Pak Tea House » Afghanistan » Behind the bloodshed
Behind the bloodshed
By Ammar Aziz
Ammar Aziz has sent this exclusive post for PTH. The views expressed here are his own.
Do you mourn when, every other day, someone gets killed in the name of religion? What do you think is the reason of this chaos and bloodshed? Who are these people who want to kill everyone who disagree with them? Every person who condemns this bloodshed is supposed to know and oppose its very roots. Ironically, all ‘Islamists’ and ‘liberals’, here and abroad, who oppose these fanatics now, keep ignoring the historical fact that they themselves had played a vital role in shaping and raising these terrorists who were then known as mujahideen.
The ongoing terrorist attacks in Pakistan reflect the dark consequences of our Islamic republic’s official support for imperialist causes in the 1980s. Our people are burning in the flames of that jihad — a feat that fanatics and their brainwashed followers are still proud of — which was started against the ‘kafir’ Soviet Union. The world faced a dramatic change at the end of the Cold War, after the dissolution of the USSR. Amidst much celebration by the imperialists, the Islamists and their massive supporters were left totally unaware of the consequences of that destruction for their future generations because of supporting imperialist agendas in the name of religion.
Things are not as abstract as they seem. It is a known fact that the mujahideen were completely funded, supported and trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Billions of dollars had been invested in supporting them against the Soviet Union. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were the closest allies of these mujahideen along with the US. One wonders what those imperialist interests were that had united all the western capitalist powers, Middle Eastern elites and religious clerics of the world against a single state. What was the Afghanistan of the 1980s that ended on a tragic note, whose fallout keeps affecting the lives of the common people today? Which was the party that began to change the destiny of common Afghans before those US-sponsored barbarians destroyed everything?
In 1978, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) — formed in 1965 — had completely overthrown the monarchy of the Shahs, leading towards a democratic change known as the ‘Saur Revolution’. It was seen as a bright change and the Soviet Union started helping the newly formed people’s republic by modernising the economy and in the construction of schools, hospitals and roads. From land reforms to the promulgation of new laws, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan completely followed a socialist model. The PDPA banned many traditional feudal practices and introduced new laws to protect women’s rights, including the ban on ‘bride price’ and child marriages. Literacy programmes, for both men and women, were being set up, resulting in the involvement of Afghan women for the first time in all mainstream fields including politics. Anahita Ratebzad, one of the few Afghan women to become a medical doctor and a politician, wrote in a New Kabul Times editorial in May 1978: “Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country. Educating and enlightening women is now the subject of close government attention.” Anahita, an active Marxist, was a member of the PDPA.
According to a research study, in 1988, 40 percent of doctors and 60 percent of teachers consisted of women in Afghanistan. In the same year, 440,000 female students were enrolled in educational institutions. These reforms, however, were not seen as a positive change but as an ‘atheistic agenda’ by a large number of conservative groups in Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslim world who started to organise militants against the socialist government. In 1979, the newly formed government repeatedly requested the neighbouring socialist Soviet Union to help them. It was supposed to be a peaceful involvement of the Soviets with a mere intention to provide security to the newly formed democratic state and to help them build socialism, but something else had been scripted by the imperialist powers and their Islamist puppets. Their direct involvement and support to religious militants created unrest, bloodshed and civil war for many years — and it still continues.
The US exploited the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan to give the Cold War a climax. The CIA started a programme, known as Operation Cyclone, to arm the mujahideen in every possible way. Here comes the most interesting and tragic part. Pakistan, under Zia’s regime, played the role of a protagonist in making that mission successful and started accepting aid in millions of dollars. The ISI continuously served imperialist powers and trained the militants and supplied them the weapons and funds. This imperialist-Islamist alliance led to countless deaths and destruction in Afghanistan. Brzezinski, the National Security Adviser of former US President Jimmy Carter, said in an interview: “That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap. The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, ‘We now have the opportunity of giving to the Soviet Union its Vietnam War’.”
The western media kept romanticising the religious militants as ‘heroes fighting for humanity’. After fulfilling the imperialist interest of the defeat of the Soviet Union, the same ‘heroes’ became antagonists. One of those people and their closest ally — an Arab elitist — who later became a ‘celebrity’ terrorist named Osama bin Laden, said, “The credit for the collapse of the Soviet Union goes to God and the mujahideen in Afghanistan.”
What Pakistan faces today is the outcome of its pro-American policies from the very beginning in 1947 — when Pakistani officials decided to have ‘good terms’ with the US instead of the USSR — to its worst episode in the 1980s that started an era of never ending bloodshed. Sadly, a majority of Pakistanis, who are unaware of backstage imperialistic agendas oppose terrorism but still have some sympathy for the mujahideen. Meanwhile, there is another thinking, prevailing mostly amongst urban elitists, who oppose terrorism but see the US form of democracy and the ‘free market’ as the solutions of these problems. It is the need of the time, for every rational mind, to understand that only class struggle can bring us a peaceful future.
Filed under: Afghanistan · Tags: Afghanistan, Ammar Aziz, people, Soviet Union
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Excellent article. Imperialism, Islamism and feudalism are faces of fascism.
“Turn from the sleep of negligence and the slumber of ignorance, for the world is a house of delusion and tribulations.”
From the Brethren of Purity.
A. Aziz, you put forward a good thesis. People of NWFP have been suffering from this menace since the first jehad of Zia days. Only when it threatened the power center did it become a full blown terrorism. Much of the evil was controllable earlier and even now the state shows reluctance to fight a focused campaign against it. Perhaps the priorities or the resources are misplaced.
On a different note, a large part of death in destruction in Sindh and Baluchistan is not brought on by mullahs or jehadis…
The biGot” bug has now latched itself to this thread to ruin any possibility of a meaningful discourse.
Some one, please help G G get a life!
[...] Behind the bloodshed [...]
Someone reminded me of the case of Zil-e-Huma Usman, Punjab Minister of Social Welfare. Her assassin thought she was not dressed Islamically enough.
Usman was shot on February 20, 2007 by Muhammad Sarwar. Sarwar was overpowered by Usman’s driver. Sarwar was sentenced to death on March 20. Sarwar did not belong to any radical organization. ( I’m not able to find out whether the sentence was appealed and whether it was actually carried out.)
Murder-to-conviction took ONE month back in 2007 when the perpetrator did not belong to any organization.
If justice is not being done now, it is may be in part because of decay in the judiciary and in part because of the political support for the perpetrators.
USA is controlled by a coalition of christian fascists, capitalist fascists and racist fascists. They are mostly in the republican party – the democratic party too allows itself to be dictated by them.
Pakistan enthusiastically became a vassal, mischief-maker and running dog for them.
China too is an imperialist, totalitarian and ethno-fascist nation and Pakistan has volunteered to become their vassal, mischief-maker and running dog too.
As regards Arabs and turks – they too are ethnofascistic (racist) and imperialstic and Pakistan gloats in being their vassal, mischief-maker and running dog.
With Pakistan one means primarily the pak army and the mullah and feudal elite that coalesces with the army.
Pakistan is a triple-quisling state.
Venomous slander, anger and hatred and superiority complex against hindus, hindu religions, hindu ancestors, India, jews and Israel keep this quislingism in a state of euphoria and a 1000% certainty about a divine approval for this quislingism and slander, anger etc. Even as a child the pakistani imbibes this anger, superiority complex and delusion of divine approval.
Furthermore the idea that a particular book or person is beyond criticism leads to fascism.
This diagnosis needs no special intelligence to arrive at or to understand. It is too evident to be missed.
change your newspaper subscriptions to express tribune or daily times if an english paper comes to your house or office & to ” Aaj kal” if an urdu paper comes to your house & office & encourage your friends & relatives to do the same.
These papers are the only ones brave enough to take on the relgious fanatics ruining our country.
Author is wrong. Islamic fundamentalism did not originate in Pakistan in the Afgan war. It just became commercially most lucrative and profitable then.
Islamic fundamentalism in the Pakistani Polity was already present before 1947 and its use was a key to putting forward the separate state argument. And from then on, Islamic fundamentalism has been a key to rule over the country. There has not been a single ruler, civilian or military dictator who has not used this fundamentalism to legitimize their actions and rule.
And once again, I do not understand why the author is complaning with these developments. We all have history and it is important to respect the history. Elapsed time and other factors in the history may change the pace of achieving it, but not the destiny. That was part of the vision already and is in fact the raison d’etre of Pakistan.
The author should not actually be complaining. All this while Pakistan has tremendously profited using this very islamic fundamentalism
What is acceptable for Mumbai has to be accepted for Lahore and Karachi. The cause of all that is happening now is the use of terrorism as State policy. Pakistan will do itself a huge favour if it recognizes this truth.
@Humanity, if you were referring to me, just so we are clear here; perhaps you should read the two explanations and then first of all see who is the BIGOT!
And then if you were referring to a person being “Gi Gi”, then I’ll take that one any day!
Bigot: (from the on-line dictionary) intolerant person: somebody with strong opinions, especially on politics, religion, or ethnicity, who refuses to accept different views!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigi_(1958_film)
Then let me add something for you. It is the word “assume”. Break it down to this. Ass u me. When you assume something about me, then you are making an “ass” out of “u” and “me”!
What is happening in pakistan? . There are some powers behind it. Who want to de stabilize pakistan. Indian intelligence agencies, specially raw. Which has been settled down in afghanistan and sending those illetrate people to pakistan through the pak-afghan border. These people are paid and are brain washed by master minds of raw. They then commit sucide bomb blasts in pak. .how beautifully ! India is cutting the roots of pak. .but we have to realize this!
Why trying to de stabilize pak? Just because we r Muslims. . .just because by the Grace of Allah we have atom bomb. We are nuclear power and no doubt u.s.a and israel are v.strong but israel is v.near to us and israel can be in danger because of our little power infront of them. .israel controls u.s.a’s economy! Its under theis control. . .where there would be any danger to their head country ‘ israel’ they will try to ruin the muslim country having some power. . .what we can do is just improve our literacy rate and make people politically aware. . So that these corrupt politicians would not have the chance to do”looting” in our homeland. .