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SANCTIONS
ANEW |
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To be honest,
Afghanistan and the sad plight of the Afghans is once again the main topic
that concerns everyone involved with world affairs. The US-instigated UN Security
Councils January 21st. sanctions came into effect yesterday? The first day of the presidency of
George Walker Bush. What will
a Republican President do for a final lasting peace in Afghanistan? Will he get involved seriously and
try to change things for the better in that war-torn land which has not
seen peace in over twenty years?
Or will he join hands with Russia like his predecessor and bring
down the Taleban in favor of a minority group, who will still be a
minority even if it joins hands with other minorities such as Uzbeks and
Hazaras against the Pushtoon majority in Afghanistan? Will he and other
like-minded world leaders join hands and find a solution to the Taleban
problem by other peaceful means? Right now, as it is,
every day there is new trouble, new problems, and new quagmires that what
is left of the nation of 18 million is facing. At first it was the
Russians, our so-called neighbors and "friends". It is well known what the Soviets
did to us. We lost almost two
million martyrs as a result of the Russian atrocities. We lost millions more as refugees,
most of them to find returning well-nigh Impossible. Various groups began struggles for
superiority over the others and, in the process, brought about death and
destruction to the masses, the poor, devastated, and powerless people.
When they did not kill people, they destroyed farms, homes and national
property and government establishments. Kabul and Kabulies received the
brunt of such brutality. Next came a leader,
Professor Rabbani, who promised to lay the groundwork for an
all-encompassing democratic government that would bring peace and
prosperity to Afghanistan inside a period of six months first, then, in a
year’s time. Then he decided that the seat of authority was too close to
his heart than peace and tranquility of the people. Some of the country’s neighbors
talked of a desire for peace, but deep down, they, too, had special goals,
which they followed diligently.
They still do so to this date. A period of highway robbery, and
mini-feudal warlords followed which further aggravated the situation and
made life in Afghanistan miserable for what was left of the
nation. Taleban appeared and
seemed to be determined to stop brigandage, collect arms and thereby bring
some measure of tranquility.
They finally reached Kabul, took over the nominal control of
Government and proclaimed their own version of an Islamic Ameerate of
Afghanistan. Unfortunately this too
does not seem to bring about what the nation so direly needs-- time to
mend peoples’ mental and material wounds and look forward to a semblance
of normalcy once more. Taleban came with a
brand of religious intolerance.
They stated outright that what was happening in the country was
contrary to Islam. They termed such things as men shaving their beards or
wearing suits instead of shirts and trousers to work, or caps over their
heads instead of turbands as grave crimes against Islam. They called women
going out to work as teachers, doctors, office workers and factory
personnel without an all-covering outfit known as burqa a crime against
Islam. They termed girls’
schools un-Islamic and banned them all over the 95% of the country and are
vying to do the same in the remaining 5%. Not only that, they also stopped
boy’s schools beyond a basic knowledge of reading the Holy Qurān and elementary math
and some writing. Modern
education was considered not necessary for the citizens of the Ameerate of
Afghanistan “and not the Kingdom or the Republic of Afghanistan.” In this, they followed the path of
the leaders of Mujahedeen, i.e., to grab hold of the seat of government
in Afghanistan for all
time and keep the land and the people under their brand of rule. Talk to them about
government according to the choice of the Muslim peoples of Afghanistan,
and create a parliamentary system and run the country according to the
expressed and agreed-upon wish of the nation, and see it fall upon deaf
ears. I wonder if they know
how they are planning to run the country and its government. What financial resources can they
rely upon and how much they expect would be needed year after year to keep
everything running in an orderly way? If they were thinking
that Pakistan or any other country would continue to help them
indefinitely, they are gravely mistaken. Right now the country is suffering
a grave shortage of wheat and flour, the staple food item of the
country. What is Pakistan
doing to help the Afghans?
Nothing. They say they
will sell some food commodities to Taleban. Does Pakistan know where the money
is for such purchases? They
forbid export of any food items to Afghanistan to let the United States
know that they are following their and United Nations’ sanctions against
Taleban. Is there anyone who
does not know that there are almost a million Afghan nationals still in
Pakistan? They cannot return
to their homes because of the threat of war that seems never to stop in
Afghanistan. They also know it is impossible for the world at large to
accept them as refugees until peace can come to
Afghanistan? Taleban are playing
host to Osama bin Laden because he “helped” Afghanistan during the war
against the Soviets and because he now apparently has taken refuge in the
country against elements that are his enemies. In so far as this is in accordance
with the spirit of Afghan hospitality and in line with their principle of
Pukhtanwali, it is all well and praiseworthy. But is it fair to put a whole
nation in grave danger by holding on to a “friend” who finally has come to
his senses and has suggested that he is ready to leave Afghanistan and go
elsewhere on earth? Is it fair for Taleban to continue to keep Osama when
a super power like the United States has openly warned Afghanistan, that
she would hold Afghanistan and Taleban totally responsible for any act of
terrorism that takes place anywhere in the world where U.S. interests and
American lives are threatened? Last year an Algerian
was caught in a remote Port of entry into the United States from
neighboring Canada with enough nitroglycerine and other bomb-making
materials to completely annihilate a four-block business and residential
area in any American city.
The United States intelligence
agencies immediately related the man, Ahmad Ressam, to bin Laden. Prior to that the United States
media announced that a group of 14 “terrorists” were caught in Jordan who
were all trained in Afghanistan.
What would have happened to Afghans in remote Afghanistan, if
Ressam and/or his band had actually been able to carry out their act of
terrorism and blasted their bombs killing innumerable innocent
Americans? I believe the
first reaction would take the form of bombarding the already devastated
country of the Afghans for something that, in the eyes of the world, was
the work of bin Laden and his clique of sworn enemies of the United
States. And it is not certain
that any retaliatory measure would reach the person of bin Laden, the
accused culprit. The attack on the American war ship last year in the Yemeni port and the sad loss of life is yet another incident that is considered masterminded by Osama bin Laden. The measures taken by the US and, at it’s urging, by the UN Security Council, are further and graver sanctions against Taleban. This time it is far more serious than previous measures. The New sanctions
include: An embargo on arms
sales and military aid to Taleban, withdrawal of foreign military
advisors, closure of all Taleban offices overseas. Freeze on assets of
Osama bin Laden and associates, overseas travel ban on Senior Taleban
officials, closure of Ariana Afghan Airlines offices abroad, and ban on
selling heroin-making chemicals to the Taleban. All those who are in
the know, clearly notice that these sanctions are in effect a unilateral
stand against Taleban and not at all against the Northern Alliance, the
group that has occupied the Afghanistan seat at the UN and that is
physically being assisted militarily by Russia and Iran and others all the
while. Do the UN and the US
know that the majority of population of Afghanistan consists of Pushtoons
and the Alliance is an alliance by name only and consists only of
Tajiks? If the world as well
as the Afghans no matter where they live now would like to see a
broad-based government established in Afghanistan, the Tajiks, Uzbeks,
Hazaras and others, combined, would still be the minority population and
no government would be considered broad-based without the Pushtoon
majority? So why is it
that an incorrect stance is taken against Afghanistan? The effects of any
sanctions against Taleban are actually felt by the people and not the
so-called government of Taleban.
Why can’t the US and UN see this fact? The impoverished Afghans think
that these measures are an economic blockade against them. If the US and UN think that the
sanctions do not affect the people, do they know that the private sector
does not have any resources with which to buy the direly needed food
commodities? The worst
drought in living memory of the Afghans is still prevailing and only God
knows when it may end. The
only Afghan exports to neighboring Pakistan and India were fresh fruits
and dry seeds. None of these
are now existent. So, if
there is a private sector capable of trading with these neighbors, what
resources could they have to do so?
Right now, India is an open adversary and Pakistan, a country
fearing the US and its influences.
So the poor Afghan nation is really looking for a long drawn-out
period of economic strife and the world seems to want to remain ignorant
of its plight. The US/UN should
really think of some other way to deal with the Taleban who are also blind
in so far as what has their policy of governing Afghanistan done to the
Afghan nation. When will Taleban put a stop to the further demolition of
what may still be intact in the Infrastructure of Afghanistan? The destruction already wrought,
by the Russians and mostly by Afghans themselves, must be measured in
billions of dollars. Any outside attack on
the land of the Afghans would leave nothing for any one to call by the
term “Afghanistan”. It would
be a totally destroyed country, a no-man’s land where only some wild
beasts may roam I see
no funds of any kind in the Afghan treasury to rebuild what the once-proud
nation has already lost. How
much more are we willing to lose by the futile stubbornness of Taleban in
the matter of bin Laden? I, for one, have lost any hope of Taleban changing their stance and the nation may continue to hope for breathing a sigh of relief at the return of a democratic form of government any time soon. Not until what a poet has once said: Dastay az ghaib ferode Aayado kaaray bekunad!? (Translation: a Hand comes down from beyond and does something.) 01/21/2001 |