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October 9, 2007

GM Roper, Valley Counseling Centers, Inc., Bronze Contributor (12)

Having read all the posts involved and the comments, I can only remark that this was a well written summary. Well done Ms. Poelking, well done!

March 19, 2008

Ilyas M. Mohsin, PPP, Platinum Contributor (296)

UK and Afghanistan

A Recent interview of UK Ambassador in Kabul, given to the BBC, projects, generally, pretensions rather than policy. The diplomat claimed that his country would stay in Afghanistan for ‘‘decades’’ for “long-term development”. One can overlook such diplomatic dross which would fool nobody at home or abroad. However, it is ironic that a British citizen can unlearn the bloody-nose the Afghans inflicted on the British colonials during the famous Great-Game of the 19th century. Despite being terribly out-gunned, like today, the valiant Afghans killed sixteen thousand occupation troops who were staging a retreat to ‘safe India.’ The lucky survivor was Dr.Bryden whom fate allowed to escape and so we have historic accounts of the great battle. Such was the crowning achievement of the Afghan struggle against British imperialism which resulted finally in their independence 1919 when the colonial Empire was at its Zenith.
Such ignorance of colonial history on the part of a British ambassador is baffling. He may have also not read Sir Olaf Caroe, the last Governor of NWFP and an authority on the subject, who stresses that the afghan wars ‘start after they have formally ended’. However, the most surprising omission on his part is not to remember the fate of the erstwhile Soviet Union. Milton Bearden of CIA-fame in his article entitled “Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires” published by the Foreign Affairs Journal Nov/Dec 2001 gave an excellent analysis of the Afghan ethos. He emphasized, “According to the late Louis Dupree, the premier historian of Afghanistan, four factors contributed to the British disaster: the occupation of Afghan territory by foreign troops, the placing of an unpopular emir on the throne, the harsh acts of the British-supported Afghans against their local enemies, and the reduction of the subsidies paid to the tribal chiefs by British political agents. The British would repeat these mistakes in the second Afghan War (1878-81), as would the Soviets a century later; the United States would be wise to consider them today.”

The Afghans, Taleban or otherwise, hate occupation like the British. Nature has imbued them with the spirit of freedom, generally, and the topography helps them immensely in fighting an invasion/ occupation. Backward they are, but they do not submit like some other people in the area. Proverbially, enmities, personal as well as national, have a time-span of about a Millennium.
I suggest he should read Rudyard Kipling for guidance, particularly the following lines,
“When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains
And the women come out to cut up what remains
Jest roll to your rifle an' blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.”

Occupation, if history is any guide, would end up in disaster no matter what the cost. If ‘development’ is the real objective, then occupation forces must leave. The pipe-dream projected during Bonn Conference of 2002 has gone terribly awry due to lack of commitment of funds by the unwilling contributors. Taleban may be hated but occupation incites bigger resentment. This feeling is aggravated by the prevailing despondency and hunger promoted by the failure of the ‘development process’. Driven against the wall, the Afghans have produced historic poppy crops for survival as there is an insatiable demand for Drugs in the West particularly.
To eliminate extremism and win the’ hearts and minds’ of the people, end occupation. At best we should have UN troops for peace-keeping. Start a prototype of a Marshal Plan for rebuilding Afghanistan on a war-footing. Help Pakistan in a big way to restore democracy in Pakistan in post Feb 18 elections to facilitate a new approach to elimination of extremism in the area. Force would be there but its use would depend on the failure of reconciliation within the framework of local culture etc.
Once normalcy prevails, you will find that it was not a ‘free lunch’, which our American friends abhor. The trillion-$ energy resources will be available for exploitation, not colonial, but for the benefit of the Globe.

April 4, 2008

Ilyas M. Mohsin, PPP, Platinum Contributor (296)

A Democratic Pakistan holds the Key

Pakistan is trying to shape up as a democratic country after about 9 years of one-man rule which benefited some ‘special interests’ at home and abroad. A coalition is never an ideal form to drive the benefit of institutions home. However, even this arrangement may be able to deliver more dividends to the people if it is run with the eyes on ball all the time. By this mode of Governance, if responsive/successful and run with integrity, we may even be able to help Afghanistan see the elusive peace which is getting worse by the day due to ‘occupation.’ If the situation worsens in both the countries, we will be sowing disasters whose end-result would be difficult to predict

Pakistan is suffering due to the one-man rule as well as the spread of extremism. As democracy was denied for promoting personal agendas, the Taliban are surging in both the countries. This has spread hatred against the US among the extremists and despondency among the mainstream Muslims. While the Administration is chasing shadows, the US media/ public are becoming alive to the dangers inherent in the status quo, not only for the region but also for the US.
The US-EU disharmony on the occupation of Afghanistan, though natural, yet it is makes a flash-point. Some like the UK claim that Afghanistan should remain occupied for ‘‘decades’’ for “long-term development”. However, it is ironic that the British can unlearn the carnage the Afghans inflicted on the British colonials during the famous Great-Game of the 19th century. Despite being terribly out-gunned, like today, the valiant Afghans killed sixteen thousand occupation troops who were withdrawing to a ‘safe India.’ The lucky survivor was Dr.Bryden whom fate allowed to escape and so we have historic accounts of the great battle. Such was the crowning achievement of the Afghan struggle against the British imperialism which resulted finally in their independence in 1919 when the colonial Empire was at its Zenith.
Such ignorance of colonial history on the part of the British is baffling. They must remember Sir Olaf Caroe, the last Governor of NWFP and an authority on the subject, who stresses that the afghan wars ‘start after they have formally ended’. However, the most surprising omission on his part is not to remember the fate of the erstwhile Soviet Union. Milton Bearden of CIA-fame in his article entitled “Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires” published by the Foreign Affairs Journal Nov/Dec 2001 gave an excellent analysis of the Afghan ethos. He emphasized, “According to the late Louis Dupree, the premier historian of Afghanistan, four factors contributed to the British disaster: the occupation of Afghan territory by foreign troops, the placing of an unpopular emir on the throne, the harsh acts of the British-supported Afghans against their local enemies, and the reduction of the subsidies paid to the tribal chiefs by British political agents. The British would repeat these mistakes in the second Afghan War (1878-81), as would the Soviets a century later; the United States would be wise to consider them today.”

The Afghans, Taleban or otherwise, hate occupation like the British. Nature has imbued them with the spirit of freedom, generally, and the topography helps them immensely in fighting an invasion/ occupation. Backward they are, but they do not submit like some other people in the area. Proverbially, enmities, personal as well as national, have a time-span of about a Millennium.
Reading Rudyard Kipling for gauging the threats would be highly advisable particularly the following lines,
“When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains
And the women come out to cut up what remains
Jest roll to your rifle an' blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.”

Occupation, if history is any guide, would end up in disaster no matter what the cost. If ‘development’ is the real objective, then occupation forces become a red rag. The pipe-dream projected during Bonn Conference of 2002 has gone terribly awry due to lack of commitment of funds by the unwilling contributors. Taleban may be hated but occupation incites bigger resentment. This feeling is aggravated by the prevailing despondency and hunger promoted by the failure of the ‘development process’. Driven against the wall, the Afghans have produced historic poppy crops for survival as there is an insatiable demand for Drugs in the West particularly.
To eliminate extremism and win the’ hearts and minds’ of the people, one would have to end occupation. At best we should have UN troops for peace-keeping. Start a prototype of a Marshal Plan for rebuilding Afghanistan on a war-footing. If democracy starts functioning properly in Pakistan, it will facilitate pacification in the area. Once normalcy prevails, a peaceful Near-east would hold a key to the exploitation/ development of Central Asian Energy resources etc for meeting the demands of an Energy-hungry world community.

April 4, 2008

Ilyas M. Mohsin, PPP, Platinum Contributor (296)

A new compact by Inderfurth tends to ignore the Afghan history. Prima facie, the Afghans hate ‘occupation and accordingly they seldom accept surrogates like Karzai. No wonder then that he is known as ‘US’ mayor of Kabul’ in his own country. Due to prevailing insecurity, he can’t travel and, quite naturally, he is guarded by a US contingent. He is conscious of his role but so is the power-game in Afghanistan these days.
Another permanent feature is the ethnic divide between North and South. While the former contains Tajiks, Turcomans, Seljuks etc, the latter is the fiefdom of Pakhtoons. Since the advent of Islam, a loose federation has kept the country together as the tribes are incredibly freedom-loving. Their day-to-day existence is facilitated by their culture which values bravery, defiance and an ardent commitment to maintaining their way of life.
It was such diehard love of freedom that they defied the British Empire of India; recently they fought the Soviet Union to its collapse with the help of US/ Pakistan. Now they are fighting, despite the north-south divide and lack of quality military equipment, against ‘the US occupation’ aided by NATO.
As the current Administration is on its way out in the US, all talk of new steps may be just posturing. The damage that the neo-cons have done to the image/ credibility of US in Afghanistan etc is incalculable. The local people believe that about a million people are badly affected while half that number may have perished/ got maimed by indiscriminate use of fire-power by the occupation forces. What the US has failed to understand is that the Afghans do not believe in forgetting such murders etc. As revenge is the foremost virtue in their culture, they may cause the US to pay back for such atrocities a hundred years later. That is the dictate of their code of Honour.
Pakistan can help being a neighbour and a Muslim country with many common interests despite the controversial role played by Musharraf. However, it has to be solution which conforms to the Afghan cultural framework in tango with Islamic concept of forgiveness and reparation.

May 24, 2008

Ilyas M. Mohsin, PPP, Platinum Contributor (296)

An erudite paradigm being paraded in media about the situation in Afghanistan tends to highlight the faux pas of US policy due to Iraq quagmire. While it is theoretically perfect and in keeping with the current thinking in, generally,EU it limits the scope of the argument. As usual it indicates a strange disregard for the history of Afghanistan etc. The break up of the Soviet Union was the outcome of the relentless struggle waged by the Afghans with massive help from the US/ Pakistan against the occupation of their country. If history is any guide, no occupation will be tolerated, despite brutal asymmetry of power, by the concerned people. While the US has suborned some Afghan war-lords allies, the psyche of an average Afghan etc is, generally, that of the American Wild West. As a corollary of the same, they hate surrogates and the latest attempt against Karzai is a leaf out of history.
Since Bonn Conference, the 'occupation' powers appear to been dilly-dallying on all-out Reconstruction of destroyed country, thanks the indiscriminate bombing by the US/NATO air-force on the 'bad-guys’. This has played havoc with the chances of reaching an understanding between the parties.
The Afghan etc, generally, do not easily forgive wrong-doing by foreign
powers, as per their tradition. Such misdeeds must be avenged and the time-frame
is limitless unless the aggressor offers to sue peace as per local customs. The
British and the Russians know through their bitter experiences but the neo-cons
appear to be blissfully ignorant and Blair also seems to have misled his friend
in the White House.
No wonder the US has been suing for peace but the 'insurgents' have spurned
such offers insisting that occupation must end first prior to any such overtures,
despite suffering casualties, quite often of innocent people, they are prepared
to wait and fight on despite the colossal asymmetry of power between the
parties.
Drug cultivation was started in the North by the war-lords immediately after
Karzai got installed at Kabul. As the Governance was 'out-sourced' to such
elements, windfall gains in $Billions were made by them with impunity, perhaps
as price for their co-operation.
The South/ East was particularly ignored so much so that they experienced
starvation in 2003 etc. Taking a leaf out of their Northern countrymen’ ways,
they also started producing the same to survive. As security is needed for such
operations, the Taleban staged a comeback by offering the same.
Apparently the 'occupation' appears to have, maybe by default, allowed the
Taliban to surge back in to the position that they now hold. About opium etc
an average Afghan would tell you that it is a problem of supply/demand. If the
west does not buy, the crops would get destroyed by themselves. Strange
logic but makes a lot of sense.
Unless history changes, no solution can be found to the 'occupation' of Afghanistan
as per the status quo. A war of attrition has never suited the foreign power or its surrogates, so far. If that is kept as a primary consideration, maybe the powers-that-be can turn the gory page with the help of a negotiated settlement.

August 31, 2008

MUHAMMAD ZUBAIR ALI

my question is is it right to kill millions of people an afghanistan just for one person?


if a plain is hijaked,we accept the demands of hijakers due to the fact that life of every individual is important.this is international law.then why america has killed million of people in afghanistan and iraq just for two personalities USAMA BIN LADEN and SADAM HUSAIN.is it a justice.where is united nations.where is europe?