George W. Bush once boasted that the US presence in Afghanistan has ‘given “freedom and democracy” to 25 million Afghans.’ To propel the war in Afghanistan, ‘Bush frightened Americans with a bogus nuclear threat: “Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears. . . . We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities” in caves used by Al Qaeda.’

This alarmist thought fed the fear of a terrorist threat that Afghan-based al-Qaeda fighters were targeting U.S. nuclear power facilities. This served the aim of escalating further military action in Afghanistan. ‘Two years later, Bush administration officials admitted that the president’s statement was completely false and that no nuclear power plant diagrams had been discovered in Afghanistan.’

One of the outstanding sources of pride of the Bush administration was its claim that ‘the U.S. invasion in 2001 resulted in “freedom” for Afghan women. But women in many parts of Afghanistan continue to be oppressed. In fact, Afghan president Hamid Karzai even signed earlier this year a law that allows ‘a husband to starve his wife if she refuses his sexual demands.’

It is also said that the US occupation of Afghanistan has influenced the country with the concepts of democracy and nation-building. Karzai rigged the elections in his favor, and his opponent has now even decided to boycott any runoff elections.

The US war in Afghanistan is a picnic of lies. There’s nothing benevolent in the US presence in Afghanistan. The war is still all about a campaign to secure oil for the US.

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Via counterpunch