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Why the international effort against terrorism needs to capitalize on the United Front |
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US and Americans must distinguish between terrorists and real Afghans |
Why the international effort against terrorism needs to capitalize on the United Front
(Issue #492)
Editorial
It is fact: The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington were linked to the assassination of Ahmad Shah Masood (rahmatullah alaih - God's blessings upon him), Afghanistan's two-decade national resistance leader, only two days prior. Why? It is simple: Ahmad Shah Masood (ra) was martyred by two Arab terrorists in the suicide bombing in order to remove the biggest obstacle to the success of Osama bin Laden and the terrorists' global agenda.
Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al-Qaida, along with Pakistan's fundamentalist-run military intelligence agency, ISI, want to create a so-called "corridor of turmoil" -- a base of terror stretching from Chechnya to China's Xinxiang province -- in order to carry out a long-term, sustained war against the West, especially the United States.
At the heart of the Bin Laden-ISI "corridor of turmoil" is Afghanistan, namely its impregnable mountains in the northeast, which have proven to be the graveyard of foreign enemies, ranging from the armies of Alexander the Great to the Soviet Red Army, which lost thousands of troops, mainly in battles against the mujahideen forces led by Ahmad Shah Masood (ra). If taken, the region would provide Bin Laden and the ISI with the ability to create their much-desired "corridor of turmoil."
While these intricacies and the causa causans of the September 9 and 11 tragedies may be unknown -- either through ignorance or negligence -- to many, especially in the US government, it is clear that there is now an international consensus that something needs to be done to address global terrorism.
Of course, it is sad that two nations had to fall victim before the international community decided to do something. But, while it is never too late to act, the actions taken must be prudent.
It is a foregone conclusion that any successful effort in fighting the type of terrorism perpetrated in early September needs an international coalition. However, that success also depends on one pivotal decision by the international community: Should the international effort against Osama bin Laden and ilk move forward with the help of the United Front, Afghanistan's national resistance force, or without it?
To put it bluntly, ignoring the United Front would mean a bloody, protracted conflict -- the sort of war ideal for the terrain in the "corridor of conflict" -- and, likely, failure to defeat the terrorist behemoth. In fact, giving the cold shoulder to the United Front and turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Bin Laden, Pakistan, and the ISI-created Taliban militia against the people of Afghanistan, is what has led to today's chaos.
The fall of Afghanistan to the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden axis has been systematic, as over the years, the United Front was reduced geographically, and its supply lines restricted. In 1994, southern Afghanistan fell when Pakistan initially introduced the Taliban militia; in 1995, western Afghanistan was captured, this time through bribery and the increase of Pakistani aid, including Pakistan Army troops; in 1996, Kabul fell in a Bin Laden-funded, ISI-orchestrated plot; and in 1997, much of northern Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban militia, which by then had grown into an international conglomerate of extremists and terrorists led by Pakistan's ISI. All of these preventable tragedies were the cost of negligence by the international community.
Throughout these years, the people of Afghanistan were subjected to the most brutal treatment. Ethnic cleansing, cultural genocide, gender apartheid, scorched earth policy, and the forced displacement of tens of thousands from their native lands are some of the crimes against humanity committed by the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden axis against the people and land of Afghanistan.
Even when the United Front -- dealing with supply shortages and facing natural barriers, such as the Amu Darya River and the Hindu Kush mountains -- was in a position to rollback the Taliban, they were thwarted by seemingly unexpected allies of the militia. Most importantly, in 1998, the United Front was in a position to launch a decisive offensive against the Taliban. It was then that the Clinton administration -- believed by many, even US Congressmen, to have played a role in the creation of the Taliban, either through active support or complacency to Pakistan -- sent a delegation, headed by its UN Ambassador Bill Richardson, to Afghanistan. The American delegation was there to do two things: 1) establish an arms embargo against the warring "factions" and 2) negotiate a ceasefire. The result of the Richardson visit indirectly precipitated the imbalance that has since existed in the foreign-imposed war in Afghanistan. But now, there is a chance to turn the tide against the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden axis, and in favor of not only the United Front and the will of the people of Afghanistan, but in favor of international peace and security.
What is direly needed in Afghanistan, and what can solve the world's terrorism problem, is the adoption of a comprehensive policy on Afghanistan, especially by the United States. This is what has been lacking since 1992. And this is what has produced in Afghanistan a rogue state, the biggest producer of narcotics, the most notorious violator of human rights, and a safe haven and central hub for extremists and terrorist networks.
The option of working with the United Front is key to the success of the international effort against global terrorism, and central to a comprehensive policy on Afghanistan. Cooperation with the United Front will mean a short, and less costly campaign. The United Front can provide many vital assets: fighting capability, intelligence information, familiarity of terrain, linguistic access, and the foundation for a broad-based government that would be needed to replace the Pakistani-imposed Taliban militia.
Afghanistan's terrain is ideal for a protracted war of attrition. The United Front's fighting force is composed of only native Afghans -- as opposed to the Taliban militia, which is mostly made up of Pakistanis, Arabs, and other foreign elements. United Front personnel posses vast and unrivaled knowledge of the landscape of the country. And they are battle-hardened soldiers that have already fought the Taliban and the militia's Pakistani masters and Arab allies, as well as having defeated the Soviet Red Army in the 1980s.
Despite the martyrdom of Ahmad Shah Masood (ra), the United Front is intact. The troops are holding and even advancing the frontline against the Taliban. In fact, United Front forces are even more eager to fight with greater resolve and valor. Consequently, with appropriate support, the Untied Front can easily dislodge the Taliban, hunt down Osama bin Laden, and uproot his and other terrorist training camps. This is the military aspect of the benefits of working with the United Front.
Politically, Ahmad Shah Masood (ra) and other United Front officials have always expressed their willingness to engage in a peace process, such as the Loya Jirga initiative of former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah, which would provide a political solution to the conflict, and help establish a broad-based government in Afghanistan. A peaceful, stable, and independent Afghanistan, in which the will of its people is fully realized, is the only solution to ending the reign of terror by the Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden axis, and putting an end to the creation of their "corridor of turmoil."
While the United States and its coalition make war preparations, military strikes by the international community should only be a part of a long-term strategy in Afghanistan. A strategy that seeks the elimination of Osama bin Laden, removal of the Taliban, crippling or even abrogation of Pakistan's ISI, and the establishment of a democratic process in Afghanistan through a transitional, broad-based government, possibly with the leadership of the former King or another influential figure of his stature. ><
Afghanistan's national
resistance leader martyred by bin Laden
US could have prevented recent tragedies, must now
help United Front
(Issue #491)
Editorial
Masood is martyred, Afghanistan lives
Omaid Weekly expresses its immeasurable sorrow and illimitable sadness at the martyrdom of Ahmad Shah Masood, Afghanistan's national resistance leader.
Ahmad
Shah Masood's biography has and will be written by Afghans and
non-Afghans for many years to come, but his life may be summarized
as such: Ahmad Shah Masood, with the unceasing guidance and help
of God Almighty, saved Afghanistan from the clutches of the Soviet
Union and its brand of heathenism; he prevented the demise of
Afghanistan at the hands of a conglomerate of Pakistani, Arab and
international terrorists, who invaded Afghanistan to spread their
brand of blasphemy, while oil companies salivated at the twisted
thought of millions of dollars in profit even at the cost of
thousands of Afghan lives, and Pakistan hungered over an Afghan
protectorate. Ahmad Shah Masood, likely to be judged by his people
and by history as Afghanistan's greatest son first in line
among others, such as Abu Muslim Khorassani, Yaqub bin Laith, and
Ismail Samani, to name a few will live on in the hearts of
millions. Afghanistan was blessed to have given birth to this
warrior-saint a rarity in the so-called modern world and
its land will be forever consecrated by Ahmad Shah Masood's
mausoleum.
But, Ahmad Shah Masood left behind a nation with a national resistance force made up of all ethnic and religious groups, and a legion of disciples ready to win the war that he so valiantly fought, a war for the independence and sovereignty of Afghanistan and the realization of the will of its people.
US mustn't trust Pakis, should help Afghan resistance
The world's most corrupt state, Pakistan, has voiced its support of US retaliation against Osama bin Laden for last week's terrorist attacks. Advice to Washington: DON'T TRUST PAKISTAN.
Pakistan is the chief backer of religious extremist groups and terrorist organizations, as it has shown through the past ten years, having created and nourished such groups, the Taliban being foremost. Through chicanery and knavery, Pakistan will seek to preserve its Taliban monstrosity, ensure the safety of Osama bin Laden, and appease its own powerful and fast-growing extremist groups. The US must deal very carefully with Islamabad in the coming days it should seek action, not words.
If beforehand the US had paid attention to events in South Asia and not toed the Pakistani line so faithfully, as it has done since the early 1980s, these recent tragedies would not have come to pass thousands of Americans would not have died in last week's and previous terrorist attacks, and tens of thousands of Afghans would not have perished during the past decade. Now, the US will spend billions of dollars 40 billion, at current count for recovery and retaliation. All of this would have never happened had US State Department "diplomats" and "policymakers" formulated an independent US policy on Afghanistan; they would not have backed Gulbudin Hekmatyar, Pakistan's first poster boy, during the Soviet war, whose camps trained the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center bombing; they would not have backed the Taliban in the mid-1990s; they should have, instead, invested in Afghanistan's people, their true resistance forces, then led by Ahmad Shah Masood.
The US can still save face, save American lives, and save billions if it takes the right course of action, now. Afghanistan's national resistance force the United Front has already proven that it can hold off the Taliban. Even after Ahmad Shah Masood's martyrdom, the United Front still stands strong, and just a few days ago, launched a brave helicopter attack against Taliban forces in Kabul.
Neither are US ground forces needed, nor billions of US taxpayer's dollars. Instead, US air strikes against key Taliban positions such as north of Kabul, or in Takhar province are needed. That and US military supplies to the United Front would prove enough for Afghanistan's national resistance to capture Kabul or other large Afghan cities, and consequently break the momentum and morale of the Taliban and their terrorist allies. As soon as one or a number of large Afghan cities are liberated by the United Front, local peoples across Afghanistan will themselves stand up and fight against the Taliban, Osama bin Laden, and other terrorist groups. The Afghan people themselves have suffered under these savages. The Afghan people themselves will defeat the Taliban, and bring to justice Osama bin Laden and other foreign terrorists now occupying their land. ><
Omaid Weekly shares American's grief
(Issue #491)
On behalf of this newspaper and the Afghan community in the United States and throughout the world, Omaid Weekly, as the most widely read Afghan publication, expresses its strong and unconditional condemnation of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on America by Osama bin Laden and shares the grief of the families of those lost in this calamity. While the US and the American people come to terms with one of their nation's biggest tragedies, it should be remembered that since the 1990s, Afghanistan and the Afghan people have themselves suffered untold atrocities at the hands of the Taliban, the world's first terrorist regime, Osama bin Laden, and Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies. May the Almighty bless all those lost to the crimes of these monsters. ><
US catastrophe predicted by Ahmad Shah Masood
By Abdul Wuddood Zafari
Excerpts from Ahmad Shah Masood's 4 April 2001 press conference in Paris, France:
Q: What is your message to President Bush?
A: Hitherto, the Americans have no clear or distinct policy [on Afghanistan]. My message to Mr. Bush is that if attention is not given to bringing peace in Afghanistan, and the people of Afghanistan are not assisted on the road toward achieving peace, then verily this crisis will continue to plague not just the people of Afghanistan, but also spread to America and other countries.
On 9 September 2001, Ahmad Shah Masood famed son of the Islamic world, leader of Afghanistan's jihad against the Soviet Union, chief of the defender's of Afghanistan's honor and dignity, and supreme commander of Afghanistan's national resistance force was martyred in a cowardly and evil act perpetrated by the world's terrorist kingpin, Osama bin Laden, in an infernal plot hatched by that terrorist, Pakistan's execrable military intelligence arm (i.e., the InterService Intelligence directorate, or ISI), godless mullahs and vile generals. Masood the martyred, who sacrificed his sainted life to the cause of saving his country, gave the above response during his visit to Europe, at the invitation of the European Union, earlier this year.
According to the majority of Afghanistan and South Asian analysts, the Clinton administration and the US intelligence service gave the green light in 1994 to the Pakistani government and its infernal ISI to spearhead the formation and propagation of their Taliban centaurs. Saudi Arabia provided the funds, Pakistan gave manpower, military and logistical support, and the US, under the Clinton administration, granted secret support and backed Pakistan's strategy, to build up and strengthen the Taliban militia.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the US each had its own agenda for the Taliban, and they all expected its success. Saudi Arabia wanted to spread Wahhabism a deviant, unsanctified brand of Islam and have at its dispense a force against Iran. Pakistan wanted a puppet government in Kabul, in effect, to takeover the country. Islamabad hoped to gain "strategic depth" or an "Islamic depth" against India; gain access to Afghanistan's rugged terrain and resources; ratify the illegitimate, British-imposed Durrand line; spread its influence over Central Asia; and prevent the rise of a nationalistic, broad-based government in Afghanistan, as it feared retribution for its heinous crimes against Afghanistan and its people. The US had at least two objectives: to appease its two regional allies, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia; to lay down lucrative pipelines operated by US oil companies, namely Unocal, an early and perverse supporter of the Taliban, even as the militia proved to be solely a killing machine.
And the mullahs, namely Taliban nominal leader Mullah Omar, and his father-in-law, Osama bin Laden, had their own nefarious agendas. And no inhuman, vile and un-Islamic act was unjustified in the Taliban's efforts to fulfill Islamabad's objectives, nor in Osama bin Laden's attempt to turn Afghanistan into a base for international terrorism and the blackening of the holy and good name of Islam.
The Pakistan-Taliban-bin Laden conspiracy against the life of Ahmad Shah Masood the Great, supreme leader of Afghanistan's national resistance, and the murder of thousands of innocent Americans in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, are part and parcel of the grand scheme of Osama bin Laden and his cohorts the Taliban and extremists in the Pakistani government, especially radicals in the ISI.
With these acts of evil, Osama bin Laden not only further stained the divine message of the Prophet Mohammad (Peace and Blessings of God Be Upon Him), but he has endangered the lives of millions of Muslims, Arabs and Afghans around the world. Each time the defiled and evil name of Osama bin Laden or the barbaric Taliban is mentioned in connection to their terrorist activities, the name of Islam, Afghans and Arabs are, unjustly but surely, associated with them. And many ordinary people, mainly the youth, and especially those in American and European schools, are unable to judge between Osama bin Laden or the Taliban and true Muslims, Afghans and Arabs. Already, there are reports of attacks mosques and assaults on Muslims, Afghans and Arabs throughout the US and the West.
The warning of the now martyred but forever glorious Ahmad Shah Masood, whether communicated through the media or even US officials who met him, was flatly ignored. US policymakers, especially its State Department and intelligence organs, were under the influence of Pakistan's ISI. They believed, and perhaps continue to believe, the shameless lies of the Pakistani government, and Washington was unable to change its policy towards the Taliban to reflect a logical, realistic, and beneficial strategy. And as such, Washington failed to circumvent what could have been prevented, and what no American expected: the death of thousands of Americans in the course of only a few hours by Osama bin Laden.
An American official once likened US policy to a freight train that is unable to quickly change its course. This foolish analogy, and Washington's failure to heed the words of Ahmad Shah Masood, is what led to these catastrophes.
It's time for the Bush administration to listen to the sapient words of one of the world's greatest military geniuses, leaders, and sages, Ahmad Shah Masood, who said:
"If attention is not given to bringing peace in Afghanistan, and the people of Afghanistan are not assisted on the road toward achieving peace, then verily this crisis will continue to plague not just the people of Afghanistan, but also spread to America and other countries." ><
US and Americans must distinguish between terrorists and real Afghans
A letter dated 15 September 2001 to President George W. Bush from Ms. Suraya Sadeed, president and founder of Help the Afghan Children, Inc., the premier Afghan-operated humanitarian organization.
Dear Mr. President:
It has been five agonizing days. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the thousands who lost their lives last Tuesday. I love this country and I feel the pain as much as any one. I can hardly see the screen of my computer from crying as I am writing -- I am crying behind the closed doors of my office, because I cannot cry outside. Why? I was born in Afghanistan.
The fear that I have had for years has been realized. I knew that Afghanistan would have to pay for having Osama Bin Laden as its unwanted guest. The fact that Osama bin Laden is in Afghanistan has nothing to do with the Afghan people themselves. He is not an Afghan and, he is not supported by Afghans. He came by force and will only leave by force. Did the Afghan people invite him? No. Can they remove him? No.
Afghans are terrorized themselves. For the past nine years, I have traveled 17 times to Afghanistan to deliver humanitarian aid. I have seen the unspeakable pain and agony of millions who are in constant fear, living a powerless shackled existence where even learning and showing a womans face in public is now outlawed. Afghans did not elect their government, they have no voice.
For too long ours has been a forgotten nation--one that paid a heavy price by fighting a war for freedom against the invading Soviet Union, which benefited the United States and the world -- a struggle that helped bring the end of the cold war.
Our small nation sacrificed over one million lives, had 5 million refugees, two million widows, over one million orphans, over 500,000 amputees. Afghanistan is a country in enormous pain and is drowning in her sorrows.
A nation that has sought freedom and civility for decades, now has received the title of "Terrorist Nation". I hope the U.S. Government and American people realize that Afghans have been terrorized themselves and kept hostage for years.
The foreigners who finance and support the operations of bin Laden have now fled the Capital city of Kabul leaving behind terrified Afghans who look to the skies in fear, and brace themselves for more war.
Let us hope that the United States Government and the American
people can distinguish between the Afghan people, and the
perpetrators of these unspeakable acts.
On behalf of millions of Afghans I express my sincere sympathy and
hope that the families of the victims find solace in knowing that
we share their pain and stand by them in such times of distress
and agony.
Sincerely,
Ms. Suraya Sadeed
Help the Afghan Children, Inc.
Ms. Sadeed and the foundation she created, Help the Afghan Children, Inc. has raised medical and food aid worth millions of dollars, which she has personally delivered to the desperately needy inside Afghanistan and to refugee camps in Pakistan. She returned from Afghanistan recently. She could be reached at: 703-848-0407 (phone), htaci@msn.com (email), or www.htaci.com (Web site). ><
*From this week's English-language page
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