In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
A Monthly Publication of the APDA--Annual Subscription $10.00--New Jersey
Year One - Number One--------Single Copy $1.00----October 1997
Our Message:
Afghanistan Voice,
The Voice Demanding:
Democracy, Freedom,
and Dignity for All,
Seeking to Enhance the Cause of
A Free, United
Afghanistan
The name of this publication is not new to our readers. As a newsletter of the former Solidarity Council of Afghan Freedom Organizations in America (SCAFOA), Afghanistan Voice drew worldwide attention to the invasion and atrocities committed by the former Soviet Union and her puppet regime in Afghanistan. When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, we were joyful and felt it was no longer necessary to continue publishing. Now, we are once again compelled to respond to yet another challenge Afghanistan is facing. While there are many journals, monthlies, and weeklies published in the Afghan languages in the United States, unfortunately, few papers exist in the English language to inform the new generation of Afghan Americans, some of whom are not very fluent in Persian or Pushto. Friends of Afghanistan and those involved in international affairs also must know of our concerns and points of view about the many intricate facets of the Afghan predicament.
A Quick Overview:
When the Mujahideen took control of Afghanistan, we hoped for the ideals of peace and democracy to be pursued, a broad-based government established, and work of the country’s reconstruction started. However, to our disappointment, these issues were not addressed.
The Pakistani plan envisaging a successive rule of the Jehadi leaders came to a stalemate with Burhanuddin Rabbani’s term. Competition among factions escalated, and a new group, the Taliban Islamic militia, was hatched by Pakistan. The Taliban (plural of Talib meaning religious student, not a collective noun), who soon took control of two thirds of Afghanistan, including Kabul, the Capital, brought with them unimaginable fanaticism, arbitrary rule, repressive and regressive policies under the name of Islam.
For many Afghans, inside and outside of Afghanistan, the moral imperative was that the international community, with America as its driving force, take a leading role in the post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan. They were sadly disappointed.
While America did help the Afghans drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, the responsible authorities were not prepared for the turn of events after the demise of the Soviet Union and, therefore, no one really did any serious thinking about the Post-Soviet era for Afghanistan.
Pakistan , the country through which American aid was channeled, and that was supposed to play a constructive role in Afghan affairs, had a secret plan of her own. She was intent upon silencing any national voice or neutralizing any national leader for Afghanistan. Sadly, America seemed to be going along. American money was squandered on Afghan factional leaders who were not interested in a sustainable solution to the devastating conditions. Bank-rolled by “fundamentalist” Muslims, several of these leaders had their own agendas, some ending up in open defiance of America.
The Pakistani plan was unsuccessful partly because of the personal rivalry of the Jehadi leaders and partly because the plan clashed with the fore-sight of those national elements within the country who saw through Pakistan’s nefarious designs. Washington announced neutrality in the ensuing clashes, and Afghans continued to suffer violations of their human rights, breaches of humanitarian principles, and the complete destruction of their country.
Several other factors also played a part. One was President Clinton’s giving priority to problems at home and trade objectives abroad. Idealistic democratic and humanitarian goals were given secondary importance in the “realpolitik” atmosphere of this time period (See Douglous Brinkley, “Democratic Enlargement: The Clinton Doctrine,” Foreign Policy, Spring, 1997, 111-127). This vision saw to it that democratic endeavors would primarily be directed at places that would have economic feasibility for market access. Afghanistan was way off the mark. If one really thinks about it, the special conditions prevailing in Afghanistan call for nothing short of direct United Nations peace keeping efforts, some-thing that would reduce the role of neighbor countries in Afghan affairs, but under the prevailing financial and political conditions, Afghanistan has been seen as neither worthy nor fit for such a large undertaking.
In this context, America and the world have effectively said to the Afghans that their situation, though tragic, is not earth shattering enough to warrant serious attention.
The American abandonment (allowing Saudi money and Pakistani ambitions to prevail) has and will continue to mean ethnic cleansing for some ethnic groups in Afghanistan, a return to the stone age for the country especially in the area of women’s rights, and utter disregard for human rights under the most repressive system fortified by religious dogma. The Taliban are definitely a bad omen for the entire region at this time when the countries in the region are just beginning to economic-ally and culturally assert themselves.
Dogmatism and Its Insidious Effects:
The most serious problem that these conditions in Afghanistan pose for the younger generations of Afghan Americans is that the ascendancy of dogmatism in Afghanistan will affect their sense of values. Already the Afghan Americans, youth in particular, are dangerously divided along sectarian, linguistic, and ethnic lines, a condition diametrically opposed to democratic aspirations.
The constant push and pull of ideas and agendas and the unfortunate turn of events in Afghanistan are adversely affecting the Afghans every-where. It may not be too far-fetched to attribute the Afghan girls suicide attempts in Australia and the recent murder of one young Afghan by an-other in California to such a malaise and breakdown in values of tolerance.
The future looks bleak. The mosques in Afghan communities do try to provide a cohesive context for the inculcation of Islamic values, but the political seesaw in Afghanistan overshadows and adversely affects faith in a religion that has become sub-servient to the political game that is being played. Islam, a religion whose foundations cry for social justice, has turned into a laughing stock because the ignoramus Taliban feel that their dogma is real Islam and has to be shoved down the throat of everybody else. What does this group’s open disregard of democracy, human dignity, equality of the sexes, equal educational opportunities for both genders, and many more vital issues do to an Afghan youth’s attitudes toward his or her religious and cultural heritage? If the youth accept such an aberration as their religious tradition, what kind of citizens will they be in a democratic society? One Afghan young man, said on an on-line political discussion channel.
[Pakistan] …has destroyed the Afghan's soul in the areas
which it has captured, and it will destroy the Afghan's
country if it succeeds in its evil quest. I say to myself
everyday that if what the Pakistani militia preaches is
"true Islam", then I will convert to Buddhism, but thankfully it's not.
The primitive, doctrinaire picture of Islam that the Taliban have advanced should be recognized as a clear aberration. According respect to this aberration as the Afghan religion and way of life is an insult to Islam.
Future generations of Afghans in democratic societies, if they are to be of some help to the captive and victimized people of their native land, must be saved from this dogmatism to be able to maintain their own genuine convictions and to have toleration for others’ cultural and religious institutions and values. Otherwise, the doctrinaire attitudes will feed the fires of prejudice and intolerance, with the concomitant breakdown in values.
The use of dogmatism as a political weapon by the Taliban is a very serious issue by itself. In addition, the Taliban’s hope to conquer Afghanistan has raised unimaginable complications with respect to questions of human rights, terrorism, and drugs policies.
Afghanistan Voice plans to address these issues.
Now, to combat these chaotic conditions, a group of concerned Afghans made up of largely long settled immigrants, including lawyers, doctors, educators, scientists, and engineers founded three years ago the Association for Peace and Democracy for Afghanistan (APDA) with the objectives of finding ways and means of peaceful settlement of conflicts in Afghanistan and the provision of ways to cultivate democratic values and creation of conditions leading to an ultimate democratic regime in Afghanistan in accordance with the wishes of all segments of Afghan population. The non-partisan APDA has already presented a plan to the United Nations, sent fact-finding missions to Afghanistan to facilitate dialogue between the war making sides, sent emissaries to key Afghan personalities, and appraised Afghan and American audiences of its intention to leave no stone unturned to reach an equitable and peaceful settlement of the Afghan conflict. APDA, through this publication, wants to engender academic, educational, and media involvement in the Afghan political issue and to encourage enlightened cultural discussion.
It is encouraging to see the publication on Afghan News web site of the very informative report of CNN’s Christiane Amanpur, “Tyranny of the Taliban” on October 6th. Aman-pour and Emma Bonino’s two day experience of the reality of the Taliban rule should remove the complacency that some observers of the situation are showing in accepting the claims by the Taliban that they would restore women’s rights once they consolidate their power. Amanpur, having traveled
to the region before, clearly sees the emptiness of such public relations motivated claims by the Taliban that clashes directly with their treatment of the delegation from the European Union Commission for Humanitarian Affairs.
According to Amanpur, Bonino had said, “Now I know what the people of Kabul have to live with every day.” For those who want to read the report, the URL is: (http://www.afghan-web.com/ aop/today.html).
"Now I know what the people of Kabul have to live with everyday." -- Emma Bonino
Afghanistan Voice (Now a publication of the APDA), wants to be an effective vehicle to provide a forum for a discussion of issues standing in the way of peace, democracy, and reconstruction in Afghanistan. It wants to pro-vide its Afghan American audience and interested individuals, policy makers, and influential personalities in America and abroad with alternative analyses of the realities of the present Afghan political dilemma, her cultural heritage, one that made her not only survive the several decades of her turbulent history but the life-giving, positive aspects of several millennia of civilization and culture that have contributed to her national character, a character very different from what our youth see and experience through the often distorted presentations of the current history of their homeland.
Afghanistan is a small country. In recent years the country suffered a devastating experience imposed on her because of first installation of alien regimes by puppets of the former Soviet Union and then the naked aggression and occupation by the Soviet forces. Subsequently, the country saw the people's uprising and years of war and suffering leading to many of the Afghan intellectuals and ordinary people having been scattered all over the world.
Afghanistan gave over a million martyrs, the price of liberty, seeking a restoration of its indigenous Islamic culture and identity. But instead of such a liberty and restoration, the years of the Jehad brought along with them the many opportunistic groups, countries, and individuals which filled a ruined and empty, yet strategically located and potentially resource-rich Afghanistan with their unholy agendas.
The protracted infighting among the competing groups of Mujahideen divided the country along dangerous sectarian, linguistic, and ethnic lines. The Pakistani-sponsored plan for the future direction of the country was full of traps and tricks, one which soon after the Mujahideen came to power, led to the bizarre rocketing of the capital by the designated prime minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who preferred to attack the Capital, Kabul, rather than to enter it and occupy his post.
The international community, ready to help in the reconstruction of Afghanistan soon lost commitment and patience, and an unfair news blackout in the Western media seemed to want to obliterate Afghanistan from memories.
In the meantime the conflict of extremist ideological and political groups (armed to the teeth) led to alliances and counter alliances down to the present alliance of the North against the largely Pashtun dominated group of Taliban or Islamic militia, trained, recruited, and dispatched by Pakistan in an opportune moment of seeing chaos in Afghanistan and hoping to exploit it. For years during the Jehad against the Soviets, Pakistan had dictated to the Mujahideen leaders that she had created with the blessings from the United States. The personal rivalries among these leaders, tinged with ethnic, sectarian, and ideological motivations, ruined the country with ever increasing neglect and warfare. Some of these leaders and more and more people lost patience with Pakistan and her high-handed tactics. The creation of the Taliban turned out to be the last nail in the coffin of Afghan-Pakistan relationships.
The presence of some two million Afghan refugees in Iran created another complex situation of potential posturing with fanaticism. Iran, seeing herself prodded by the Saudi-supported Taliban, has acted but fortunately not so rashly as to create an international crisis. Tehran has preached moderation with the Sunni Hekmatyar as a convenient tool. Iran’s real interests lie in her own cultural and economic strategies in the region.
As for Pakistan, not liking the assertion of independence from Jehadi leaders, Pakistan sought to weaken them through a not so covert support of the Taliban. The outcome, not very clear for Pakistan, sent Afghanistan to a dangerous precipice of ethnic, sectarian, and linguistic rivalries, fragmentation, and the ever widening, accursed civil war.
The urgency that Pakistan felt and continues to feel leading her to suicidal games is because of the prize, Turkmanistan (the future Kuwait), with her enormous energy resources that should reach world markets through a pipeline that should traverse the Afghan land into Pakistan.
The Taliban, though originally were supported by disaffected Afghans who were fed up with the Mujahideen excesses, are a group with a leadership so reactionary, backward, and primitive that its likes have probably never been seen, heard, or contemplated. They have become an embarrassment to their supporters, but they are still being frantically aided to do their dirty work.
Just recently, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd promised the Taliban his country's support involving some two hundred million dollars and diplomatic assistance in getting them the UN seat. Saudi Arabia is one of three countries in the world besides Pakistan and United Arab Emirates that have extended recognition to the Taliban. Saudi Arabia is sharing interest with an American oil company, Unocal, in getting concessions from the Taliban to extend a gas pipeline from Turkmanistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan. More may be involved, including questions surrounding the terrorist Osama Bin Laden, who lives under the protection of the Taliban in Kandahar. If it were only for the gas pipeline deal, the Saudi support of the Taliban would not make much sense, because a legally constituted government in Afghanistan would just as well not oppose the construction of the pipeline because it is something that is going to benefit Afghanistan.
One has to ask why then Pakistan and her supporters allow the Taliban abomination bring genocide, ethnic cleansing, and regressive life into Afghanistan. The only answer one can arrive at is that Pakistan is intending to rule Afghanistan by proxy through the Taliban and to have veto power in Afghan political and economic affairs . Were it not for such ill will, Pakistan could have been the one good friend of Afghanistan after the demise of the Soviet Union.
The only answer one can arrive at is that Pakistan is
intending to rule Afghanistan by proxy through the Taliban
and to have veto power in
Afghan political and economic affairs.
It may have been these shady dealings largely stemming from the "Great Game" mentality of the past that prompted the U.S. to review her policy for the region recently to possibly inject a new approach to the Afghan situation; but as far as we know, nothing concrete or positive has come out of it. Instead of actively seeking to bring the rule of law to the Afghans, who are thirsty for some measure of democratic governance, a tacit approval of the battlefield outcomes seems to be the preferred alternative.
Instead of actively seeking to bring the rule of law to the Afghans,
who are thirsty for some measure of democratic governance,
a tacit approval of the battlefield outcomes seems to be the
preferred alternative.
Meanwhile, with the world watching, the Taliban have brought their brand of regressive and repressive Islam, and afflicted two thirds of the country under their control with the harshest and the darkest era that a land of genuine Islamic culture and civilization has ever seen.
The Taliban argue that with their harsh measures they have brought peace and safety to areas under their control. The Taliban also promised at the beginning that they would relinquish power in favor of a government of the people’s choosing once they subdued the warlords. Those who said, ‘’Don't bet on it,’’ turned out to be right.
The Opposition Alliance, on the other hand, has been waging a war for Afghanistan’s survival, against hegemony of Pakistan, and for preservation of indigenous Islamic values. Further-more, some vague promises of working toward convening the Grand Assembly and forming a government of technocrats have come from the Alliance side.
The Taliban have found a golden opportunity of opium wind-falls and direct access to cheap energy resources for their Pakistani sponsors. Hence, their utter disregard of human rights, their committing atrocities, and massacre in areas under their occupation.
Amnesty International has also given full accounts of these excesses which have taken place under the name of Islam, a phenomenon that has alarmed not only the whole region, but moderate Islamic countries through-out the world as well because of the distorted image that has been given of Islam.
In general, we have seen the polarization along these lines:
One has to say that sometimes, where human life and liberty are concerned, it may be good to agree with the author of “In Praise of Cultural Imperialism”.
Though generally the is sympathetic to views offered by Samuel Huntington in “The Clash of Civilizations,” he argues with some credibility that even commercial and global communication goals need a set of established “global standards and expectations— facilitating the progress of globalization… Repression is not defensible whether the tradition from which it springs is Confucian, Judeo-Christian, or Zoroastrian. The repressed individual still suffers, as does society, and there are consequences for the global community.” (David Rothkopf, “In Praise of Cultural Imperialism,”
Foreign policy. Summer,1997 45, 49).
We believe that America can play a more active role in areas where repression suffocates democracy and human rights. In small scale regional areas, this active posture by the U.S. should not only be manageable but also in the best tradition of American ideals. Afghanistan Voice, as the voice of suffocated truth and righteousness, wants to get America and the world notice if possible that the most rigid Medieval mentality is sabotaging a small country’s chances of finding her rightful place in the company of world nations in peace and tranquility. It is causing more than half of her population, the women, to regress to stone age conditions, and this at a time when the world is entering the 21st century, at a time when the country herself has not had a chance to recover from the decade-long Soviet-inflicted destruction. Afghans should not all be relegated to the level of the ignorant Taliban, who are really trained agents assigned to obliterate every sign of culture and civilization in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Voice has a simple message for Pakistan and those who want to prolong the present misery of the Afghans: For God’s sake, enough is enough!