Yesterday, on June 9th, a new book was launched by an extraordinary woman with experiences and insights that probably go beyond many people`s imagination of the possible - "The Afghan Solution: The inside story of Abdul Haq, the CIA and how Western hubris lost Afghanistan". Lucy Morgan Edwards worked as an aid worker in Afghanistan during the height of the Taliban regime in Kandahar, and further served as an election monitor during the 2002 Loya Jirga. Onwards, she wrote articles for the Economist and Daily Telegraph before she was appointed Political Advisor to the EU Ambassador in Kabul from 2004 to 2005. Her work has consisted of interviewing hundreds of Afghans about the events following 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Western troops. Mainly, her book tells the story about Abdul Haq; one of the most famous Afghan commanders of the resistance movement against the Soviets, and well-known critic of the Taliban rule. After the invasion in 2001 and outbreak of civil war between the Taliban and more moderate fractions of the old mujahedeeen, Haq, who had fled to Dubai during the Taliban rule, returned via Pakistan in an attempt to build resistance to and topple the Taliban. Haq was one of the few warlords who had remained admired and well-respected among the Afghans after the brutality and violent greed of the mujahedeen civil war in the early 1990s. However, his attempt turned into a Hollywood 24-hour thriller as he was captured and killed by the Taliban shortly after he entered Afghanistan (Guardian October 28, 2001). Speculations have been going on about whether he was betrayed by the Pakistani ISI, and maybe also his alleged supporters in the CIA.
What is interesting and extremely important about Morgan Edwards book and the story of Abdul Haq is the attention towards someone who resisted both the Taliban rule and the American invasion; Haq`s approach to Afghanistan`s crisis after 9/11 deviated from the 'either-Taliban-or-Karzai idea' that so often seems to be the only option accounted for. Unfortunately, Haq`s wish for a pan-ethnic loya jirga and united solution to Afghanistan did not come true until after his death, and that in a far less united fashion than what he aimed for. At the early days of the invasion Haq had stated: "If they leave things up to us, it will only be a few months before the Taliban are toppled", with a further comment that civilian casualties caused by Western troops would only steel especially Pashtun support for the Taliban. Haq`s words seem to have a noteworthy truth attached to them, as the Western forces 10 years after the invasion still struggle to counteract Taliban insurgents and still strive to understand the reasons for the dysfunctional and highly corrupt features of Afghanistan's Western-style democracy, imposed after the 2002 Loya Jirga, which had the UN and US pulling the strings behind the scenes. According to Haq`s obituary (The Guardian, October 29, 2001) he was one of the few anti-Taliban faction leaders that had presented Aghanistan`s exiled monarch with a coherent political programme for the country; Haq`s political goal was a revival of the old Afghan monarchy under the authority of the highly popular king, Zahir Shah. However, Haq gained no support from the Americans.
Morgan Edward`s book serves as an important contribution to the discussion and understanding of why the West seem to have so seriously misunderstood Afghanistan. During the civil war in the early 1990s Haq warned: " For us, Afghanistan is destroyed. It is turning to poison, and not only to us but for all others in the world. If you are a terrorist you can have shelter here, no matter who you are. Day by day there is the increase of drugs. Maybe one day the US have to send hundreds of thousands of troops to deal with that. And if they step in, they wil be stuck. We have a British grave in Afghanistan. We have a Soviet grave. And then we will have an American grave". Haq`s warning seems at this point to have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. Moreover, Morgan Edwards says: "Unfortunately the West lost its best chance to eject the Taliban and bring stability to Afghanistan when it failed to understand the potential offered in 2001 by Abdul Haq". It is therefore maybe time that the West starts to listen more closely to those who know Afghanistan better than anyone else: the Afghan people. To read "The Afghan Solution" by Lucy Morgan Edwards might be a good way to start.
What is interesting and extremely important about Morgan Edwards book and the story of Abdul Haq is the attention towards someone who resisted both the Taliban rule and the American invasion; Haq`s approach to Afghanistan`s crisis after 9/11 deviated from the 'either-Taliban-or-Karzai idea' that so often seems to be the only option accounted for. Unfortunately, Haq`s wish for a pan-ethnic loya jirga and united solution to Afghanistan did not come true until after his death, and that in a far less united fashion than what he aimed for. At the early days of the invasion Haq had stated: "If they leave things up to us, it will only be a few months before the Taliban are toppled", with a further comment that civilian casualties caused by Western troops would only steel especially Pashtun support for the Taliban. Haq`s words seem to have a noteworthy truth attached to them, as the Western forces 10 years after the invasion still struggle to counteract Taliban insurgents and still strive to understand the reasons for the dysfunctional and highly corrupt features of Afghanistan's Western-style democracy, imposed after the 2002 Loya Jirga, which had the UN and US pulling the strings behind the scenes. According to Haq`s obituary (The Guardian, October 29, 2001) he was one of the few anti-Taliban faction leaders that had presented Aghanistan`s exiled monarch with a coherent political programme for the country; Haq`s political goal was a revival of the old Afghan monarchy under the authority of the highly popular king, Zahir Shah. However, Haq gained no support from the Americans.
Morgan Edward`s book serves as an important contribution to the discussion and understanding of why the West seem to have so seriously misunderstood Afghanistan. During the civil war in the early 1990s Haq warned: " For us, Afghanistan is destroyed. It is turning to poison, and not only to us but for all others in the world. If you are a terrorist you can have shelter here, no matter who you are. Day by day there is the increase of drugs. Maybe one day the US have to send hundreds of thousands of troops to deal with that. And if they step in, they wil be stuck. We have a British grave in Afghanistan. We have a Soviet grave. And then we will have an American grave". Haq`s warning seems at this point to have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. Moreover, Morgan Edwards says: "Unfortunately the West lost its best chance to eject the Taliban and bring stability to Afghanistan when it failed to understand the potential offered in 2001 by Abdul Haq". It is therefore maybe time that the West starts to listen more closely to those who know Afghanistan better than anyone else: the Afghan people. To read "The Afghan Solution" by Lucy Morgan Edwards might be a good way to start.
1 comment:
Post a Comment