Will US revisit Kabul ? Power of the catastrophic event
New Delhi: The story of valiant Taliban has its origin in something else.
In Afghan society, women are shut indoors. A good looking boy would have 'dozen attempts' made on him. Over a period of time, one can grow angry about the boyhood trauma.
But as argued in Christina's Lamb's book, 'The Sewing Circles of Herat - A Memoir of Afghanistan', one could "never talk about" this.
Certainly, "it must leave a permanent scar". So, that's the 'warrior'.
The Taliban is a term borrowed from the word 'Talibs' meaning students. In real sense, they are 'student warriors' of the 'holy war' or Jehad committed to a fundamentalist Islamic caliphate.
Talibs also draw inspiration from Indian backyards, the Deobandi philosophy - that would view the Koran as a 'blueprint' for everything. But which 'sacred texts' called for such brutal treatment of women or legitimize use of drugs is certainly not known.
In the 1990s during the heydays of Taliban 1.0; one Education Minister had said - "If you want to be an engineer then go and work for three months in a garage....", similarly they believed even butcher's shops can teach you become some body in life and in medical stream.
Now even Russian President Vladimir Putin has diagnosed that a 'mess' has been created in Afghanistan by the United States as it never tried to understand the local issues and sentiment.
After two decades of war and the 'unceremonious' withdrawal marred by chaotic takeover by Taliban, it is true President Joe Biden like his one of the illustrious predecessors, George W Bush, faces a test of his tested and untested leadership skills.
Of course, from an Indian's perspective what went on in Afghanistan is certainly related to Pakistan.
Over the decades the Pakistanis have backed Talibans and also decided to virtually op for 'Talibanisation' of their own politics.
Thus, Pakistan has emerged as an 'enabler' of terror as well its victim.
Even during the peak of US engagement in Af-Pak, it lost a former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 to a dastardly terror attack. But for them life goes on.
Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) always presented a clear danger to Afghanistan as well as to the US and Pakistan.
Benazir Bhutto's husband became country's President and there were other rulers such as Nawaz Sharif and also a few generals including Pervez Musharraf.
For all of them, deep penetration into Afghanistan meant 'winning over' Kashmir.
A firm Narendra Modi government has done a killer blow to Imran Khan and the military regime in Rawalpindi when Article 370 was abrogated in 2019.
So, as the Taliban-led chaos prevails in Afghanistan and violent 'law-breakers' and internationally wanted individuals are part of the ruling regime, the world is not quite certain of the ramifications.
Some years back, Barack Obama himself had said: "Unlike the war in Iraq, the Afghan campaign had always seemed to me a war of necessity. Though the Taliban’s ambitions were confined to Afghanistan, their leadership remained loosely allied to Al-Qaeda, and their return to power could result in the country once again serving as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies".
Biden is making a case that he had little choice after Donald Trump - even otherwise known for whimsical style and mannerism - had started the Doha talks and laid a road-map.
The Democrats are putting forward an argument that the war had to come to an end.
But there is always another argument. If one doesn’t have the patience to sustain wars, then one need
not embark on them either.
Similarly, goes the argument of so called 'nation building' as articulated by Biden himself.
In the words of Jonathan Powell, an aide of former British PM, Tony Blair, "....if we don’t help countries
rebuild institutions after participating in a war, then we end up with a spectacular mess like Libya.
The challenge is doing these things properly".
The mess is not over yet.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggested the US could re-invade Afghanistan.
"We will be going back into Afghanistan as we went back into Iraq and Syria," he said,
adding - We will have to. Because the threat will be so large ... It will be a cauldron for
radical Islamic behaviour."
The US invaded Iraq in 2003, withdrew its forces in 2011 but sent them back in 2014.
ends
Yes, that's true. It is 20 years and ..... on ....it only shows the power of a catastrophic event that gets into one's thinking and it has stayed on.
No, I am not an American nor a Christian, yet 9/11 haunts me because the challenge was global. It questioned humanity, and the tragedy could not unite men and women. And the debate has stayed on - so-called Good Taliban or Bad Taliban!
How did it all start with? - Planes hijacked by Jehadi terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and also the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
Feature writers in the world of journalism - English press and also in numerous global and Indian languages - had tales of some people getting the smell of death, some getting to hear the screaming.
Cloaked darkness.
The hands of the wrist watch, a vanishing commodity in today's world of multi-purpose mobile handsets, has made a U-turn and come back to where it all started.
Former Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a poet-politician, would have said: "Ghari ki sui akey usi jagah ruuk gayi hae, jahan hum shuru hue they".
The attacks prompted President George W. Bush to deploy hundreds of US and NATO troops to Afghanistan to hunt for culpable al-Qaida militants sheltered by champion of radical Islamic militancy the Taliban.
The 20-year war has now 'ended' offering as a shame to humanity as US-led forces have made withdrawal, and the same Taliban are back in power in Kabul. The world looks passive in more ways than one.
Where did things really got wrong?
All counter-terrorism laws and Declaration and Resolution of various multi-nation groups appear so sheepish.
All claimed to choke off support for radical ideologies of Jehadi forces, but in reality we have different scenes on table.
In the words of Jonathan Powell, an aide of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "We’re left trying to resolve armed conflicts with one hand tied behind our backs". (The Guardian)
Just to recollect:
"Every one of the victims who died on September 11th was the most important person on earth to somebody."
--said President George W. Bush, 12/11/2001
On September 11 the terrorists committed an act of war against the innocent. The terrorists killed not only to end lives -- they killed to end our way of life.
.....
The world will never forget the innocent victims and the brave heroes who died attempting to save them. The world will never forget the survivors, the devastated families and the grieving friends they left behind.
More than 3,000 people died or remain missing following the attacks. They came from more than 80 different nations, from many different races and religions.
But, on 9/11 ... in circa 2021. It's a Taliban regime in Afghanistan once again. In between, the US has lost over 2400 soldiers and officials.
Hundreds of Afghans also died.
 |
| 'Taliban Khan' and his country |
Now come back to American way of mishandling things. President Joe Biden like his one of the illustrious predecessors, George W Bush, faces a test of his tested and untested leadership skills.
Of course, from an Indian's perspective what went on in Afghanistan is certainly related to Pakistan and its essential philosophy of 'hate-India' agenda. You hate it more when Indian Prime Minister is a 'committed Hindutva' protagonist Narendra Modi or for that matter when the 'leader' is in in Saari - Indira Gandhi.
In the process, over the decades they decided to Talibanisation of its own politics and thus emerged as an 'enabler' of terror as well its victim. Even during the peak of US engagement in Af-Pak, it lost a former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to terror. But for them life goes on.
Her husband became country's President and there were other rulers such as Nawaz Sharif and also a few generals including Pervez Musharraf, who had dreamed about 'charming' India by his travel to Agra and win over Kashmir.
The ruling dispensations in Pakistan kept on backing the Taliban - a termed borrowed from the word 'Talibs' meaning students. In real sense, they are 'student warriors' of the holy war committed to a fundamentalist Islamic caliphate.
On September 11, 2021, they could formally take over powers in Kabul, hoist their white flag and impose rules and norms wherein 'women' can only produce babies!
Look what Indian sickular gang is busy meantime - lampoon the global Hindutva ! Half an attempt by a 'discredited' Naseeruddin Shah, who was scared of staying in India in 2019, to push his community to soul-searching has been neutralised by another Mumbai film's poet-cum-self focused activist.
For reasons best known to them, the western powers looked the other way as Pakistan played its double games. No less than a former President Barack Obama writes about it in his book, but did not act.
Talibs draw inspiration from Indian backyards, the Deobandi philosophy - that would view the Koran as a 'blueprint' for everything. But which 'sacred texts' called for such brutal treatment of women or legitimise use of drugs is certainly not known.
In the 1990s during the heydays of Taliban 1.0; one Education Minister had said - "If you want to be an engineer then go and work for three months in a garage....", similarly they believed even butcher's shops can teach you become some body in life and in medical stream.
Now even Russian President Vladimir Putin has diagnosed that a 'mess' has been created in Afghanistan by the United States as it never tried to understand the local issues and sentiment.
At the BRICS Summit on September 9 in presence of PM Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping and also leaderships of Brazil and South Africa, he blasted at America's "...irresponsible attempts to impose alien values from outside and build so-called democratic structures".
In Afghan society, women were generally shut indoors. A good looking boy would have 'dozen attempts' made on him. Over a period of time, one can grow angry about the childhood/boyhood trauma. But as argued by Christina's Lamb's book, 'The Sewing Circles of Herat - A Memoir of Afghanistan', one could "never talk about".
Certainly, "it must leave a permanent scar", says the book!
Sad !
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