new tactics and morale, both the legal and illegal, secular-democratic and islamic forces in the country are making significant gains against the comprador regime and u.$. Imperialism. The imperialists continue to say that they cannot win, and that they will be beaten back one way or another, but despite their bombing campaigns and renewed offensive, amerikans have already suffered a moral and political defeat at the hands of the Taliban, and the will to fight continues to dissolve. Still, with very little support from the internal fractions of amerikan society, the Afghan resistance persists. If we want a speedy end to the genocidal war in Afghanistan we must be willing to do more to rebuild the anti-war movement in an anti-imperialist, communist form. If the liberals refuse, then we must accept this challenge.

Civilian casualties from amerikan airstrikes in Afghanistan rise more than 50% according to UN

(Oct. 12) UN report shows that civilian deaths resulting from airstrikes in Afghanistan are up by 50% this year, with more than 205 civilians confirmed dead and 261 wounded in september due to coalition bombing. The report shows that now only ~40% of the bombings are conducted by foreign troops in Afghanistan with ~60% are being conducted by Afghan security forces, utilizing new amerikan equipment in their bombing campaign. As the airstrikes continue to rise, so does the death toll in the Afghan countryside, which has proven an incredibly hostile area for the country’s own internal occupation force, as well as foreign coalition soldiers. Of course, the government and coalition blame the Taliban and other insurgents for the increasing civilian death toll. Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan ministry of defense stated they “use civilians as human shields and hide in residential areas,” which is to say that they attack from locations that are not open fields 12 miles from towns or homes. Such criticism is ridiculous, rather it should be noted that despite their “use of human shields” the Afghan military continues to insist on high-ordnance solutions which triple or even quadruple civilian casualties.

Amerikan drone strike kills 14 suspected Islamic State fighters in Kunar province

(Oct. 14) Coalition forces have claimed that a recent drone strike in Kunar province killed 14 Islamic State members in an attempt to assassinate local IS commanders. However, Shahzada Shaheed, the MP from Kunar, has challenged the reports. He states that those killed were actually civilians, accusing the amerikans of having attempted to claim the murder of civilians as a military victory.

Amerikans wound 2 after firing into group of school children for throwing stones in Jalalabad

(Oct. 16) Amerikan soldiers opened fire on a group of about 8 school children in Jalalabad. The students were standing at the front gate of their school when the amerikan patrol passed by, the students reportedly shouted anti-amerikan slogans, and threw rocks at the vehicles. The amerikans responded by opening fire on the children, striking two boys, both have survived their injuries. So far the amerikan military command in the region has said nothing of the incident, despite calls by the school faculty to launch a government inquiry.

Amerikan drone strikes kill 31 on Afghanistan-Pakistan border

(Oct. 17) Local officials reported two drone strikes carried out on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, part of a broader strategy to cut off supply lines running between the two countries. The exact casualties are disputed; the coalition claims that 31 militants were killed in the strikes, whereas the Taliban claims that the first strike killed 18 Haqqani soldiers from Pakistan, allied to the Taliban, and the second strike killed 6 Taliban militants, making for a total of 24. The passages from Pakistan to Afghanistan have been a vital access point for militants to transfer supplies, recruits and exchange goods produced in the Taliban controlled areas. These recent strikes were uncomfortably close to the border, only 300 meters from Pakistan as estimated by local officials.

Taliban attacks in kill 46 police in Paktia and Ghazni, including senior General

(Oct. 17) In a recent slew of attacks on police stations and checkpoints, more than 46 police have been killed by Taliban forces with an additional 63 officers wounded. These new attacks are made possible by the recent successes of the Taliban in the Balkh province, where they have seized a great amount of military equipment, including humvees and other military trucks. This new strategy involves packing humvees with explosives and driving them into police/army compounds before detonating them. The fact that they are using amerikan and Afghan military equipment makes it difficult to distinguish whether or not those in question are intruders. After the blast is set off, a large number of militants storm the facility, taking whatever they can and securing the facility. In Gardez province, the attack managed to kill the provincial police chief and notorious comprador, Gen. Toryalai Abdyani.

Taliban assault on military base kills 52 soldiers in Kandahar

(Oct. 18) Utilizing a similar strategy to the one employed against police earlier in the week, the Taliban managed to nearly wipe out a military encampment in Kandahar in an overnight raid. Insurgents killed 43 soldiers and injured an additional 9 while storming the base. Additionally, in an attack on another base in the Maiwand district, another 9 soldiers were killed by Taliban fighters. In conjunction with the earlier attacks launched on police compounds a day earlier, this marks a noticeable uptick in the Taliban offensive against the amerikan occupation. Afghan authorities are unsure of their ability to effectively respond to the increase in violent attacks.

Amerikan drone strike kills 4 suspected militants in Paktia province, near border with Pakistan

(Oct. 20) Continuing the deadly air-campaign on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, 4 people have been killed by a strike in Paktia province. The coalition has claimed those killed were militants, possibly of the Pakistani Taliban attempting to cross into Afghanistan, however no evidence has been presented to back up this claim.

Pentagon report shows that 152 Afghan soldiers deserted during training in the u.$.

(Oct. 21) A recent pentagon report has shown an astonishingly high rate of desertion among Afghan troops during training in the united $tates. Since the resurgence of the Taliban in 2005-2006, more 152 Afghan soldiers (mostly officers) have deserted their posts while training in the united $tates. Of the overall bulk of soldiers trained here in the u.$. this makes for a 6% desertion rate among Afghan troops, in comparison to the less-than 1% desertion rates among other foreign troops. The pentagon finds this data alarming because of the high number of officers who desert, which are to become the moral and disciplinary core of the Afghan security forces as they are attempting to reconstruct them as an effective fighting force. This demonstrates the unsustainable morale of the Afghan forces that falls further into disunity with every day, it cannot be held together alone by amerikan resources and money. The people have witnessedthe depth of its corruption and lack of empathy for the people for 16 years, and without a moral cause, this corruption is apparent even to those among their ranks.

Internal Taliban clash kills 40 militants in Herat Province

(Oct. 21) Intense fighting was heard overnight in Herat province as rivaling Taliban factions clashed over a territorial dispute, killing roughly 40 militants on either side. The nationally recognized Taliban organization, led by Mullah Haibatullah has considered to be in continuity with the organization’s former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. However, after the death of the former leader, in a power struggle between rivaling commanders, Mullah Rassoul separated from the organization with loyal officers and retreated to isolated corners of the country, attempting to wrest legitimacy from Mullah Haibatullah. This clash is just one episode in a larger struggle between the two rivaling factions. This kind of fighting has not had a significant impact on the ability of insurgents to repel government and imperialist forces, however. Although the locals have noted that such disputes are quite common in the area.

Taliban ambush army cadets in Kabul killing 15

(Oct. 21) The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the bombing which killed 15 army cadets while leaving their post in a military base in Kabul. The official twitter of the NATO mission in Afghanistan has responded, saying that this is a bold attack against the “future” of the Afghan military force, and by extension the amerikan occupation. However, it has not yet been decided whether or not there will be a “future” for either. In fact, if this attack and others have demonstrated anything it is that there is no future, and that the moral fiber of the Afghan security forces is being burned away through callous amerikan apathy to their suffering in the civil war, and by an inability to effectively describe what their real purpose is in the “defense” of a traitorous regime. The NATO forces have claimed that such attacks are a demonstration of the Taliban’s inability to fight the military on the field. Rather, it would appear that such a strategy is the prudent realization of a popular movement that they cannot fight as the imperialists do, and so they will not. Yet, in the eyes of the imperialists, prudence is cowardice. We shall see what is to come of this situation.

Pakistan mocks the amerikan military mission in Afghanistan

(Oct. 23) Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif slammed amerikan efforts in Afghanistan recently in a briefing to the parliament, addressing amerikan failures in the 16 year war. However, this tough talk has not dissuaded the Pakistani government in its desire to assist in the war on terror, but on “equal terms” with the united $tates. This would have never before been possible, and it is debateable whether or not it is now (our instincts hint that it is not), however if something could be even approached, it is only due to the deep crisis of independent amerikan resources in dealing with the ongoing war. They may need Pakistan more than Pakistan needs the united $tates in the coming years, a prospect which heralds a frightening new dynamic for amerikan imperialism. Nonetheless, Asif met with Secretary of State Tillerson to discuss a new plan of attack against the Taliban and Pakistani terror networks. Asif set a few preconditions in the negotiations, first of all that no indication of Pakistani state support for terrorism would be tolerated. Much of this is certainly hollow “tough talk” coming from a state whose leading parties have participated in amerikan attacks on sovereign states before, and allowed drone strikes to take place in their country, against their civilian populace. The united $tates nevertheless relented, and simply asked that a greater amount of resources be allocated toward combating the Taliban networks inside Pakistan. Pakistan interestingly stated that they had little capacity to do this effectively, as all headquarter operations of the Taliban and their allies had recently moved to Afghanistan. If the statement is true, this speaks volumes to the current state of the war, with the Taliban once again feeling that conditions have made it possible to relocate top-level command structures to the country; a powerful political defeat for amerikan imperialists.

Photos of Tillerson’s secret visit to Afghanistan appear to have been doctored

(Oct. 24) According to an expert in communication with the New York Times, the photo released by the united $tates of the meeting between the Afghan comprador “president” Ashraf Ghani and secretary of state Tillerson has been doctored to obscure the location of the meeting. It was originally reported by both Afghan and amerikan military sources that the meeting took place in Kabul, but later the official story was changed, instead stating that the meeting took place in Bagram airbase, the largest amerikan airbase in the country. The details of the meeting are still unclear, as Tillerson’s surprise trip to Afghanistan took many by surprise to begin with. However, a potential reason for the disinformation on the secretary of state’s location inside the country could be to ward off potential attacks. This threat has been ever-looming since the attempt on the life of defense secretary Mattis a month prior. Such a lack of confidence in amerikan leaders in dealing with the security situation in Afghanistan shows an intense bankruptcy in the amerikan campaign there. Truly Afghanistan has become a place where amerikans fear to go under any circumstance.

Attack on army checkpoint leaves 2 soldiers killed, 9 wounded in Uruzgan province

(Oct. 25) Insurgents who were locally identified as belonging to the Taliban attacked a military checkpoint in Uruzgan province, overtaking the checkpoint and securing it for several hours. Among the casualties were a total of 11 soldiers (2 killed, 9 wounded), and after the insurgents retreated from the checkpoint it was emptied of all its ammunition and supplies. The Afghan military has claimed that the prior attacks on police and cadets in Kabul and surrounding cities had proven that the Taliban were unable to defeat the military in open combat. This myth has been thoroughly put to rest by now.

Taliban attacks in Ghanzi and Kunduz kill 22 police officers

(Oct. 29) In two separate attacks in Ghanzi and Kunduz, the Taliban killed 22 police officers and managed to seize military equipment, including a humvee. The attack in Kunduz was launched against a police checkpoint in a nighttime raid, resulting in in the deaths of 13 officers leaving only one officer alive after the attack. The attack in Ghanzi was also launched against a police checkpoint resulting in the deaths of 9 officers. The Taliban lost 12 militants with an additional 4 wounded.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl looking at life imprisonment for desertion, made an “example” of

(Oct. 30) Sentencing began monday for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an amerikan soldier who had been held prisoner for nearly 5 years by the Haqqani Network, a Taliban ally. At the moment he is looking at life imprisonment for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, charges he has freely admitted to. Now, mainstream conservative think pieces blast him as a traitor, with “journalists” like Ralph Peters going so far as to suggest he deserted in order to join the Taliban and fight the united $tates. Such claims have absolutely no substance to them, yet they are perpetuated by an angry and losing amerikan imperialist machine. For them, his desertion was an embarrassment to an already humiliated military effort. They now have round-the-clock footage of testimony from soldiers injured in the rescue efforts (who apparently didn’t know what they signed up for) and analysts who spitball ridiculous numbers on the potential full fallout of his desertion, including hundreds of military deaths and injuries due to “slower medevacs” for which he is somehow responsible. The whole “trial” has been absurd, and it is clear what is really on trial is a scapegoat for amerikan military failure. His trial is extremely important in the larger scope of ongoing amerikan campaigns, although it may be difficult to see at the moment. We are catching a glimpse at the cannibalistic instincts of a defeated imperialist military looking for someone to blame. More to come on this subject in the future.

Amerikan Anti-War Update:

It is unfortunate that virtually nothing can be readily found on mobilization in the united $tates to oppose the war in Afghanistan, still. Only periodic outbursts in conjunction with important dates, or vague references to the war couched in larger liberal political demonstrations. One important and particularly large demonstration upcoming is the November 4th demonstrations aimed at ousting the Trump regime. It is not clear yet how they intend to do this, but nevertheless they explicitly state that one of the primary concerns of the movement is the increase in militarism and imperialist warfare through the latter half of this year. These demonstrations is being coordinated by Refuse Fascism, a mass organization involving the RCPUSA. This could be a potential opening for more radical anti-imperialist nuclei to form, aimed at jumpstarting the seemingly long-dead corpse of the anti-war movement in amerika. Related in part to the Afghanistan war, the anti-war committees run in Minneapolis have been performing workshops endorsed and organized by the local Freedom Road Socialist Organization (Fight Back!), as well as a half-dozen liberal anti-war organizations which were responsible for organizing the previous demonstration on the 16 year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, there has not been much more than this. It is a sad state of affairs, we need to set about changing that.

As always, we implore anyone who has any information on anti-war actions and committees in any locale, or some suggestions to improve this series to email us via the information on our contact page. Additionally, any stories you feel should be mentioned in the next update are definitely welcome.