The Afghan conundrum

On 14 April 1988 when the Geneva Accords were being signed to end the war and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the jubilant Afghans and their host and supporter Pakistan and many other Muslims countries in the region had no idea that they were in fact executing a death permit for the nation of Islam. The events of great magnitude and lasting impact occurred on the world stage in next three years. The bipolar world and along with it the Cold War ended. The Soviet Union disintegrated, Germans got united and western thinkers declared ‘end of the history’ and pronounced a clash of civilizations. The victorious West then declared a war upon a new and imaginary enemy and in its pursuit ravaged the Muslim lands from Malaysia to Morocco and from Afghanistan to Libya. In a long and unending series of terrible events several wars were fought in the heart of Muslim lands- mostly pitching Muslims against Muslims.

As it turned out, they (America & allies) initially encouraged their old lackey Saddam Hussein of Iraq to invade Kuwait and then launched ‘Desert Strom’ to ‘liberate’ Kuwait from Iraq. Iraq was then forced to pay for the cost of the war through its oil forcibly drilled from its wells. Then, by disseminating hateful sectarian literature they renewed old feuds and prejudices between Sunni Arabs and Shai Iran and its allies in Syria and Lebanon. Syria, a cradle of Muslim civilization, was destroyed and almost levelled to the ground in a civil war. The city of Damascus became a pile of rubble and presented a picture of ruins only to bring to mind the 6th Arabian poet Imru’ al-Qais’ couplet “Halt both of you. Let us weep for the memory of the beloved and her home”. Then they invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in the name of going after Osama bin Ladden, after the terrible 9/11 incident. Osama used to be their ally for decades but lately became an outlaw as he declared a war upon the West. Almost simultaneously Saddam having lived his purpose was the next target. He allegedly started producing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). It was therefore ‘imperative’ to save the world from “annihilation” and stop this enemy of the humanity. A war hero, General Colin Powell, the then Secretary of State, shamelessly lied to the world at the floor of the United Nations about WMDs. In its hot pursuit American taxpayers were made to pay two trillion dollars to fight an unending war in Afghanistan and in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims got killed and their lands bombed and ravaged. Their children orphaned and traumatized.

The Muslim world has never been so vulnerable as during the last thirty-odd years. The Balfour Declaration gave birth to a perennial enemy of the Arabs and Muslims- Israel. The Arabs were brought under a permanent threats/actual wars with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Europe and the US were saved from ‘holy wars’. Arab lands were forcibly occupied by Israel. Golan Heights, parts of the Sinai desert and almost whole of Palestine are now incorporated in the Zionist Israel. The United Nations, its Security Council and the conscience of the whole European and Western world are in deep slumber. So are the brethren in neighbouring Arab countries who are clamouring to start and maintain diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel. But at what cost!

Afghans paid with their precious blood and defended themselves against a brutal foreign enemy. No amount of fire power could subdue them and break their independent spirit. Now the US leaves behind Afghanistan in a great mess and on the verge of an imminent civil war. It is certain that what America and his allies could not achieve in 20 years, if no immediate measures are taken, Afghanistan shall plunge into another civil war that will cause huge bloodshed and destruction. The tradition of revenge is too strong. God forbid if this civil war starts it will cause tremendous loss. One cannot help but pray for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan. It is a land of saints and the cradle of Muslim culture whose branches provide a luxuriant and cool shade to the South Asian Muslims who are under a heavy debt to Afghanistan for extending the spiritual shield. Sufi saints spiritually elated and shone South Asia with their presence.

It is expected that Afghan leaders shall set a new standard of conduct, rise above the occasion and propound a lofty example for all the civil war-stricken people, be it Yemen, Syria or Libya, and forgive their adversaries and embrace them as brethren. The only way to save this great nation that has kept the banner of Islam high and lofting is to persuade these grand warriors who are the heirs of a great civilization and culture and beacons of peace and hope in this precarious world that they announce a general amnesty for all Afghans. Peace in the region and the whole of Asia can only be assured if Afghans live in peace. Afghans know it too well that almost every European power has tried for the last two hundred years to conquer them and ravage their land not without a purpose. Let peace rule forever in Afghanistan and Muslim lands around it.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021