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October
6, 2001
Vijay
Prashad
Kevin
Gray
The
Trap:
Blacks and 9/11
October
5, 2001
Ronnie
Gilbert
Déjà
Vu: The FBI's War
on Civil Liberties
Patrick
Cockburn
Taliban
Cluster Bombs
Dave
Marsh
John
Brown, Woody Guthrie
and the Secret Music of 9/11
Babak
Nahid
A
Suspect's Perspective
October
4, 2001
David
Vest
Send
in the Cons
Robin
Blackburn
Road
to Armageddon
Noam
Chomsky
Chatting
with Chomsky
Tony
Blair
The
Dossier on bin Laden
Norman
Madarasz
Canada
Kow-Tows to US
Lorenzo Ervin
No Palestinian
Ever
Called Me Nigger
October
3, 2001
Peter Bell
Hitchens
and Coulter:
Love at Last?
Patrick
Cockburn
Waiting
Is the Hardest Part
Jeff
Chang
Clear
Channel Fires
Davey D!
John Chuckman
War
on Terror:
Crusade Without a Definition
Mahajan/Jensen
Tough
Talk Won't Solve
Problems of Terrorism
Ariel
Dorfman:
America
the Wounded
Lennie
Brenner
Dr.
Watson in Afghanistan
Steve
Perry:
Ashcroft's
Scare Tactics
October
2, 2001
Patrick
Cockburn:
Inside
an Afghan Hospital
Richard
Manning:
A
Vietnam Vet on Patriotism
St. Clair/Cockburn:
Tarnished
Star,
Tom Ridge in Vietnam
October
1, 2001
Noam
Chomsky:
Memo
to Hitchens
Hizam
Bitar:
Refuting
Michael Kinsley
David Grenier:
The
Good, The Bad,
and the Ugly
Douglas
Valentine:
Homeland
Insecurity
Carl
Estabrook:
Stop Bush's Killing
Mahajan/Jensen:
Food,
Fear and War
Patrick
Cockburn:
Ready
to Strike
Cockburn/St.
Clair:
Things
Could Be Worse
Terry
Allen:
Early
Profit-taking and 9/11
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
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Five
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Aftermath
Diary
Ashcroft's Onslaught
on
Civil Liberties
Ridge Long Groomed
for
Cheney's Job
Those CIA Killing
Bids
Never Stopped
The Not-So-Great
Mayor Giuliani
Crop Duster
Ban
Will Save Lives
Madeleine Albright's
Deadly Legacy
How the Bin
Laden Women
Fled Bel Air
Tom Ridge's
Vietnam
Same as Kerrey's?
A CounterPunch
Journey
to Ramallah
A Word About
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Whiteout:
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Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James
Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
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October 6,
2001
Who
Said History Stopped Being Ironical?
Questions and Answers
About War in Afghanistan
By Tariq Ali
1. How can one analyse
the evolution of Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion and the
victory of the Taliban?
The PDPA (---the Peoples Democratic
Party of Afghanistan----Afghan Communist Party) which had a strong
base in the army and air force carried out a coup d'etat in 1978,
toppling the corrupt regime of Daoud. The people welcomed the
change. The PDPA was initially popular. It pledged important
social reforms and democracy. But the latter promise was never
upheld even though important educational reforms were pushed
through such as free education and schools for girls. In the
cities girls and boys began to attend the same schools. Medical
care was improved as well, but a bitter factional struggle led
to the victory of a Pol-Pot faction led by Hafizullah Amin, who
embarked on a campaign massive repression.
Meanwhile the United States
decided to destabilise the regime by arming the ultra-religious
tribes and using the Pakistan Army as a conduit to help the religious
extremists. The Americans were laying a bear-trap and the Soviet
leadership fell into it. They sent the Red Army to topple Amin
and sustain the PDPA regime by force. This further exacerbated
the crisis and the United States gave the call for a jihad against
communism.
The Pakistani military thought
it would help the jihad if a Saudi prince came to lead the struggle,
but volunteers from that quarter were not forthcoming. Instead
the Saudi regime suggested Osama Bin Laden to the CIA. He was
approved, recruited, trained and sent to Afghanistan where he
fought well. In one action Bin Laden led his men to attack a
mixed school (boys and girls) and kill all the teachers. The
US watched this approvingly. The rest is history.
The Soviet Union was defeated
and withdrew its forces in 1989. A civil war followed and a coalition
government consisting of forces loyal to Iran, Tajikistan and
Pakistan came to power. Instability reigned. Then Pakistan hurled
the Taliban (students) it had trained in special seminaries into
the battle with open support from the Pakistan Army. Kabul was
captured and gradually the regime extended its rule to the rest
of the country. American think-tanks until just a few months
ago were talking of using the Taliban to further destabilise
the Central Asian Republics! Now the US and Pakistan are waging
war to topple a regime they created. Who said that history had
ceased to be ironical?
2. What is specific about
the Islamism of the Taliban?
It is a virulent, sectarian,
ultra-puritanical strain heavily influenced by Wahhabism---the
official state religion of Saudi Arabia. It was Saudi religious
instructors who trained the Taliban. They believe in a permanent
jihad against infidels and other Muslims (especially the Shias).
Bin Laden, too, is a staunch Wahhabi. They would like a return
to what they imagine was Islam in the 7th century, during the
leadership of Mohammed.
What they don't understand is that Mohammed was a very flexible
prophet-politician as Maxime Rodinson explains in his excellent
biography.
3. What was the strategic
aim of the United States in basing themselves on the most hard-line
wing of the Islamic resistance to the USSR, and more generally
groups such as that of Bin Laden in the Arab-Muslim world?
Throughout the Cold War the
United States used Islam as a bulwark against communism and revolution.
Everywhere in the Islamic world, not just in South Asia. So we
can say that the Islamism we witness is a product of imperialism
and modernity.
4. The key to what will
happen in the region is Pakistan. What sort of regime is it,
what are its goals and what are the contradictions it faces?
It is a military regime, but not a vicious one like its predecessor.
It is a regime which wants to supervise neo-liberalism in Pakistan.
The Army, of course, is divided, but the exact strength of pro-Taliban
currents inside the Army is a matter of dispute. It could be
anything between 15--30 percent. The Islamists are very weak
in Pakistani society as a whole. Its important to understand
this fact.
In successive elections, fewer
people have voted for zealotry in Pakistan than in Israel. That's
why the Pakistan Taliban decided to make 'entryism' inside the
Army. If the United States spills too much blood in Afghanistan
then the consequences could be dire within the Pakistan Army
in a year's time.
5. For the moment President
Musharraf seems to want to line up alongside the US. Is it possible
that Pakistan would be a logistical support to an American intervention
against Afghanistan?
Pakistan has agreed to give logistical support. In fact the Pakistan
Army is necessary for the whole operation. The United States
planes and troops will be stationed in the Gwadur base in Baluchistan
which they built during the Cold War. Don't forget that Pakistan
was a cold war ally of the United States from 1954-1992. Both
sides know each other well. The Pakistani elite is delighted
that the country's debt (36 billion dollars) has been canceled
and more money has been pledged. In return for this they are
prepared to see the Taliban defeated and disarmed.
Trouble will begin if too many bearded men are killed. In my
opinion one reason for the delay in action is that the Pakistan
Army is trying to make sure that the Taliban do not resist the
United States. The advice being given to the faithful is: shave
your beards and keep your powder dry. The West will go away and
then we'll see.
Islamabad detests the Northern Alliance which it defeated via
the Taliban when it took Kabul. I cannot stress enough that the
Taliban is sustained on every level by Pakistan. What is switched
on can also be switched off. The problem for Pakistan is that
a wing of the Taliban defected to Bin Laden and his praetorian
guard of Arab anarcho-Islamists. These guys will probably fight
back whatever the odds.
6. If the conflict becomes
regional what effects would this have on the situation in the
region and the attitude of countries like India, China and Russia?
All three countries are delighted by the 'war against terrorism'.
They are all Americans now! India wants to crush the opposition
Kashmir, The Turkish military wants to a final solution to the
'Kurdish problem', Putin has already destroyed Chechnya, China
has the green light to do what it wants. So it suits them all,
but a great deal depends on how this adventure ends. Are we witnessing
yet another boost to and acceptance of US world hegemony or is
the Empire about to triumph itself to death? CP
Tariq Ali is the author of The
Stone Woman. He lives in London.
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