From: "Wahome, Kimamo" <WAHOMEK@uwec.edu> Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:02:04 -0600 Subject: Afghanistan Message-ID: <E3F0E607B3CF71418CE725F002B5F60467CE301634@CHERRYPEPSI.uwec.edu>
Iraq was George Bush's Waterloo; Afghanistan will be Obama's Waterloo...!
Kimamo
Published on Sunday, November 23, 2008 by The Independent/UK<http://www.ind
ependent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/kabul-30-years-ago-and-kabul-today
-have-we-learned-nothing-1029920.html>
Kabul 30 Years Ago, and Kabul Today. Have We Learned Nothing?
'Terrorists' were in Soviet sights; now they are in the Americans'.
by Robert Fisk
I sit on the rooftop of the old Central Hotel - pharaonic-decorated elevato
r, unspeakable apple juice, sublime green tea, and armed Tajik guards at th
e front door - and look out across the smoky red of the Kabul evening. The
Bala Hissar fort glows in the dusk, massive portals, the great keep to whic
h the British army should have moved its men in 1841. Instead, they felt th
e king should live there and humbly built a cantonment on the undefended pl
ain, thus leading to a "signal catastrophe".
Like automated birds, the kites swoop over the rooftops. Yes, the kite-runn
ers of Kabul, minus Hollywood. At night, the thump of American Sikorsky hel
icopters and the whisper of high-altitude F-18s invade my room. The United
States of America is settling George Bush's scores with the "terrorists" tr
ying to overthrow Hamid Karzai's corrupt government.
Now rewind almost 29 years, and I am on the balcony of the Intercontinental
Hotel on the other side of this great, cold, fuggy city. Impeccable staff,
frozen Polish beer in the bar, secret policemen in the front lobby, Russia
n troops parked in the forecourt. The Bala Hissar fort glimmers through the
smoke. The kites - green seems a favourite colour - move beyond the trees.
At night, the thump of Hind choppers and the whisper of high-altitude MiGs
invade my room. The Soviet Union is settling Leonid Brezhnev's scores with
the "terrorists" trying to overthrow Barbrak Karmal's corrupt government.
Thirty miles north, all those years ago, a Soviet general told us of the im
minent victory over the "terrorists" in the mountains, imperialist "remnant
s" - the phrase Kabul communist radio always used - who were being supporte
d by America and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Fast forward to 2001 - just seven years ago - and an American general told
us of the imminent victory over the "terrorists" in the mountains, the all
but conquered Taliban who were being supported by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
. The Russian was pontificating at the big Soviet airbase at Bagram. The Am
erican general was pontificating at the big US airbase at Bagram.
This is not déjà-vu. This is déjà double-vu. And it gets worse.
Almost 29 years ago, the Afghan "mujahedin" began a campaign to end the mix
ed schooling of boys and girls in the remote mountain passes, legislation p
ushed through by successive communist governments. Schools were burned down
. Outside Jalalabad, I found a headmaster and his headmistress wife burned
to death. Today, the Afghan Taliban are campaigning to end the mixed school
ing of boys and girls - indeed the very education of young women - across t
he great deserts of Kandahar and Helmand. Schools have been burned down. Te
achers have been executed.
As the Soviets began to suffer more and more casualties, their officers boa
sted of the increasing prowess of the Afghan National Army, the ANA. Infilt
rated though they were by the "mujahedin", Moscow gave them newer tanks and
helped to train new battalions to take on the guerrillas outside the capit
al.
Fast forward to now. As the Americans and British suffer ever greater casua
lties, their officers boast of the increasing prowess of the ANA. Infiltrat
ed though they are by the Taliban, America and other Nato states are provid
ing them with newer equipment and training new battalions to take on the gu
errillas outside the capital. Back in January of 1980, I could take a bus f
rom Kabul to Kandahar. Seven years later, the broken highway was haunted by
"mujahedin" fighters and bandits and the only safe way to travel to Kandah
ar was by air.
In the immediate aftermath of America's arrival here in 2001, I could take
a bus from Kabul to Kandahar. Now, seven years later, the highway - rebuilt
on the express instructions of George W but already cracked and swamped wi
th sand - is haunted by Taliban fighters and bandits and the only safe way
to travel to Kandahar is by air.
Throughout the 1980s, the Soviets and the ANA held the towns but lost most
of the country. Today, America and its allies and the ANA hold most of the
towns but have lost the southern half of the country. The Soviets secretly
sent another 9,000 troops to join their 115,000-strong occupation force to
fight the "mujahedin". Today, the Americans are publicly sending another 7,
000 troops to join their 55,000-strong occupation force to fight the Taliba
n.
In 1980, I would sneak down to Chicken Street to buy old books in the dust-
filled shops, cheap and illegal Pakistani reprints of the memoirs of Britis
h Empire officers while my driver watched anxiously lest I be mistaken for
a Russian. Last week, I sneaked down to the Shar Book shop, which is filled
with the very same illicit volumes, while my driver watched anxiously lest
I be mistaken for an American (or, indeed, a Brit). I find Stephen Tanner'
s Afghanistan: A Military History From Alexander The Great To The Fall Of T
he Taliban and drive back to my hotel through the streets of wood-smoked Ka
bul to read it in my ill-lit room.
In 1840, Tanner writes, Britain's supply line from the Pakistani city of Ka
rachi up through the Khyber Pass and Jalalabad to Kabul was being threatene
d by Afghan fighters, "British officers on the crucial supply line through
Peshawar... insulted and attacked". I fumble through my bag for a clipping
from a recent copy of Le Monde. It marks Nato's main supply route from the
Pakistani city of Karachi up through the Khyber Pass and Jalalabad to Kabul
, and illustrates the location of each Taliban attack on the convoys bringi
ng fuel and food to America's allies in Afghanistan.
Then I prowl through one of the Pakistani retread books I have found and di
scover General Roberts of Kandahar telling the British in 1880 that "we hav
e nothing to fear from Afghanistan, and the best thing to do is to leave it
as much as possible to itself... I feel sure I am right when I say that th
e less the Afghans see of us, the less they will dislike us".
Memo to the Americans, the Brits, the Canadians and the rest of Humpty Dump
ty's men. Read Roberts. Read history.
© 2008 Independent/UK