 |
| .................................... |
 Another Inconvenient Truth >> Aki Nawaz “Go Join Hezbollah!" >> Amina Nawaz So, You Wanna Change the World? >> Sarah Waseem 10 Books To Read Before Going To University >> Mujadad Zaman Still Learning to Tread on Hallowed Ground >> Omar Fraser A Prophet for All >> Abdul-Rehman Malik Emerging from the Rubble: A Letter from New York City >> Zeeshan Suhail and Muntasir Sattar Istanbul’s Illuminated Ramadan Nights >> Abdal Hakim Murad The Pain of Panjshir >> Chris Sands A People Coming Apart at the Seams >> David Lepeska A Cynical Plan to Rebuild Islam >> Louay Safi Suffer The Little Children >> Tasneem Osgood Dangerous Denial on Darfur >> Muhammed Abdelmoteleb Is the Glass Half Full of Hope or Despair? >> Fozia Bora The Mother of All Muslim Organisations >> Mullah Charles Bala Subramaniam Narasimha Rao A Pious Mole >> Mudasser Ali Living on the Edge >> Tauhid Pasha The Silly Season >> Dal Nun Strong Walk in the Old Paths >> Daoud Rosser-Owen A Modern-Day Ibn Battuta - A tribute to Thomas Omar Abercrombie (1930-2006) >> Shiraz Sheikh “How can you hear a million words from a million mouths at the same time?” >> Shan Khan A Triumph of Myth >> Abdul-Rehman Malik The Timbuktu Charter: “We will be like ferocious lions” >> Muammar al-Gaddafi Updike’s Terrorist: An(other) American Folly >> Raneem Azzam A Crooked Commission >> Sunny Hundal Aural Remembrance Whitewashing White Terror Veil-Gate - The End of Tolerance? Organic Iftars, Unholy Garbage iPod vs iMuslim Formula One Fatwas Vox Populi |
.. |
The Pain of
Panjshir Page 30 Beyond the fast-running river of
chaos and five years into the “War on Terror” is life here any
better? Chris Sands reports on
the growing disappointment of continuing political turmoil in
Afghanistan. “All the countries say they have invested millions of dollars, but where are these dollars?” “Still the [Afghan] parliament has done nothing and the president [Hamid Karzai] has done nothing, so they are useless. They are just fighting over politics. Forget about politics. Build factories, create jobs for the people, and do something for the people. Fighting over politics is useless," he said. “For five years Karzai has been sitting in his chair, but still five roads have not been built in Kabul. Everywhere is dust. The economy is very weak, people don’t have electricity, and they live in very poor conditions. Just go to Kabul and look. Do you see new roads? No. They are just dust. Do you see any parks for children to play in? No. All the countries are saying they have invested millions of dollars, but where are these dollars?” Tajuddin is the father-in-law of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a man whom many Afghans regard as a hero. Massoud was a senior Mujahideen commander during the Soviet occupation who later went on to lead the anti-Taliban resistance. But on 9 September, 2001, Massoud was assassinated by two Arab members of Al-Qaeda posing as journalists. The murder may well have been designed to weaken the inevitable backlash that would result from the attacks on America two days later. Tajuddin had fought alongside his son-in-law and he is now a highly respected figure, especially here in Massoud’s home Province of Panjshir. “No one was ready to give Massoud their daughter because they thought he would be killed. Only I would do that. I was happy to give my daughter to him," he said. Panjshir symbolises the fierce resistance that governments and armies can face in Afghanistan. Old Russian tanks litter the area and its residents are immensely proud of the fact that their province was never captured by the Taliban. Indeed, this is now one of the country’s most peaceful places. Foreign troops are a rare sight and it is possible to drive the narrow streets late at night without worrying about being attacked. "[Massoud] was always saying that the Russians made a big mistake because they put more pressure on Panjshir and the more pressure they put on Panjshir, the stronger he got. The pressure made him perfect," recalled Tajuddin. The tranquillity here is a welcome change from the anarchy, violence, and bloodshed now gripping much of the country. While the insurgency is strengthening across the south and east, criminality is growing elsewhere. The Americans will face the day of the Russians Tajuddin blames the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and the Pakistani government for his son-in-law’s death. But he is quick to point out the role the West has played in the suffering of his family and his homeland. Islamic militants such as Osama bin Laden had been backed by the CIA in the Mujahideen’s fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Washington also initially supported the Taliban, partly in the belief that the Sunni extremists would stop Shia-dominated Iran from boosting its own influence throughout the region. "[The Taliban] were not proper Afghans. They were coming from Saudi Arabia, Britain, America, Pakistan, and the UAE. They were Punjabis and Chinese. Who attacked the World Trade Centre? The people who attacked it were the people you trained," Tajuddin said. “During the jihad against the Russian occupation, the British and the Americans helped us so much. But when the Mujahideen were successful and the Russians left you stopped helping us. Why did you do that? You stopped helping us and went and trained the Taliban. We thank you for your support, but we ask why you did not carry on helping us.” He added, “All the soldiers of the world are here now and what are they doing? They are not helping us. The Taliban are setting fire to schools, killing doctors, and killing innocent children. It’s the Taliban who are doing this, but why don’t you fight them? They are nearly in Kabul. “If the Americans or the Russians or anyone says they want to keep security, but security is not good, it means they will be defeated. And they will be defeated soon. Now the Taliban are in Logar, they are in Maidan Shah [just outside Kabul]. The Americans will face the day of the Russians.” |