The Taliban Fiasco

In 1979 CE, three major events took place in the region that consists of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan i.e. one, former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto was executed under the military regime of the fundamentalist General Zia; two, Iran's pro-Western Pahlavi empire was toppled down by the powerful fundamentalist Shiite cleric Ayatollah Khomeini; three, the Marxist-Leninist government in Afghanistan was challenged by fundamentalist Muslim mujahidin. Did you discover the similarity between these three events? In the three important countries of South Asia, hardcore Islamists either replaced or threatened to replace secular regimes. That's why the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-89 CE) was supported in Afghanistan by both Pakistan and Iran for they all had reservations about Communists being in authority.

Unfortunately, our Pakistani people (mainly those who affiliate themselves with the Wahhabi and the Deobandi schools of thought) remember the Soviet-Afghan War as some sort of jihad against kuffar in which pious Muslim warriors humiliated and defeated the pro-Western kuffar (yahud-o-nasara [Jews and Christians]) and liberated their country from the clutches of anti-Islamic elements. The Soviet-Afghan "jihad" is still celebrated as a victory for mainly Sunni Islam and Taliban - the Sunni fighters involved in the decade-long skirmish are venerated as mujahidin who fought in the way of the Lord, just like they were revered by Americans as reincarnation of the Founding Fathers. This bubble needs to be burst!

Soviet-Afghan War wasn't a battle between haq and batil. It wasn't a war fought between pro-Islamic Muslims and pro-Western non-Muslims. It wasn't a contest about whether Islamic principles would decide the destiny of Afghanistan or not. It most certainly wasn't a victory for the Sunni Islam. Briefly speaking, Soviet-Afghan War was fought between an anti-Western Marxist-Leninist Muslim Afghan government that had atheist Russians as their allies and who wished to promote communism in Afghanistan, and pro-Western anti-communist Sunni Muslim Afghan rebels that had Jewish-Christian countries (and even an atheist China) as sponsors, were joined in the battle by Shiite Muslims backed by Iran and Maoist fighters backed by China, and who wanted to promote capitalism in Afghanistan. These mujahidin were supplied with weaponry by US and trained by Pakistan to liberate Afghanistan from a Russia-backed government.

A summary of the entire fiasco can be penned down in a single noteworthy paragraph. Afghanistan was an empire until Daud Khan seized government in a bloodless coup from his cousin the King and brought an age of progress and development in the backwards country of the Afghans. His vision and strategies to lessen Afghanistan's dependency on USSR alerted the Russians and PDPA (People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan), on Soviet initiative, assassinated Daud in 1978 CE. The communist regime's harsh treatment of its opponents, execution of political rivals and internal rivalries weakened their authority over Afghanistan. People who were already rising in revolt against communists were further strengthened by the intra-party rivalries between President Taraki and his second-in-command Amin who overthrew Taraki and assumed the title of President after executing his former boss. Amin was replaced when Brezhnev allowed Soviet troops to enter Kabul, murder Amin and install a Russian puppet Karmal as President in 1979 CE. Soviet's intervention was seen as a criminal act of international level. Most of the world condemned the decision of USSR to mediate unconstitutionally in Afghan internal affairs by sending their soldiers into Afghan territory. In United Nations, Russia was only supported by countries such as India, Angola and Vietnam. Most Muslim countries wanted the commies out of Kabul. Thus, with American and Gulf money, Afghan fundamentalist rebels were trained in Pakistan and China, and Soviet-Afghan War officially began. It is speculated that USSR didn't initially plan to stay in Afghanistan for a long time and they would have left the country in a year had they not been met with resistance from rival factions. For nine years, Afghanistan suffered and was torched with flames of war. In 1988 CE, Gorbachev decided to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan and, in 1989 CE, Afghans were liberated of the Soviet poison they so hated. But an end of Soviet-Afghan War didn't bring peace in Afghanistan rather immediately was followed by Afghan Civil War which was fought between the same mujahidin and PDPA. In 1992 CE, Karmal's successor Najibullah surrendered and thanks to Peshawar Accords the office of Presidency was transferred to the highly-acclaimed and well-celebrated cleric Burhanuddin Rabbani. But Rabbani's government clashed in 1996 CE with the Taliban who had now, under their leader Mullah Omar whom they had paid fealty to as the khalifah (actually, emir), formed their separate but scarcely-recognized Islamic government. For the next five years, Rabbani's government was in a situation of constant struggle against the Taliban when, in 2001 CE, US invaded Afghanistan and the Taliban regime came to an end. Just like USSR had intervened in 1979 CE, after twenty-two years, capitalists imitated the very same tactic and Karzai became the President. From that day on, the struggle between the Afghan government and the Taliban hasn't resolved completely.