Zia Sarhadi
The newly-minted president of the United States, Joe Biden has not completed even 10 days in office but he has returned to America’s imperialist agenda.
True, he has reversed some of his predecessor’s disastrous policies including rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and rescinding restrictions on entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries into the US.
He also announced a review of weapon sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
So far, so good, although the Zionist regime with an equally if not more atrocious record has been excluded from such review.
In other areas—Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria—his actions, however, betray a disturbing pattern of imperial hubris.
The new Secretary of State Tony Blinken has already fired slavos against Iran, Afghanistan and China.
On Iran, Blinken said Tehran must comply with all the requirements under the JCPOA and once the US is satisfied, it will then consider what steps to take.
On Afghanistan, the Biden regime announced its intention to review the February 29, 2020 US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha, Qatar.
The day after Biden was inaugurated as president, two massive bomb explosions rocked Baghdad killing 32 people.
The US-created and backed terrorist outfit Daesh (aka ISIS) claimed responsibility.
And in Syria, the terrorists have resurfaced.
All these disturbing developments are not coincidental.
What they indicate is that Biden, the consummate insider and establishment figure, is backing the same old dirty tricks of Empire that have brought it to such a sorry state in the first place.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on a visit to Ankara, again reiterated his country’s position over the US demand for Iran to come into full compliance before Washington lifts the illegal sanctions on Tehran.
The demand “is not logical and will never happen,” he categorically stated at a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on January 29.
“The United States unilaterally withdrew from this comprehensive course of action,” Zarif told journalists in Ankara.
“It is the duty of the United States to return to this agreement and to fulfill its obligations.
“The moment the United States fulfills its commitments, we would be prepared to fulfill ours,” he added.
In Afghanistan, the US position is equally duplicitous.
Biden has indicated that he would not withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan despite the February 2020 accord with the Taliban being quite clear.
In return for the Taliban not allowing terrorist groups to use their territory, the US will withdraw all forces by May 2021.
Before leaving office, Trump had reduced US troop levels to 2,500.
Biden wants to send a team to Afghanistan to review the situation.
Further, there are clear indications that India has not given up on its disruptive role in Afghanistan.
India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval visited Kabul on January 13.
Two weeks later, he held a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan.
It is not difficult to surmise what Doval said to Sullivan.
As an evil man, Doval wants to prevent Afghanistan from becoming peaceful.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US-installed puppet regime of Ashraf Ghani in Kabul are working with Washington to prevent the exit of US troops from Afghanistan.
The visit of a Taliban delegation to Tehran on January 26 to hold talks with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani begins to assume added significance.
The Taliban delegation was led by senior leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar who told Shamkhani, “We do not trust the United States an inch, and will fight any party that serves as its mercenary,” he said.
Given US conduct, who can blame the resistance group?
On January 29, Ghani said the US should halt troop withdrawal because, as he put it, the Taliban had not ended attacks or reduced violence.
He is worried that if US forces pull out, he will not be able to stay in power, limited as it is to the palace in Kabul.
The new US regime is once again showing that it is totally untrustworthy.
Its word has no weight; its signature no value.
Why should anyone take the US seriously at all?
