http://www.canadiandimension.mb.ca/v35/v35_6jr.htm
Canadian Dimension November/December 2001
Afghanistan: A Forgotten Chapter
By John Ryan
I was in Afghanistan on an agricultural research project in October and
November of 1978. Through Kabul University I conducted my research
project
with the assistance of an agriculture professor. A Marxist government
had
come to power only six months before, so I was there at a significant
period
in the country's history.
The bulk of Afghanistan's people in the 1970s were farmers, but the
landholding system hadn't changed much since the feudal period. More
than
three quarters of the land was owned by landlords who comprised only
three
per cent of the rural population. The king was deposed in 1973, but no
land
reform came about and the new government was autocratic, corrupt and
unpopular. On April 27, 1978, to prevent the police from attacking a
huge
demonstration in front of the presidential palace, the army intervened,
and
after firing a single shot from a tank at the palace, the government
resigned. The military officers then invited the Marxist party to form
the
government, under the leadership of Noor Mohammed Taraki, a university
professor.
This is how a Marxist government came into office -- it was a totally
indigenous happening -- not even the CIA blamed the U.S.S.R. for this.
The
government began to bring in much-needed reforms, but with restraint and
prudence. Labour unions were legalized, a minimum wage was established,
a
progressive income tax was introduced, men and women were given equal
rights, and girls were encouraged to go to school. On September 1, 1978,
there was an abolition of all debts owed by farmers. A program was being
developed for major land reform, and it was expected that all farm
families
(including landlords) would be given the equivalent of equal amounts of
land.
Everywhere life seemed peaceful and there were few police and soldiers
on
the scene. This was a genuinely popular government and people looked
forward
to the future with great hope. Admittedly, the issue of women's rights
and
education for girls was controversial, and fundamentalist mullahs
conducted
campaigns against this. It was these people and their converts, along
with
landlords, who migrated to Pakistan, as refugees.
But there was a much more powerful opponent to the government -- that
was
the U.S., which objected to it because it was Marxist. The CIA, along
with
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, almost immediately began to provide military
aid
and training to the Muslim extremists.
Afghan Marxists have claimed that one of their countrymen, Hafizullah
Amin,
while on visits to the U.S., had been "converted" by the CIA and became
their agent in the Taraki government. He worked his way to the top, and,
as
defence minister, in September, 1979, carried out a coup, took over the
government, and had Taraki killed. All his loyal supporters were killed,
jailed, or exiled. He then proceeded to undermine and discredit the
Marxist
government. He enacted draconian laws against the Muslim clergy, to
purposefully further alienate them. Progressive reforms were halted and
thousands of people were jailed.
Meanwhile, the CIA's trained and armed mujahedeen came in by the
thousands
to attack parts of the country. In a matter of three months, Amin had
essentially destroyed the Marxist government and had planned to
surrender to
the mujahedeen, and become the president of a fundamentalist Islamic
state.
But at the end of December, 1979, Amin was overthrown by the remnants of
Taraki supporters, and, under the leadership of Babrak Karmal (who had
been
in exile in the U.S.S.R.), they invited the U.S.S.R. to send in a
contingent
of troops to help ward off the well-armed mujahedeen invaders, many
being
foreign mercenaries.
The advent of Soviet troops on Afghan soil tragically set the stage for
the
eventual destruction of the country. President Carter's national
security
advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinske, saw this as a golden opportunity to fire
up
the zeal of the most reactionary Muslim fanatics -- to have them declare
a
jihad on the atheist infidels who defiled Afghan soil -- and to not only
expel them but to pursue them and "liberate" the Muslim-majority areas
of
the U.S.S.R. And for the next ten years, with an expenditure of about 40
billion dollars from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and with the recruitment
of
30,000 non-Afghan Muslims into the jihad (including Osama bin Laden),
this
army of religious zealots laid waste to the land and people of
Afghanistan.
The Soviets succumbed to their Vietnam and withdrew their troops in
February, 1989, but the war raged on. Somehow it is generally thought
that
the Afghan Marxist government collapsed as soon as the Soviets left, but
that's not true. Seeing the viciousness of the mujahedeen, the bulk of
the
Afghan population, especially the women, supported the Marxist
government,
and without a single Soviet soldier on their territory, they fought on
for
another three years. (In fact, their government outlasted the U.S.S.R.
itself, which collapsed in December of 1991.) But they couldn't match
the
unending supply of superior American weapons, and after the Marxist
defeat
in April, 1992, the mujahedeen fought amongst themselves until the
Taliban
captured Kabul in September, 1996.
During the years of war, Kabul was totally destroyed, as were most other
cities -- with the greatest damage occurring after the Marxist defeat
during
the internecine fratricidal conflict. The Taliban introduced a horrific
reactionary regime. The landlords came back, and a virtual war was
declared
on women, who were not allowed to work or have doctors treat them, and
girls
were forbidden to go to school. Terror, in all its forms, became the
basis
of the regime -- a regime of fascist Muslims.
So, who is to blame for this? Both the USA and the USSR. What stupidity
for
the Soviets to send in troops to try to salvage a Marxist regime that
was
under attack by hordes of religious fanatics. Their mere presence on
Afghan
soil intensified American resolve and mujahedeen fanaticism. If the
Soviets
had simply provided weapons for the Afghan Marxist government, they may
have
survived the "barbarians at the gates" -- because ordinary Afghan people
were not fanatics and they had supported the government's progressive
reforms. And even if they lost to the mujahedeen, in time they might
have
prevailed and restored a progressive secular government. But now,
because of
the protracted war and the complete destruction of the country, and a
Nazi-type regime in control, ordinary Afghan people are indeed defeated
-
and without hope.
But if the Soviets are to blame, how about the U.S., Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan? The U.S. "Communist paranoia" was such that they supported and
recruited the most reactionary fanatic religious zealots on the earth --
and
used them as a proxy army to fight Communism and the U.S.S.R. -- in the
course of which Afghanistan and its people were destroyed. As for the
mujahedeen that this conflict created, they took on a life of their own,
and
have now spread throughout the Muslim world and are apparently in cells
everywhere. Having defeated what they called Soviet imperialism, they
have
now turned their sights on what they perceive to be American
imperialism.
For decades the U.S. has interfered in the affairs of countless
countries in
the world -- Afghanistan is only a case in point. And all the while,
U.S.
foreign policy makers felt that they could act without any adverse
consequences to the U.S. land and its people. They were a superpower,
and
they felt invulnerable.
But now, ironically, a creation of their own making has turned on them
--
and despite America's overwhelming technological, economic and military
power, this force has shown that America is vulnerable. So, foreign
policy
decisions do have consequences - but despite what has happened, it may
still
take a while for this truism to sink in.
If we are to learn anything from this, it is important to understand
that if
the U.S. had left the Marxist Taraki government alone (in the same way
that
they should have left Iran alone in 1953), there would have been no army
of
mujahedeen, no Soviet intervention, no war that destroyed Afghanistan,
no
Osama bin Laden, and no September 11 tragedy in the U.S.
John Ryan is a retired professor of geography and senior scholar at the
University of Winnipeg.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
