Afghanistan repeatedly abandoned by the West:
Semaneh T. Jemere
Ottawa, Canada
An unknown person once advised mankind to never trust a person who has let you down twice. Once is a warning, and twice is a lesson. Nothing more, it is simply to benefit the best and an insult to conscience. From this vintage perspective, the Old West can be characterized as repeated violators of the truth. The political situations unfolding in Afghanistan and Ethiopia are prime examples of building trust. Here’s why.
Personally, I got to know Afghanistan from the first geography lessons in school. And my knowledge of Afghans began during my international UN mission in Afghanistan in 1991. My work has allowed me to travel across the expanse and breadth of its breathtaking landscape. I have interacted a lot with concerned Afghans, intellectuals, Mujahedin and Taliban. From the day I set foot on Afghan soil, I felt like I was following the genesis of my own country, Ethiopia.
Like Ethiopia, Afghanistan is culturally rich, religiously divine, ethnically diverse, and rich in natural resources. Beyond belief, it has world-class minerals such as deposits of copper, aluminum, gold, silver, iron and mercury. The country’s strategic location and its wealth have always attracted the attention of the superpowers.
Its fascinating landscape is blessed with various agro-climatic conditions similar to those of Ethiopia. The earth produces fruit of a quality unmatched by any other on the planet. Its pomegranate, its watermelon and honeydew, and its plumes are considered the sweetest fruits unmatched by any other.
As Homo sapiens, Afghans are cultured, disciplined, courteous, honest and devout religious. They are culturally sensitive like the touch-me-not (Mimosa pudica) but peace-loving people who hate to fight. However, if war is imposed on them, they are warriors at heart. They can hit the bull’s eye with precision.
They are socially consistent but very private in their family matters. Their life is individualistic guarded by family values. They stand up in unison when their nation is attacked by external enemies like what we are witnessing in Ethiopia today. A colleague once told me that the Afghans are like Foster Tigers who protect their country wholeheartedly.
In the past, the Afghans fought three wars against the Indian invaders led by the British https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-british-war-1919/30109565.html and defeated them outright. In the 20e and 21st century, they respectively defeated the former Soviet Union and the noisy American army. The mystery of maintaining their country’s independence lies in their bravery and love for their homeland. Ethiopians too. From a business perspective, they are accomplished entrepreneurs who take immense risks to lend money across continents, often without documents.
During the Cold War, the leftist ideology that swept through the nations engulfed sacred Afghanistan. The superpower rivalry continued to fight for control and domination of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The communist revolutions of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Castro of Cuba, of Mao Zedong of China to Colonel Mengistu of Ethiopia, Enver Hoxha of Albania to Najibullah Ahmadzai of Afghanistan have become ubiquitous movements to change the order. global business policy.
Emboldened by this global movement, the Soviets became aggressive and confrontational with the Old West. Under the pretext of upholding the 1978 Soviet-Afghan friendship treaty, the former Soviet Union invaded deeply traditional and religious Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. Afghans who hate atheism began a resurgence to counter the revolution communist in their country.
The US-led West has gone in force to support the anti-Soviet insurgency. They formed a wide range of Mujahedin groups all amalgamated under the auspices of radical Islam. The United States openly recruited Islamic holy warriors from the Middle East and Africa. Overnight, the West became an indispensable ally of radical Islam, promising Afghan jihadists to liberate their country and bring Allah back to Kabul. Enthusiastic Afghans have voluntarily joined the dirty war called “Jihad” en masse. The United States provided them with deadly weapons and ammunition penniless. Inevitably, Soviet troops withdrew unconditionally in 1988.
The US mentoring has trained radical Islamic fighters, including Osama Bin Laden, in the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan. The Mujahedin’s unholy alliance with the West was not only meant to counter Communism, but also to secretly fight the Western powers they saw as Infidels. Eventually, this group of jihadists formed Al-Qaida, a militant Sunni Islamist multinational organization. It was this group that broke loose in New York on September 11, 2001. The best friends of an era have become the best enemies.
Naturally, the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan brought jubilation to the West. For the United States, it was mission accomplished. Then the West stopped supporting the anti-Soviet insurgents. Abandoned Afghans without a central government have not obtained the peace and security they have long hoped for.
Not surprisingly, civil war began among the Mujahedin. Anarchy has become the order of the day. Afghanistan has become the biggest victim of the senseless civil war. Sadly, the West which used the Afghans to defeat their nemesis, the Soviet Union, abandoned them for the 2sd time.
To counter the intra-Mujahedeen fighting, the United States and Pakistan secretly recruited Taliban fighters in the “madrassas” of Quetta, Pakistan, in 1995. Within months, the Taliban invaded southwestern Ethiopia. Afghanistan, dislodging Mujahedin forces to control Kabul in 1996.
In Kabul, the Taliban tore President Najibullah from the UN compound and hanged him in public. Unfortunately, the international community and the United States did not dare to stop the execution of a refugee who was in the care and protection of the United Nations. For the West, the death of the Mujahedin and the execution of Najibullah was another mission accomplished.
Shortly after the execution, the United States called on the Taliban to hand over the mujahedin trained by the United States and nemesis Osama bin Laden. The Taliban arrogantly refused. Then the coalition of the United States and NATO broke into Afghanistan. the coalition overthrew the Taliban in Kabul to install a puppet regime led by my friend Hamid Karzai. Simultaneously, the Taliban withdrew into the mountainous enclaves of southwestern Afghanistan.
Truth be told, the United States went to Afghanistan to kill Bin Laden and not in the interest of bringing peace and stability to the Afghan people. And the assassination of Bin Laden by American rangers was a 2sd was an accomplishment celebrated by the White House alongside the defeat of the Soviet army in the 1990s. Twenty years after the American invasion, the Taliban swept Afghanistan and captured Kabul in the presence of American troops for 2sd August 14, 2021. The Biden administration which announced the complete withdrawal of its army from Afghanistan has left innocent and unsuspecting Afghans in the hands of fanatical Taliban. American America abandoned the Afghans for the 3rd time to never come back. This betrayal by a superpower can be seen as the 21’s worst bridge of trust.st century. While my heart bleeds for the poor Afghans, resilient Afghanistan is sure to prevail.
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To note
1 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism
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