This is in continuation to my last article – Afghanistan – blessed and cursed by Geography
Much of the misery and conflicts across the world in the 21st century post world war II can be traced back to the jostling for power and influence by democratic America and communist Soviet Union.
America led a great part of the world on the plank of liberty, free trade, capitalism and democracy whereas the Soviet Union also led a large part of the world but on the basis of direct control of the politics and economy on the basis of Communism.
Afghanistan was one of the numerous pawns that these powers played with and became a global flashpoint.
In the Soviet Union the northern and western part were mainly Christians who adopted communism and hence atheism. The southern and Eastern part of the Soviet Union per force had to adopt communism but they also clung to Islam in various discreet ways. This was an Achilles heel in the Soviet Union’s unity, and both America and the Soviets kew this.
American allies, vassals, and proxies have always surrounded the former Soviet Union causing them endless problems.
After the dismemberment of Pakistan by India with Soviet assistance in 1971 to create the independent country of Bangladesh, the Americans and the Pakistan were livid. They wanted to take revenge, Pakistan against India and America against the Soviet Union.
American Deep State and intelligence agencies decided to use Islam to destroy the Soviet Union. But first they had to elevate Pakistan from a virtual fly-weight in the Islamic world into the heavy-weight flag bearer custodian of Islam. So in 1973 America quietly encouraged Pakistan to become the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’.
Using Pakistan, America began covert operations to control Afghanistan which to their discomfort was leaning more towards the Soviet Union than to the West. The strategy for destabilisation became urgent when the Soviets supported a bloodless coup to put their proxy the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) into power. The PDPA tried to stamp out the problem of dissent caused by the American-Pakistan Islamic cocktail. Eventually the Soviet Union had to send in its forces to support the Afghan government.
By 1979 the gloves came off and Pakistan began to openly support the Mujahideen (freedom fighters) with weapons, to fight the Soviets and the Afghan government. All financed and politically, technically, technologically and militarily supported openly and brazenly by America. America claimed to support the people of Afghanistan for justice, but in fact they were setting Afghanistan, its population and its economy on fire for achieving American geo-strategic objectives.
In 1989 after 10 terrible years an exhausted Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan. To make matters worse for them Islam had infected the Southern Republics of the Soviet Union which border Afghanistan are Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and their people began to dream of and aspire for freedom from the Soviet Union.
Militant Islam based on societal violence and asymmetrical warfare with terror at its core for attaining political objectives became the new normal. Random violence and destruction became commonplace.
By 1989 Pakistan political and military leadership fabulous richer, the Pakistan military enormously more powerful and better equipped with some of the best military equipment ad technology gifted or siphoned off from America.
Pakistan became the terror factory of the world, but suddenly it found it had no customers. So Pakistan started manufacturing problems to stimulate demand for its terror network. It developed an appetite for creating trouble everywhere particularly in its own neighbourhood of India, Afghanistan etc. and profiting from them.
Meanwhile, violence, drugs, crime, and terror became the chief occupation of the Afghan Mujahideen. With no external enemy they turned on one another and the Afghan people. Afghanistan with active involvement of Pakistan became the breeding ground for incubating Islamic terror.
America having achieved its objective of destroying the Soviet Union discarded Afghanistan like a used condom. America, irresponsibly and short sightedly fathered modern Islamic terrorism, unfortunately the whole world has to now deal with this problem as it struggles to put the Jihad genie back into the bottle.
The Afghan people despised the Soviets, but they hated the Americans and the Pakistanis and wanted revenge for the destruction of their country, the loss of loved ones and no future. They had supposedly been rescued from one hell but sent into a deeper hell.
Unfortunately for Afghanistan and its people worse was yet to come.
Interesting Links:
