War is peacekeeping: three more dead soldiers in Afghanistan

Yesterday, three more New Zealand soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Bamiyan province, in the north of the country. The soldiers were part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which has been in country since 2003. The deaths of these soldiers is not a surprise, rather it is surprising that more NZ soldiers haven’t been killed in more than 10-years of combat deployment to Afghanistan which started with SAS and Navy Frigate deployments in October 2001 immediately after 9/11.

What is even more surprising is the bizarre rationale now uttered by John Key as the reason for NZ’s involvement in Afghanistan. Speaking on Radio NZ, Key said that the PRT was there to ‘protect NZ aid organisations’ and because NZ has ‘three bases there’. What? Excuse me. What happened to all the rhetoric about freedom and democracy? What about fighting terrorism? All of the warmongers are silent now as they realise they have fought and lost the war. They can no longer drape their murderous assault on the people of Afghanistan as a quest for democracy or any other high ideals.

Moreover, any genuine aid organisations would be horrified at the Prime Minister’s suggestion that there are troops there to protect them. In fact, one of the major issues raised by aid organisations is the use of humanitarian aid as part of military ‘hearts and minds’ campaigns through the deployment of PRTs.In 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross said:

“Advocacy for an independent and neutral humanitarian approach includes a claim for maintaining a clear distinction between humanitarian action on the one hand and political-military action on the other…because we want to avoid the current blurring of lines produced by the characterization of military ‘hearts and minds’ campaigns or reconstruction efforts as humanitarian. The ICRC has in that regard a problem with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan...”

In the UK, the debate about the role of the PRTs has at least surfaced in the media. Here, short of one article by Jon Stephenson in the Sunday Star-Times, the media has been totally uncritical of the government’s claims about the work of the PRTs.

The Prime Minister said the other reason for New Zealand’s involvement was because there were three NZ bases there. If that is correct, it is a circular, and thus ridiculous argument – we fight a war because we have troops there, so we have to fight a war. The Prime Minister said NZ wouldn’t ‘cut and run’ – adopting US military-speak to differentiate the whole episode in Afghanistan from what is clearly a bad re-run of the Vietnam war. ‘Cut and run’ – after more than 10 years of war and a deteriorating security situation? It isn’t about cutting and running, John; it is about losing an illegal and unjust war that New Zealand should never have had a part of to begin with.

These three men were killed while riding in a Humvee, according to the Prime Minister, again speaking on National Radio. The question arises as to why NZ soldiers were in Humvees when the NZDF doesn’t own any Humvees. These vehicles are owned by the US military, and it is doubtful that they would be distinguished from Humvees being operated by US soldiers.

We know from Other People’s Wars, Nicky Hager’s book on NZ’s involvement, that the PRT base in Bamiyan is home to CIA and US State Department agents. NZ soldiers are using US equipment. They can easily be seen as an extension of the US occupation, which of course, they are.

The war in Afghanistan has been an almost total successful public relations campaign for the NZDF and their political masters, except for these dead soldiers. They have managed to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the New Zealand public, not just for the so-called ‘peacekeeping’ but equally well for the full combat deployment of the SAS, particularly once they acquired a media-groomed poster boy in Willie Apiata.

A much more critical attitude towards those who wage war and send troops off to kill and die is essential if NZ is to avoid engaging in more imperial wars of conquest. Let us not be fooled again with the rhetoric of ‘peacekeeping’ and ‘reconstruction.’

A dedication to all the members of Parliament who voted to join the 'War on Terrorism'

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy

You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world

For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned

But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could

I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon

And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead