Press TV has conducted an interview with Richard Becker, ANSWER Coalition in San Francisco, about a security pact to be signed between Afghanistan and the US which will allow Washington to have permanent military bases with legal immunity of crimes against American personnel.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV:�What is the price that Afghanistan has to pay and how will it pay, do you think?

Becker:�I think the price fundamentally is the price of being a colony; accepting a long term colonial status. It is the idea that there can be foreign military bases on your soil and that the people stocked in those military bases, the military personnel and all US official personnel are exempt from your laws in the country.

It used to be known as extra-territoriality in the days of classic colonialism meaning that you�re not really an independent country, you�re not a sovereign country, you have dependency, [and] you are under the domination of another country.
And there is what is really a racist and chauvinistic order that says that you as a country, that your courts and justice system is incompetent to judge the personnel from the dominating country. So that�s a very, very heavy price aside from any other costs that will be incurred, that cost is one of forfeiting your sovereignty to another country.
Press TV:�The bilateral security agreement calls into question the issue of national sovereignty. So, what are the consequences of US bases for both Afghanistan and its neighbors generally speaking, politically, economically and socially?

Becker:�Well, if we look at what the purpose of the bases is, the basing of US troops is permanent on a long term basis. The reason for that, the motivation for that, is to be able to dominate Afghanistan and to be able to dominate the surrounding countries.

So that�s really the purpose. There is no other purpose besides that. It�s not to defend democracy or justice; it may be to defend the existence of the Karzai government, which appears to be in a very, very weak position.

It was installed by the United States and kept in power by the United States and it is hoping that the United States through this agreement or as a result of this agreement will help the Karzai regime remain in place whether or not Hamid Karzai remains as president.

By Press TV

 

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