West doesn’t want to establish real democracy in Afghanistan: Tony Benn
By Gul Jammas Hussain

TEHRAN - British political figure Tony Benn says that the Western powers do not want to establish a real democracy in Afghanistan but actually intend to turn the country into a colony.

He made the remarks on Thursday in an email interview with the Tehran Times.

Tony Benn, a former British cabinet minister who became the longest-serving MP in the history of the British Labour Party after years in Parliament, is a leading figure of the British anti-war movement and currently the president of the Stop the War Coalition.

He spoke out against the Iraq war at the February 2003 demonstration in London organized by the Stop the War Coalition, which over one million people attended.

At the Stop the War Conference 2009, Tony Benn described the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as imperialist wars.

On Monday a demonstration was held in central London, led by Mr. Benn. Protesters read out the names of the 200 British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2001, as well as the names of 200 Afghan citizens killed in the war. Mr. Benn told the protesters that the Afghanistan war is unwinnable and advised Western forces to withdraw from the country.

Following is the text of the interview with Tony Benn:

Q: Mr. Benn, under the patronage of the U.S.-led coalition forces, Afghanistan is holding its second presidential election. Do you think the Western powers will succeed in their efforts to implant Western democracy in Afghanistan?

A: I do not believe that the objective of Western forces in Afghanistan is to establish a real democracy in that country.

It is to consolidate Western power in a way that would make Afghanistan a colony, serving their interests.

Q: Malalai Joya said that on her very first day in the Afghan parliament in 2005, she looked out across the new parliament and thought: “In every corner is a killer, a puppet, a criminal, a drug lord, a fascist. This is not democracy.” What are your thoughts on that?

A: There is widespread corruption and the winners of the election will have enjoyed some part of that corruption to keep them in power.

Q: Mr. Benn, during the demonstration in Whitehall in London on Monday, you called the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan an unwinnable war and called for the withdrawal of British troops from the country. Could you elaborate on these remarks?

A: We must look at the history to understand the present.

In 1839 Britain invaded Afghanistan and captured Kabul.

Next year Britain was defeated and 15,000 British soldiers were killed in the retreat.

Britain invaded again in 1879 and was also defeated.

In 1919 Britain governed Afghanistan briefly after the end of the First World War.

The Russians invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s and the first President Bush supported Osama bin Laden when he was sent in to get the Russians out.

After 9/11, America and Britain invaded and have been there ever since.

Eight years later U.S. and NATO forces, numbering 64,000 troops, have failed to defeat the Taliban.

No military victory is possible.

There will have to be talks with the Taliban to negotiate a withdrawal.

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