Comments on: Charlie Did It

By: mustafah

mustafah — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:55:14 +0000

sepoy,

ur right about hekmatyar fighting dawud prior to the soviets, but hekmatyar was armed by Pakistan to distract Dawud from the situation in pashtunistan. but email if you would like to discuss. msapacman@yahoo.com

By: DDF

DDF — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 17:16:56 +0000

Yes, I remember Zia weeping unconsolably at the mention of the word “Afghan.” He is the one true “Shahid e Jihad e Afghanistan”; others are poseurs.

In any case, the Taliban are irrelevant to the narrative because at that point they didn’t exist in the constituency that the word conotates now. The only group that came close to that was a band of around 1000 or so young men prawling around central-south Afghanistan and wrecking havoc. They were fiercly independent -and unlike the current crop - quite tolerant (they showed up at our doorstep every now and then and my mother would treat them for their wounds - none of this women are forbiden to see males crap) and were cut down to size by both the Ruskies and the factional Mujs.

Nor can one characterise Dawood’s regime as “communist.” He was a nationalist at best and it so happened that the Pushtoon nationalist elements and intelligentsia at that time were closely aligned with the Ruskies (the US was perceived to be in Pakistan’s corner). He was ratching up the Pushtoonistan issue and throwing people a herring or two. No coincidence really that Rabbani and Hekmatyar (who until that point was a minor thug at Kabul University) suddenly emerged onto the scene from provinces bordering Pakistan.

My two cents… I have yet to read the book though.

By: Aamir

Aamir — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

no matter in god they trusted or they were godless or simple coloniasts, afghan people fought against those armies cuz they simply were invaders

By: sepoy

sepoy — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I disagree Aamir. The resistance to the communist regime started in 1974-75 by Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hikmatyar and was centered against the “godless ness” of Muhammad Daoud Khan - the puppet regime in Afghanistan. This is BEFORE the Soviet invasion in Dec. 1979. Hikmatyar’s Hizbe Islami was sponsored by Jama’at-i Islami who hated the Communist atheism.
So, let’s be clear that these “freedom fighters” were largely “jihadis”. Otherwise, the Soviet withdrawal should have seen end to conflict.

By: Nitin

Nitin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

That one corrupt, philandering politician can hijack US foreign policy to such an extent is frightening.

American short-sightedness (in the name of expediency) coddled Zia and ultimately produced the Taliban and al Qaeda. That led to 9/11.

American short-sightedness in coddling Musharraf at the cost of restoring democracy to Pakistan is rightly seen by the Pakistani people as working against their interests. If the US thinks that it is winning over public opinion, it is mistaken. It looks like the anti-American factor will be manipulated by the Islamist politicians to strengthen their position. That is another negative for the Pakistani people.

By: Berkut

Berkut — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Oh please - While it is apparently Mr. Crile used a fair amount of “dramatic enhancement” I think to judge Wilson’s actions soley through the crystal of post-cold war norms is amateurish. As for “hijacking” foreign policy, what is so new about that? Do we not see foreign policy hijacked by special interest groups, corporate interests (remember United Fruit), political interest groups ? As for leading to 9/11, no doubt the aiding of the Afghan rebels and the influx of Saudi extremists helped fuel that problem. Perhaps even more so was the total disregard and abandonment of them by the CIA and the US after the pull out by the Soviets.

By: kuffir

kuffir — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

berkut: ‘Perhaps even more so was the total disregard and abandonment of them by the CIA and the US after the pull out by the Soviets.’
kya woh aapke bhai/bandhu the ke haath pakadkar apne maqam tak le jaaye? what never ceases to amaze me is this favorite sulk/grouse of the actors of that era. the relationship was a purely matlabi one and neither party ever intended to walk down the aisle with the other. folks who brag endlessly about kicking a superpower out of afghanistan should think how this whining reflects on their carefully nourished macho image.