by Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan for The Saker Blog
Introduction
Afghanistan is a landlocked country located within South-Central Asia. It is an old civilization have been passing through many experiences. It is on the main route connecting the eastern world with the western world. It was on the ancient trade route and military routes. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. With its population of 35 million approximately, having a GDP (nominal) of 22 billion US dollars in total, and per capita income of 600 Dollars only. Rich with minerals and natural resources, and well-known for its fruits & nuts, gemstones, minerals, and mining, still suffering and laying among the least developed country of the world, ranked 177. Four decades of the long-war have damaged the whole country even worst and the whole nation is a victim of war imposed on them.
Its geopolitical location is vital for the whole region, as it connects Central Asia, Iran, China, and Russia, with Pakistan leading towards “Warm Waters” – the Arabian Sea or the Indian Ocean. All of the regional nations are suffering due to instability in Afghanistan and desires a long-lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.
In fact, Afghanistan was never totally ruled by foreign powers, although in the country’s history many misadventures happened. The people of Afghanistan always defeated invaders. It has been invaded by Alexander the Great, Mauryas, Muslim Arabs, Mongols, British, Soviets (Former USSR) and since 2001, by the United States with NATO-allied countries. But it has proved itself unconquerable. Afghans are brave people and believe in freedom only.
All of the regional countries, including Central Asian States, Russia, Iran, China, and Pakistan were trying to bring Peace and Stability in Afghanistan. Several initiatives for peace in Afghanistan were taken in the past, but none as successful as they were not involved or owned by locals –Taliban and were opposed by the US and its allies. The US-backed elected Governments in Afghanistan, do not enjoy popularity among masses and may not represent the voice of common Afghan nationals.
Demography
Afghanistan is a multiethnic and mostly-tribal society. It is a nomad style society and scattered in the mountains. There are big cities, but traditionally, lives in mountains far-flange area in isolation. Each tribe has its own traditions, laws, and autonomous lifestyle. The population of the country is divided into the following ethnolinguistic groups: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aymāq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri and a few others. By faith, the majority are Muslims up to 99.7%, with a very small population of non-muslims only o.3 %.
Although Pashtuns are the biggest constituent of the Afghan population up to 42 %, most of them are not highly educated and engaged in farming, small businesses, laborious work, etc. A very little portion of Pashtuns are highly educated and involved in the politics are in Government positions. They are hard-liners and good fighters too. Their role in freedom fighting or resistance to foreign invaders was huge throughout history. While other ethnicities like Tajik, Uzbek and Hazar are more educated and always playing an important role in domestic politics and enjoying good say in Government circles. They are more open-minded and have shown maximum flexibility toward the foreign invaders in the past. The Afghan National Anthem and the Afghan Constitution mention a total of 14 ethnic groups, a composition is given below:
| Ethnic groups in Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
| Ethnic group | World Factbook / Library of Congress Country Studies (recent estimate)[30][31] |
| Pashtun | 42% |
| Tajik | 27% |
| Hazara | 9% |
| Uzbek | 9% |
| Aimak | 4% |
| Turkmen | 3% |
| Baloch | 2% |
| Others (Pashai, Nuristani, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri, Gujjar, etc.) | 4% |
Afghan Peace
Based on the above mentioned basic understanding of Afghan society, geopolitical location, demography, history, and traditions, let’s explore a few options of Afghan peace.
It is already decided that Afghans cannot be ruled by any foreign invaders, it was true in the past, and it is true now and will stand true in the future. So it is better to leave afghan, the sooner the better.
One of the options is to divide Afghanistan based on its ethnicity so that clash among ethnic groups may be eliminated. It means, to divide Afghan into several countries. Already, Afghanistan is a rather small state and landlocked nation. The further division may not help anymore. Afghanistan was a country for ages in the form of a collection of all ethnic groups and living together for centuries. Although, there were always differences, but still living together. I believe, Afghan territorial integrity must be respected. Division based on ethnicity may not be a good option.
Another option, partially merger with Iran and Pakistan or with any other country with whom it is bordering, is also a not a viable option. Afghan is a sovereign state and recognized by the United Nation. Change of its status may not help anyone, nor the Afghan itself or its neighboring nations. Again, I recommend respecting Afghan sovereignty at all costs.
Another option is considered by some of the regional powers is that under the influence of regional powers a union government representing all ethnic groups according to proportionately may be established and guaranteed by regional powers. I personally do not think it a viable solution as the involvement of regional powers may be considered as foreign intervention and may not be appropriate at all.
Recent History
Let’s review the recent history of Afghanistan, starting from the King Zahir Shah, who ruled the nation for 40 long years 1933-73. Then was replaced by force by his own nephew in Sardar Daoud Khan in 1973. King Zahir Shah was forced to live in exile. Sardar Daoud was killed by an internal Communist coup in 1978 and Nur Muhammad Taraki, the founder of the Communist Party in Afghanistan became the President of Afghanistan. It was beginning of Afghanistan tilting toward the former USSR visibly. A resistance from local Islamic groups and, pro-Western Style democracy was initiated, with the passage of time the resistance kept on increasing.
In 1979, USSR troops entered into Afghanistan under a treaty with President Nur Muhammad Taraki, American Ambassador Adolph Dubs in Kabul was killed and wide-spread unrest started. Taraki was killed on Sept. 14 in a confrontation with Hafizullah Amin’s supporters. Hafizullah Amin took the powers and became the President of Afghanistan. Soon, he was replaced by Babrak Karmal and later by Dr. Najib as president of Afghanistan. During the USSR’s presence in Afghanistan, the change of leadership was frequent and stability of the Afghan government could not establish, Meanwhile resistance got momentum and finally, under a “Peace Accord” signed in Geneva in 1989, USSR has withdrawn its 100,000 troops. Sibhatullah Mojadidi as head of their exiled government was placed to head Afghanistan. .In 1992, Professor Burhannudin Rabbani became president of Afghanistan.
In 1995, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. Although, Taliban era was a hard-liner period, one of the most stable, and safe period in the recent history of Afghanistan. Justice was easily accessible, Government writ was very strong, and the crime rate dropped to the lowest. Although the International community was offended by some of their extreme policies and actions, domestic law and order were fine, economic activities, the life of the common man was ensured safe and smooth.
Since the 9/11 incident, things kept on changing worldwide, especially in Afghanistan. US-led NATO and its allies attacked Afghanistan and to date are trying to bring Afghanistan under control. In spite of spending trillion dollars, using all types of latest lethal weapons, latest war tactics, modern weapons, and best-trained troops, the US failed to control Afghanistan. 19 years of the long war, the US has suffered some damages too, but turned Afghanistan into ruins. Killed thousands of locals and damaged almost everything possibly. Yet, it is the Afghan Taliban, who hold the grip on major part of Afghanistan. US-backed Afghan Government of Hamid Karzai or Ashraf Ghani has not rooted in domestic politics or no say in the side Afghanistan.
Noe US has realized that the actual pillar of the power in Afghanistan is the Taliban, and have already recognized them and contacted them. Having several rounds of peace talks, when reaching close to a deal, President Trump, took U-Turn. Anyhow, time is on the side of the Taliban, and sooner or later, the Taliban will win the deal.
Conclusion
Afghanistan is a society of unique characteristics in nature and to understand them comprehensively is next to impossible. But based on my experience with Afghans and based on historical facts, I must say, Afghans are brave and unbeatable. Afghans are one of the most beautiful races. The country is rich in natural resources.
Let Afghan decide their own way of life, way of governance, and political system. Only Afghan origin, Afghan-led solution will work. Anyone from outside wanted to impose any solution, good or bad, may not work.
As a first step, all foreign forces must leave Afghanistan, all undercover intelligence agencies must leave Afghanistan. Provide equal footings to all ethnic groups based on the proportion of their population. Let them solve their differences and overcome difficulties. They are capable to survive at their one. In history, they survived and possesses all capabilities to survive in the future too. It might be difficult in the beginning, but soon, they will stand on their own feet without any interference from the outside world.
The world must respect Afghan territorial integrity, and their customs, traditions and social norms. Developed nations may help to reconstruct war-ruined Afghanistan on a priority basis. Provide them incentives for developments and trade, to improve the economy. We all wish a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan in the very near future. It is expected, after withdrawal of foreign troops, there will be a vacuum and various factions of Afghans might fight with each other to grab power or political gains. But, let them decide alone, “the fittest will be survival”, who so ever can overcome others, may enjoy the power. But no intervention from outside. If there is any bloodshed, no one can blame any out-sider. It should be considered as internal affairs of Afghanistan. Sooner or later, Afghan people have to learn how to rule themselves.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist, ex-Diplomate, Academician, Researcher, member editorial board, Peace-activist, Geo-analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and GlobalizatiSelection_690on), Islamabad, Pakistan. E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com)
What an anemic and facile piece.
IMO a piece not worthy of Saker’s blog.
The author refers to the increase in opposition to the Afghan govt in the late 1970s but craftily omits any reference to the CIA activities behind this unrest.
We know the US was playing its color rev games because Zbigniew Brezinski boasts in his The Grand Chessboard of precicely this.
No mention of the US/CIA involvement in instigating the Taliban.
The inadequate analysis of a period (US covert involvement designed to provoke a Soviet response (Brezinski) means this piece is of such a low standard I would expect to see it appear in MSM.
Maybe Saker commenters can educate this author on a pivotal period in Afghan history that directly impacts on the situation in the country today.
A link to an excellent article detailing US / CIA involement in Afghanistan.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/afghanistan-forgotten-proxy-war/567604
“Freedom, just another word for nothing left to lose” – Janis Joplin
Brave-New-World model, or 1984-Orwell model?
It’s hard to decide, title of article is “How peace can be made ( & Afghan People get their Freedom )”
But its from the point of view of an OWNER, surely so long as ANGLO-ZION gets all the profits and owns all the resources and picks & chooses all the monopolys, and writes all the laws, … then the people in Afghanistan are FREE to do as they wish. Just like USA where Freedom means you can do anything with your genitals ( anglo-zionist global perversion obsession).
Happy Freedom,so long as you drive a Ford Truck, and use your Verizon cell phone you are free, so long as all the opium passes through certain drug companys, all is happy, so long all the mineral wealth is mined by certain western owned corporations all are employed.
So the CIA-NSA has decided to GOVERN Afghan with the “Brave New World” model, to let them assimilate by language and ethnicity, and do as they wish with their genitals, but all decisions with natural resources shall be made by the GAWDS within the Green-Zone, a topic which is not unlike the curtain of wizard-of-oz, except the entire green-zone is behind the curtain of MSM mis-information.
Green-Zone ( A CIA-NSA Vatican-City within Kabul )
There seems to be this consistent “We won, the hegemon is Dead”
NO IT’s not,
I have an ex-relative, she is in the green zone, been there 15+ years, she earns $500k/year per-diem, and there are 1,000’s just like her, she works for one of these private corporations that Edward Snowden worked for, over the years her job was write the new constitution for Afghan, and newer jobs are like Specify any car can be sold in Afghan, so long as its a Ford.
Much of what these 1,000’s “SUITS” ( almost all have law degrees ) do in Afghan is sell monopolys to western companys, say your Verizon, no problem the LEGAL-BEAGLES that OWN Afghan ( By USA possession & weapons ) can have it authorized that the only approved mobile carrier in Afghan is Verizon, and so it goes.
Not a day, or week goes by and I don’t hear about the GREEN-ZONE expanding ( mostly vertical )
Then to read this article you would think that the Hegemon is Dead.
IMHO here’s what is going don, AFGHANISTAN is a branded frannchise, and USA corporations sent with CIA-NSA help went in and took over the country, and now selling MONOPOLY’s to the highest bidder.
Now the fact that this is still going on, tells me that the status-quo, e.g. Mossad-CIA has no intention of null&voiding contracts that been been written since the USA invasion, especially given that all their laws, constitution, and all gov documents used into perpetuity were written by the TRIBE, aka anglo-nazi-zionism
AFGHAN is on auction, and once our JEWISH owners have SOLD everything that is saleable, they will exit and say, ahh-shucks we lost, but note they must leave the USA-MIL-MIC behind into perpetuity to enforce the biz contracts
Well said.Leave the Afghani’s alone.
If I remember correctly one of the last laws passed by the Taliban before the American invasion was the cessation of the farming of the opium poppy. I guess that was a major factor in the war with the CIA whose income has always been based on the black market drugs.
Again, after the American invasion, the export of opium increased to the highest levels known at the time, so again this demonstrated the importance of Afghanistan to the CIA drug marketing.
Hence the never-ending, perpetually failing, ‘War on Drugs’ run by Rightist sub-morons everywhere. Prohibition NEVER stops demand, but it raises prices to levels where the racketeers, like the CIA and its predecessors and co-conspirators, make billions in black money. And the ‘War’ devastates countries, is a perennial excuse to falsely slander countries like Cuba and Venezuela, fills the private prisons, keeps underclasses, like US blacks, in their place and provides lovely profits for the banksters in laundering the profits. How good is that!
Dear Mulga,
You raise two extremely important issues here.
First the never ending perpetual war on drugs, and starting with the Iranian Jew, Sassoon and his partnership with the fellow Jews in the British East India Company, formerly the Dutch East India Company, we have the complete sacking of both India and China, and Queen Victoria on orders from the Company, sends in her armies to defeat any opposition. Thus ‘Rule Britannia’ or should I say the Jews that ran the company.
Prohibition is not what it is portrayed to be but rather something more insidious, and again used by the Jew to remove any ‘opposition’ and permit them to either take over or buy out legitimate companies. For example the ‘Liquor’ Prohibition in America in the 1920’s. The Jews were still running their ‘Scotch Whisky’ from Britain via Canada with the likes of Joe Kennedy strutting his stuff. But what this did in America was to break all the small boot-leg distilleries and then permit the Jews to take over the industry much the same as they did in Britain, and once that was accomplished, well ‘Prohibition’ was declared a loser and the market reopened to the benefit of those Jews.
Now in the case of drugs in Australia, that was never a real issue until the American troops arrived in Sydney on R&R from Vietnam, And then we look at the English pop band, the Beatles who once they travelled to America and met the ‘anti-war’ singer Bob Dylan (Jewish) then the drug scene really took off world wide and the Beatles songs started to also change from ‘Love me do’ to ;The yellow Submarine’. Nothing to do with the sale of drugs at all was it?
In regards to the CIA aka the OSS and their cousins MI5/6 and so on can be traced back to at least William and Richard Cecil who became Lord Salisbury, the ancestor of the Prime Minister up to 1902 with the Boer War over the gold in the Orange Free State, who on retirement handed over the reins to his nephew Arthur James Balfour, and of course once this is considered then we look at Disraeli and the Crimean war where two mortal enemies combine under the pretence of defending the poor Ottoman Empire against those horrible Russians, those very same Russians who sent Bonaparte home in 1812.
Again Mulga you refer to the ‘underdogs’ like the US blacks, but you have forgotten the British convicts and the Irish Fenians who were shipped to Australia after the Georgia market was closed to them by the revolution of 1776, and thus Sydney Cove in 1778. The underdog is ‘everyone’ but the Jew, and that fact should never be forgotten. And for a laugh, as one Aussie twit stated this year, the most dangerous place to be in Australia was between the Jew Malcolm Turnbull and a pile of money.
One should note the Indian trader facilitating production was none other than J N Tata. It was so open they used to advertise the price of opium in news papers, like a spot market. Tata did quit this business, started philanthropy etc, but this was his seed money.
Agree.
But it was 1788 not 1778.
5 drugged 3 of the BEATLES in 1966 when they got that dentist to put the LSD in the coffee.
That was to sabotage them because their hypnotic music was making people feel good and they couldnt have that when a cold war was on. The boys were never the same again. If the fans knew all that went on with them they tear both Whitehall and Thames H down. Even today they would (what album is currently #1 in UK ?)
Then they helped their manager (Eppy) to disappear.
But it was Dylan who led the boys astray.
Thanks for your detailed disclosure of how the system works.
…this is the KEY “factor”, IMHO…
Many thanks, Mr. MacGregor for highlight it so properly.
(((they))) need the “poppy fields”. And that´s all…
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/11/12/1415805520646_wps_4_opium_graph_jpg.jpg
when the taliban declared the death penalty for poppy production.
Long before the CIA was birthed in the aftermath of WW2, and the US Dollar became world reserve currency, the British East India Company was in Afghanistan. The “chartered company” that also ruled China for a time after the Opium wars. The British drew the artificial lines on a map that defined the political entity known as Afghanistan. The British also drew the artificial lines in the Mideast that led to the creation of modern Israel. Perpetual chaos.
“The people of Afghanistan always defeated invaders. It has been invaded by Alexander the Great, Mauryas, Muslim Arabs, Mongols, British, Soviets (Former USSR) …”
The statement here concerning the grounds of the USSR is not historically correct, and just an echo of the Western propaganda.
The USSR limited contingent forces being in Afghanistan following the article 4 of the Soviet-Afghan Treaty of friendship, good-neighbourliness and cooperation of 5 December 1978, article 51 of the UN Charter and repeated requests by the government of Afghanistan for military assistance in its fight against the Western trained and funded international mercenaries.
https://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/history/more.htm?id=11901960%40cmsArticle
It’s also a myth that the USSR limited contingent forces were defeated by the international mercenaries since after the withdrawal, the Afghan government remained in power for another three years before being toppled by the US and its allies.
Facts matter.
The U.S. will never leave Afghanistan because it won’t let China have access to the Trillions of Dollars of minerals to be exploited there.
Any Peace will be Hegemon occupation and vassalage enforced by NATO and other “democracy and peace” bombing nations that help the US kill and maim in order to control a population that seeks its own sovereign future.
Afghanistan is doomed until its neighbors (all SCO nations) create an alternative reality that the Americans cannot control. Then the Americans will have to leave.
Dear Larchmonter 445,
I was going to criticise your statement until I read your last sentence. America will be forced to leave Afghanistan. It won’t happen overnight, but it is happening. Perhaps though like the French left Vietnam, but not until the Americans replaced them, but again the Vietnamese finally won, but are still burdened by the damage inflicted upon their country.
At the present, the American forces are overstretched, and thus rely upon the assistance of mercenaries and NATO, but shortly even NATO will not be able to afford the costs of war in Afghanistan and will thus have to retreat. It is these financial costs of wars that will defeat America in the end, and the inroads into the financial system are starting to show, and I believe that may be one of the reasons why Donald Trump was placed in the presidency, in order to save the financial system, but the Pentagon differs.
That’s right, Andrew. The Anglozionists are being slowly choked out of Afghanistan by the Taliban – which may perhaps be thought of as the political expression of Pashtunwali – the Pashtun code of honour – and by the steady fading and failing of the empire, as its successors – Russia/China/SCO/BRI/etc – rise in global clout.
I’d say that the Pentagoons, Trump, and various other elements of the DC swamp are now ready to admit that they’ve lost it in Afghanistan, and they’d better withdraw. But for the moment the neocon crazies are blocking that eventual, inevitable retreat. However, those loonies are going down with the rest of the falling empire, so their influence won’t be poisoning things so much in the future.
PS: Remember that the Pashtuns are currently divided by the Afghan/Pakistan border. A piece of unfinished business that they’re never going to accept. Expect Afghanistan to grow somewhat in the future; or alternatively to lose a considerable amount of territory and people, as the apparently unbreakable Pashtunwali pushes Pashtunistan back into being.
You do know that two thirds of the Afghan people (Pushtoon) are Pakistani, right?
You do know that Afghanistan never accepted Pakistan in 1947 and started up ethnic insurgency but to their chagrin the Pak Afghans (Pushtoons) gave them a stiff resistance. When the Afghan king betrayed them to British India, they still remember this and their arrogant attitude to the ‘subhuman’ Pakistanis.
58% of Afghanistan ( the non Afghan ethnic groups) don’t want the Afghan portion of their country to increase as they will be marginalized.
It is mainly the Afghan Afghan who want this.
Pakistan did propose a federation of sorts with Afghanistan in the 50’s but Afghanistan could not bear sharing power with ‘inferior’ peoples she ruled during the time of the Durrani Empire.
The strongest dislike to Afghan Afghans in Pakistan comes fron Pak Afghans. Pushtunwali is more expressed in Pakistan than Afghanistan by virtue of it being the largest Afghan ( Pukhtoon) nation.
With ‘non Afghan’ ethnic groups do you mean the ‘non Pashtun’ ethnic groups?
Yes. The Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Baloch, etc etc
I value your comments, especially criticizing me or opposing my opinion. It provides me new knowledge and different perspective.
I must admit, my knowledge is limited, and I am not perfect at all. But wanted to learn from you.
I may utilize some of your feedback in my future writings.
I am grateful to all of you, you are educating me, you are source of wisdom for me. I intend to improve my self based on your feedback.
Please keep on criticizing me, opposing my point of view, and stay in touch.
Wish you all the best. Regards.
Thanks for the useful input, Professor Awan!
“The world must respect Afghan territorial integrity, and their customs, traditions and social norms.”
Tell that to the Yanks. Uncle $cam has never respected any country’s integrity, customs, traditions and social norms. Uncle has not even respected the integrity, customs and traditions of his own country.
The Man from Uncle will reply: Huh? What’s the Bottom Line? Who’s gonna protect my heroin racket? Who’s gonna protect our minerals?
It would be nice if “The World” would play by Westphalian rules: respect the territorial integrity of every country. Then Afghanistan could go back to doing very well, with back packing tourists and coffee bars and the beautiful Afghan women going to school and wearing short skirts — as they were doing before POTU$A Jimmy Carter and would-be Grand Chessmaster Zbigniew Brzezinski decide to include Afghanistan in Uncle’s “World Protection” racket.
PS. Re beauty of Afghan women: not only the famous “Afghan Girl” photo by Steve McCurry but also the celebrated Roxanne, wife of Alexander the Great. Afghan Buddhist statues — carved in a unique mixture of Greek and Hindu contemplative style — are among the most beautiful spiritual images in the world.
Ahh yes! The girl with the green eyes. And then perhaps the significance of those green eyes may dawn upon you.
That sounds like something that Winsyon Churchill, Dick Cheynee, or John Bolton would propose. They love going into areas creating chaos among differemt ethnic groups and then propose solving the problem by dividing the countries into little pieces so that they cannot defend themselves against foreign invaders, and after the divisions have been made, there is frequently fighting over those divisions. Just as many called for seperate land for the Kurds, whoch would create more problems for the region than it would solve. I vote no, but if the Afghani people decide to do that, I would support them, but doubt that they would. They aren’t stupid. They haven’t remained undefeated for nothing, and although there may be divisions within ceetain segments, I would imagine that the majority are united in wanting to keep their country as one.
Here is a full-size version of the map. The one in the article is too small for my eyes. :-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_in_Afghanistan#/media/File:US_Army_ethnolinguistic_map_of_Afghanistan_–_circa_2001-09.jpg
Five times a day Afghans face the holy city of the Arabs and pray to the god of the Arabs in ARABIC, but please tell me again how the Arabs did not really conquer Afghanistan.
PS: add to that: Most Afghans have Arabic names, write with Arabic script, their language has lots of Arabic loan words, etc.
They have been conquered many times. Mauryan empire, Arabs, Turkic and Mughal empires. Afghan originally is another way of saying Pushtoon. They managed to become independent and carve out their own empire which contained many non Afghans ( Pushtoon) in the 18th Century. But parts of their empire were taking over by Nader Shah of Persia and by British India. Maybe even Imperial Russia as some die hard Afghan nationalists claim that the Northern countries of Uzbekistan Turkmenistan were part of their original Afghan Empire.
What was left then became ‘Afghanistan’ in the 19th Century and that core has not been sucessfuly invaded since then even though the British tried again and NATO are doing now…
Very informative artical covering all details of Afghanistan, strategically well placed country , have lot of advantages. Peaceful
Just wondrin if anyone is bothered to go through recent Nato publications and or other summaries after their recent October meeting of Defence Ministers …to reveal the truths through doublespeak etc etc……https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/events_169801.htm
If Russian Defence Ministry had any responses….any subsequent dialogue meetings exchanges etc.
The United States is turning its back on the European project, according to the French president. It’s time to wake up, Emmanuel Macron told The Economist.
“What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO”, Macron said in an interview with The Economist magazine.
“You have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision-making between the United States and its NATO allies. None. You have an uncoordinated aggressive action by another NATO ally, Turkey, in an area where our interests are at stake”, he added.
The president has also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of Article 5 of the NATO treaty that an “attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all of its members”.
“I don’t know”, he said, “but what will Article Five mean tomorrow?”sputnik article
I walked and rode in the Afghan mountains in the summers of 1977 and 1978. All the way from The Helmand River valley up thru Bamian and up thru Badakshan up into the Wakhan Korridor. One thing I was amazed by was that so many were worried about being counted. The Daoud (‘Kojac’) regime wanted to carry out an accurate census ostensibly so that each district should be given the right number of representatives according to population size. In reality — they thought — counting people was probably so that they could be more effectively taxed (– and then they would also count female family members!).
The CIA planted a rumor among German, Chinese and Canadian diplomats in Kabul that the US was going to invade Afghanistan to quell the newly established sosialist (or communist/populist) regime. Several Canadian officials believed this and their cables were snatched up by Soviet intelligence organs. The Afghan and Red Army were gullible enough and had the red Army come in. A trap.
The US of A ambassador in Kabul had been killed in an attack few months before. He was expendable — no offence taken in Washington D.C. For the real expert intellectual mover on the USA side was a famous US anthropologist who had been there in the field for years and years — and his wife, who always poiced as a blue-haired tourist amongs the long-haired ones.
Unfortunately the article speaks the truth in that Afghanistan is to rich in natural resources and is located strategically where it will never be left to decide its own fate.
The entire world’s power structure needs to happen before that could happen. So Afghanistan is doomed to be a fractured and broken country with foreign interests always meddling.
Their best chance would be to align with the Chinese as they are the only ones that really don’t get involved in local politics and “nation building” on a political and social level. Chinese I don’t think would wade into that situation though because that would put them in too directly opposed to US which is something they are trying to avoid until they feel they have the upper hand or have already won the situation.
I walked and rode in the Afghan mountains in the summers of 1977 and 1978. All the way from The Helmand River valley up thru Bamian and up thru Badakhshan up into the Wakhan Korridor. One thing I was amazed by was that so many were worried about being counted. The Daoud (‘Kojac’) regime wanted to carry out an accurate census ostensibly so that each district should be given the right number of representatives according to population size. In reality — they thought — counting people was probably so that they could be more effectively taxed (– and then they would also count female family members!).
The CIA planted a rumor among German, Chinese and Canadian diplomats in Kabul that the US was going to invade Afghanistan to quell the newly established sosialist (or communist/populist) regime. Several Canadian officials took their bait and believed this — and their cables back to Ottowa were snatched up by Soviet intelligence organs. The Afghan and Red Army were gullible enough and had the red Army come in. A trap.
The US of A ambassador in Kabul had been killed in an attack few months before. He was expendable — no offence taken in Washington D.C. For the real expert intellectual mover on the USA side was a famous US anthropologist who had been there in the field for years and years — and his wife, who always poiced as a blue-haired tourist amongs the long-haired ones.
A very balanced article, I appreciate the grip of author on the history ethnic composition, culture and political understanding of the country. Prof Awan views reflects ground reality.
Article and everyone here doesn’t address the issue,
It’s not unlike Libya or Iraq, where-ever the USA is sent to destroy a country the anglo-zionist front companys ( Arthur-Anderson ) operating under CIA-NSA go in and re-write the law, and put in new governments.
All using the Washington-DC model, where DC is a corporation and the States are clients, but they all must follow DC law, and its dual military-commercial law, not common-law, the common-law is up to the States.
So what’s being done in the “GREEN-ZONE” in the past +15 years is a GIANT corporation has been setup, that administers, writes, and adjudicates all LAW in Afghanistan into perpetuity, most of the law is selling of Monopoly’s to western corporations, which created the CIA-NSA in the first place.
The point here is so what if they divide&conquer Afghan as author proposes the real ownership and wealth extractions remains in the hands of the tribe into perpetuity.
What’s going on is not unlike the old South-Sea-Corporation, or the anglo-corporation, or debeers/rhodes operation in south-africa. These UK ( city of london ) corporations go into country’s destroy the government, and build new governments, and then tell the people their free. I’m sure everybody on earth operates on this model,
Most likely the new China & new Russia also operate on this model, which is why their getting rich, but certain western companys always get the franchise.
Same now in Iran & North-Korea, and certainly in Syria, Assad will remain in control, but the USA will auction off all the oil-fields to a western company, and pass some of the profits on to the Assad government, and every one will declare peace.
So over&over here we hear “The Hegemony is Finished”, but how can that be when anglo-zionism writes the law for every business transaction on earth, and decides who gets to sell what to whom.
99% of the people never even heard of the “Green Zone” in Afghan, or they think its just the largest embassy on earth, but its a FACTORY for making “LAW”, its a place where everybody has diplomatic immunity, its not unlike Vatican-City in Italy. Funny that this entire article talks about ‘language’, and divisions of Afghan, but never once mentions the GREEN-ZONE where all the all and real decisions are made by CIA-NSA front companys.
I take it from the article the author is pro-Taliban. And since Kabul is so dangerous that Westerners going to the Green Zone have to use helicopters. I don’t think in the future it matters what contracts the regime in Kabul signs. When/if the Taliban come to power again they will most likely tear all those contracts up to start with.
There is a saying in Afghanistan which goes like this : Any thing coming out of Pakistan about Afghanistan is a lie until the opposite is proven.
So I thing this above statement is true at least as far as concern this article. Here is a hidden point which easily will be missed by those who do not understand the situation in the ground.
Well, first of all 70 % of Afghanistan totally hate Taliban. Why? Taliban in reality is a Wahabi Deubani extremist movement created by Paki ISI and military. But the main issue is not even religious extremism, the main issues is ethnic Tribal fascism of Taliban. Taliban are almost 99% ethnic Pushtuns, the same ethnic group living also in Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
The real war is not about foreigners, the real war is about Tribal fascism thirsty for power.
The writer did not mentioned even a single instance of Pushtun – Taliban brutality, ethnic cleansing of Persians (Tajiks), burning the agricultural area of Shamali, Charikar, Panjshir, genocide of Hazara minorities in Bamian, in Jakawlang, beheading of thousands of of Shia minority groups. Raping women and children in Kundoz, shakardara, takhar, baghlan.
Plundering the national museum, bombing the biggest Buddha statue in Bamian, posisoning the water of schools. Bombing of weddings, recently a Shia wedding was struck by suicide Pushtun Taliban bomber and up to 100 were dead and 400 were injured.
Currently Kabul residents have no electricity because these Pushtun-Taliban fascists bombed power stations and Kabul in winter is pretty cold.
The “peace” time under Taliban Fascim is a big lie, regurgitating by Paki ISI and military also by 100s of 1000s of religious madrasas or so called schools.
The war in Afghanistan is actually an ethnic Tribal fascism waged by Taliban Tribal Pushtuns against the civilized people of this ancient country called once upon a time Ariana and Bacteria. War of Pushtuns tribes against the Persians, Uzbeks, Hazara, Turkmen and other minorities. It was actually Britain which empowered these Tribal people some 3 centuries ago and directed them to destroy the Eastern wing of Persian empire, Ariana or Khurasan, which later was changed to Afghanistan by Britain. So what Britain did, they gave power to the Tribal people of Pushtun to invade and subjugate the great Khorasan or Easter Persian empire and change it to Afghanistan which means Pushtun – istan.
Some of the greatest mind of world coming from Khorasan, such as Avicenna, Rumi, Al Biruni, Shahnama was written there.
Any one who travel to this country and talked to the common people will never dispute what I just wrote.
90-99% of the comment section observers have not even clue what is going on in Afghanistan. I had the chance to work as medical doctor as part of UN project and saw things with my own eyes.
In the eyes of the majority of people, America is a lesser evil, while Taliban Pashtun Fascism is the biggest evil. The Russian soviet army according many were much more merciful than Taliban or Americans.
Taliban is only a military wing of this tribalistic mentality. It is much more than that. Even those Pushtun who are not Taliban, and allied with US has extremely Tribalistic mentality and express pathological hatred of other non Pushtun, mainly Persians (Tajiks), Hazara and Hindus.
For instance this ancient country always had Persian heritage and history. When Britain gave power to Pushtuns they began the cruel process of Pushtunization, they forcefully displaced ethnic Persians, under Doctrine of Nagelin, burned their houses, villages and moved in instead Tribal Pushtuns from south to the north. These happened in the last 2-3 centuries. While Persian idioma was a language of civilization, science, poetry and literature from India to Balkhans for thousands of years, Pushtun analfabet rulers did forbidd people of Kabul and other part to talk Persian in public, instead were to forced to use terms from a primitive barbarian language, Pushtun language. There is not a single Pushtun book of significance in the course of history.
For example word University in Persian is Daneshgah, but people were forbidden to use it until recently, instead they come up with a inventing Pushtun word Puuhaantun. People were punished if they used their mother language.
Socialism and the period under Soviet Union influence 1979 – 1994 gave some rights to other ethnicities and the iron grip of Pushtun cruelty was weaken slowly slowly.
Later on CIA and Paki ISI and Saudi crime family created Mojahidden and later Taliban, the most brutal force, some thing like ISIS. A group of religious fanatics with a brutal mentality of Tribal hatred, backwardness and without any mercy.
The majority of Pushtuns, regardless if they are with Kabul government or against, if they living in Afghanistan or west, support all kind of Taliban brutality. Be it like Zionist Zalmay Khalilzad or current president of Kabul government Ashraf Gani, or Taliban leader Mullah Omar (dead) all agree on terms of Tribalism. And I see the same trend in Pushtuns living in Pakistan, some prominent writers or known people, do the same :supporting Taliban terror against civilized indigenous people of Khorasan (Afghanistan). This is very sad and depressing matter.
American writer, Jack Heart wrote a very powerful piece about Pushtuns and their way of life : Afghanistan, the shadow of evil.
Antoni, you did open completely a new dimension of Afghan geopolitics which is reality on the ground. All other news are merely perceptions and interpretation of a complicated situation.
Your take of the situation makes much sense. I worked in an immigration office in Europe and was present in many cases of Afghan refugees. Almost all of them mentioned same horror stories about Taliban terror and fanatic Pushtunism.
I was very surprised that the writer of above article supporting knowingly such a bloody movement, a professor in my humble opinion should have the sense of justice, humanity and moderation.
Even worse, he suggests the Darwin Doctrine of Survival of the fittest in Afghanistan.
Can we apply same Doctrine in Syria, by leaving ISIS murdering, raping, masacring the entire population, because ISIS is stronger then children, women and innocent people?. According this argument Iran, Russia and Hizbollah should not fighting ISIS because the Satanic Doctrine of Survival of the fittest should be respected.
The same way, they created Taliban as a brute force of terror against civilians (90 % of attacks are against common people, only 5-10 % sporadic attacks against Americans ) and the writer wants the Darwinian theory of Satanism to be applied in Afghanistan.
On the one side you have children, women, common simple poor people and on the other side a well trained, brutal fanatic movement hell bent to kill, plunder, rape and ultimately go to paradise.
Is there any difficulty to understand which one is more fitt, strong here?. I am so sorry, but this is one of most shameful statements I read ever.
Can we apply this theory of Survival of the fittest to Kashmir, on one side we have common innocent people of Kashmir and on the other side Indian powerful army and a fanatic leader Modi ?
Russia, China and Iran has the moral obligation to save the people of Afghanistan against these human brutes, called Taliban, mainly supported by Pakistan and international wahabism.
The grand chessboard and its deceptive strategy in Afghanistan is like this:
Historically Afghanistan was never easy for invaders. In order to subjugate the entire population indirectly, there was plotted a very deceptive conspiracy.
The global alliance of evil with its centers in the west and their regional puppets such like Paki Military and ISI , Arab Sheikdoms , Saudi criminal mafia and of course Israel created these monsters called Taliban in order to terrorise the entire population and entire region, but in Afghanistan mainly to suppress non Pushtun, mainly Persians . By this they created Hegelian dualism, forcing people to make choices between two evils, people will choose the lesser of two evils,which is naturally.
So people did choose the American puppet government instead of the Bloody monsters, Taliban. Taliban Pushtuns are more evil then any foreign invaders. So, now the entire country mentally capitulated. It is like when you create a deadly virus and inject it to a person, the person ultimately will accept the remedy you offer later on , even poison – like remedy is welcome in order to survive.