The Taliban, so far and so close to Latin America

Afghanistan is very far from Latin America and is one of the countries in Central Asia with the fewest points of contact with our region. since there were not even significant migratory flows like there were from Ukraine, Russia, China or Japan, to name a few. The diverse Afghan cultures and ethnic traditions are almost incomprehensible to our cultural heritage, in the same way that Andean cultures must be mysterious to those who live in Afghanistan, although an anthropological gaze will surely find common elements of those born there. below or here for more than 4000 meters above sea level surrounded by high snow-capped peaks.

The seizure of power by the Taliban in 1996 and its extensive media coverage led the word Taliban to be incorporated into our language as a synonym for “fanaticism”, although in the Pashtun language “taliban” is simply the plural of “taliban”, which means student. Of course, as happens on many occasions, usage and custom distort the original meaning of a term.

The images of the withdrawal of American troops from this country after twenty years of occupation should not be strange to us, even if the American invasions in the 20th century in Latin America and the Caribbean did not have the same media coverage due to lack of modern. Technologies that let you instantly see what’s going on in Kabul. Unfortunately, the world could not see live and lead the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954, the invasion of Cuba in 1961 or the Dominican Republic in 1965, among many other invasions of a long and well-known list of North American interventions. that at the same time, as in Afghanistan, the White House always says that it is a question of “strengthening democracy”. From an ideological point of view, there is nothing in common between the Taliban and the various Latin American popular and nationalist movements that have resisted the Marines, other than fighting against an American occupation.

The policy of demonizing the enemy by the United States does not distinguish between ideologies as has been well reflected in so many Hollywood-produced films where Germans, Japanese, Soviets, Vietnamese, Cuban-bearded guerrillas, Arabs or Muslims are interchangeable. depending on the historical moment. . All of them have been ridiculed to the extreme to generate a consensus among the North American population that they are a relentless enemy that it is imperative to destroy and that any method of doing so is justified; including atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And if we knew it in Latin America with the demonization of popular leaders who dared to question the policies of the Monroe doctrine. What is new in recent decades is the incorporation of new vague and diffuse State Department concepts such as “World War on Terrorism”, “Failed states” O “Narco-State”, categories that serve to stigmatize those who oppose US policy.

The proclamation of the “global war on terror” after the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 allowed the United States to justify direct interventions – or indirect killings with guided missiles – in places where Washington is not. not even formally at war. Although most of the interventions take place in Africa and Asia, Latin America is never left out under the pretext of the existence of “transnational terrorist networks” which would finance drug trafficking. The cases of Venezuela and Colombia are paradigmatic. While Colombia has been the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine for years, most of the world’s mainstream media keep repeating that Nicolás Maduro is at the forefront of a “narco-state”.

Afghanistan appears to be far from Latin America, but not that far. After the September 11, 2001 attack, the United States considered bombing South America. In a secret memorandum from Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dated September 20, it is suggested to “strike terrorists outside the Middle East first, maybe be deliberately choosing a target that was unrelated to Al Qaeda. , as was Iraq. Since US attacks would be expected in Afghanistan, an attack in South America or Southeast Asia would come as a surprise to the terrorists. “

For the United States, everything seems close at hand, although after a while they regret that something went wrong.

Posted on Nodal.am