The Pakistan Supreme Court has ruled that the NRO is ‘null and void’. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s days are numbered. Will he resign or hold on and let the country be consumed in prosecutions of many of the high command? Zardari is protected from prosecution while he is President, but the opposition parties in government are calling for his resignation and could be impeached under the Pakistan Constitution. View the video from Al Jazzera.net as it explains the NRO and the ramifications of the Supreme Court action.

Opposition calls on Zardari to quit

Taken from Al Jazeera.net: Pakistan’s main opposition party has called for Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s president, to resign after the supreme court declared void an amnesty deal protecting him from corruption charges.

Following the ruling, officials from the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) said Zardari should be obliged to step down. “On the moral ground, he should realise that in this situation he is no longer able to effectively run the government, run the country, [or] represent Pakistan within Pakistan or outside,” Raja Zafarul-Haq, the chairman of the PML-N, told Al Jazeera. He said that his party was “not in a hurry” to call for Zardari’s impeachment, but warned: “Maybe there will be a public reaction if he decides not to step down.” Earlier, Khawaja Asif, a senior leader PML-N leader, said: “It will be in his own interest, it will be in the interest of his party and it will be good for the system.”

Resignations demanded

Siddiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the party, also called for Zardari to step down, saying the president should “resign on moral grounds” and “not depend upon the crutches of the constitution”. Pakistan’s constitution guarantees Zardari immunity while in office. But the constitution also states that presidential candidates must be pious, honest and truthful and not have been convicted in a criminal case.

The supreme court’s decision on Wednesday declaring the amnesty agreement as being unconstitutional paves the way for corruption cases against Zardari and thousands of other officials covered by the amnesty to be revived. “All the cabinet members must immediately tender their resignations,” Farooq said. Beneficiaries of the amnesty include Pakistan’s interior and defence ministers. A number of cases were pending against Zardari when it was announced by Pervez Musharraf, then Pakistan’s president, that he and others would be immune from prosecution under the 2007 National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Amnesty deal

Musharraf declared the NRO while under pressure to hold elections and end eight years of military rule. Although Zardari has spent years in jail over corruption charges, he alleges the charges were politically-motivated and questions hang over whether he was ever actually convicted. Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won elections in 2008, restoring civilian rule, but the NRO expired at the end of last month and the PPP did not have enough support to renew the ordinance in parliament. Senior figures in the PML-N, led by Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, have already called on Zardari to give up powers inherited from Musharraf such as those to sack the prime minister and dissolve parliament.

Zardari already faces low public approval ratings and any political trouble in Pakistan is likely to be watched very closely by the West which wants Islamabad to focus on combating Islamist fighters.

Malik, other bigwigs face difficult situation

From Dawn.com: ISLAMABAD: As a result of the Supreme Court judgment scrapping the National Reconciliation Ordinance, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and a number of other bigwigs are likely to lose their posts because they had been convicted by accountability courts. The apex court decision restores the pre-NRO situation and those who had been sentenced in cases withdrawn under the NRO would stand convicted. Mr Malik is one of those who had been convicted for not appearing before the court in corruption cases in 2004. Now, legal experts said the interior minister would have to get bail from a court to retain his office.

Mr Malik was facing two cases in accountability courts – illegal gratification of Rs15 million and illegal detention of a complainant. Both cases were registered in 2004. According to the National Accountability Bureau report submitted before the apex court, the minister was sentenced under section 31-A of the National Accountability Ordinance to three years’ rigorous imprisonment. Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, Mr Malik vowed to resign from his office if corruption charges were proved against him. “I would prefer to be buried in Pakistan instead of escaping,” he said.

Some other beneficiaries of NRO would face a difficult situation. Included among them are former MNA Sardar Mansoor Khan Leghari, Murid Ahmed Baloch, Inamur Rehman Sehri, former MPA Mian Muhammad Rashid, former chairman of the NDFC Maula Bux, former MD of the Utility Stores Corporation Sadiq Ali Khan, former acting manager of the OGDC Raheel J. Qureshi and Nadeem Imtiaz.

The Strings Attached to the U.S. $7.5 Billion USD gift to Pakistan over the next five years

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration sought to reassure US lawmakers this week it would demand ‘maximum accountability’ from Pakistan for $7.5 billion in aid and that it had safeguards to ensure funds did not reach extremists. In a report sent by the State Department to congressional committees late on Monday, the administration outlined its priorities for the aid, including water, agriculture and electricity projects, and laid out a strategy to prevent corruption and misuse of the money.

‘The Secretary (of State) will suspend any government to government assistance to any implementing agency if there is credible evidence of misuse of funds by such agency,’ said the report, obtained by Reuters. The report was mandated by Congress after the $7.5 billion, five-year aid plan passed into law in October. So far, appropriations committees have agreed on nearly $1.5 billion for the first year. Read more here.

* * *
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On December 8, the Yale Afghanistan Forum sponsored a panel entitled, “The Taliban as a Social Movement in Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Speakers were Mariam Abou-Zahab, of Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) at Sciences Po, and Alexander Evans, UK Foreign Office and 2009 Yale World Fellow. Professor Alessandro Monsutti moderated the panel.

The Taliban arose in the Pashtun areas along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Although some people believe that the traditional Pashtun tribal structure is intact in this area, and that the Taliban are a temporary aberration, Abou-Zahab and Evans argued that the Taliban represent a transformative social movement.This has implications for those who wish to see the Taliban defeated. The conflict cannot be viewed simply as an insurgency. It is more like a civil war, in which battles are often the continuation of local struggles. Taliban fighters are not mercenaries. They view themselves as a movement for justice, delivering the security and order that the government does not. The Taliban seek to change the existing society, and therefore cannot be appealed to through hierarchical political structures.

Abou-Zahab said that Pashtuns are not homogenous or classless. Rather, they can be divided into four groups:

1. The traditional leaders, who have been discredited by corruption, are seen as bought off by the government.
2. The new rich: merchants and smugglers with transnational ties, who finance the Taliban.
3. The educated class: non-tribal and integrated into the wider society
4. The common people: peasants, the landless and young people who feel alienated from the existing society.

In Swat, poor people often migrate to Karachi or the Gulf states, and come back with money, which increases long-standing land disputes. The war in Afghanistan provides another opportunity for advancement, and honor within a religious context. Often the mullahs are the only element of the traditional leadership that maintains any credibility and, with democracy, poor people often voted them into power. Now they have access to patronage networks, and are here to stay. As conflict continues, there are more and more displaced people. A whole generation has faced extreme violence and is being urbanized by force (for example, Kabul’s population has quadrupled since 1978). These people are easy recruits for the Taliban.

Alexander Evans discussed the Pakistani government’s response. In the tribal areas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the government is weak, and when it is present, it is usually in negative ways. Since the days when British “political agents” distributed money to the tribes, tribal leaders have been seen as agents of the government, rather than representatives of the people. The recent violence in Swat has had a greater impact on the Pakistani public and government than earlier border troubles. In Evan’s metaphor, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are like the Appalachian mountains, while Swat, where people have their summer homes, is like Long Island, The government is now realizing the border problem cannot simply be ignored or contained.

Evans described how the lack of a justice system helps the Taliban and other militants. To settle a land dispute, the civil court may take five years, is likely to be corrupt, and its decision will be unenforceable. The tribal jirga is seen as equally corrupt and ineffective. The decision of the local militia leader, however, while it may not go in your favor, will at least be prompt and enforceable. The popular culture also plays a role in the attraction of the Taliban. Fighters can become heroes: it is a path to celebrity in a society with low social mobility. Even the army now propagates stories of martyrdom. In the tribal areas, radio is the primary contact with the outside world, and one pirate radio operator, Mailana Fazlula, has a following among women. He speaks about throwing Americans out of Afghanistan, but also about Islam teaching husbands to treat their wives better, and his female listeners give him their jewelry to finance jihad.

Evans described how what are called the Taliban are really four separate movements.

1. The cross-border insurgency, with action in Afghanistan and leaders in
Pakistan, and support on both sides.
2. Local (non-Taliban) militants in Pakistan, who range from terrorists to
crime bosses.
3. Local (non-Taliban) Afghan militants, such as Jalaluddin Haqqani.
4. The international terrorists, who pose the greatest threat to the outside world, but are often married to local families, and hard to separate from those kinship ties.

Evans mentioned that when he has interviewed people from the tribal areas, they overwhelmingly told him that what they want is development, education and economic opportunities. Both Evans and Abou-Zahab agreed that, while the present generation may be lost, any hope for the future lies with the children.

Many thanks to Mariam Abou-Zahab, Alexander Evans, Alessandro Monsutti, the Gattis Smith Lecture Series, the South Asian Studies Council, the Muslim Students Association, and everyone who attended the event.

A “Necessary War” — for a Gas Pipeline

It’s Obama’s War Now

By GARY LEUPP

Reposted from (http://current.com/1stfq4c) at Counterpunch.org – November 30, 2009

There are now at present some 68,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 allied forces occupying Afghanistan, in league with the Northern Alliance warlords and the corrupt and feeble Karzai regime in Kabul. President Obama clearly wishes to increase the figure and will announce before an audience of West Point cadets Tuesday that he will add over 30,000 more while pushing the Europeans to add 10,000. This will bring the total number of occupation forces to around the level of the Soviet deployment at its peak in the 1980s.

The Soviets were trying to protect the secular government in Afghanistan and to discourage Islamic fundamentalism, a potential threat to the neighboring Soviet Central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan. What is Obama trying to do?

AMERICA HAS HAD ENOUGH.

The illegitimate wars were spawned by false-flag terrorism, are based on fraud, deceit, and are for opium, oil, the building of a natural-gas pipeline, riches and hegemony.

BRING THEM ALL HOME!

It’s Time to Leave Afghanistan

Appears also at AntiWar.com

Statement by Rep. Ron Paul, December 12, 2009, before the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee on December 10, 2009.

Mr. Speaker thank you for holding these important hearings on US policy in Afghanistan. I would like to welcome the witnesses, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and General Stanley A. McChrystal, and thank them for appearing before this Committee.

I have serious concerns, however, about the president’s decision to add some 30,000 troops and an as yet undisclosed number of civilian personnel to escalate our Afghan operation. This “surge” will bring US troop levels to approximately those of the Soviets when they occupied Afghanistan with disastrous result back in the 1980s. I fear the US military occupation of Afghanistan may end up similarly unsuccessful.

In late 1986 Soviet armed forces commander, Marshal Sergei Akhromeev, told then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, “Military actions in Afghanistan will soon be seven years old. There is no single piece of land in this country which has not been occupied by a Soviet soldier. Nonetheless, the majority of the territory remains in the hands of rebels.” Soon Gorbachev began the Soviet withdrawal from its Afghan misadventure. Thousands were dead on both sides, yet the occupation failed to produce a stable national Afghan government.

Eight years into our own war in Afghanistan the Soviet commander’s words ring eerily familiar. Part of the problem stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. It is our presence as occupiers that feeds the insurgency. As would be the case if we were invaded and occupied, diverse groups have put aside their disagreements to unify against foreign occupation. Adding more US troops will only assist those who recruit fighters to attack our soldiers and who use the US occupation to convince villages to side with the Taliban.

Proponents of the president’s Afghanistan escalation cite the successful “surge” in Iraq as evidence that this second surge will have similar results. I fear they might be correct about the similar result, but I dispute the success propaganda about Iraq. In fact, the violence in Iraq only temporarily subsided with the completion of the ethnic cleansing of Shi’ites from Sunni neighborhoods and vice versa – and all neighborhoods of Christians. Those Sunni fighters who remained were easily turned against the foreign al-Qaeda presence when offered US money and weapons. We are increasingly seeing this “success” breaking down: sectarian violence is flaring up and this time the various groups are better armed with US-provided weapons. Similarly, the insurgents paid by the US to stop their attacks are increasingly restive now that the Iraqi government is no longer paying bribes on a regular basis. So I am skeptical about reports on the success of the Iraqi surge.

Likewise, we are told that we have to “win” in Afghanistan so that al-Qaeda cannot use Afghan territory to plan further attacks against the US. We need to remember that the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, was, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, largely planned in the United States (and Germany) by terrorists who were in our country legally. According to the logic of those who endorse military action against Afghanistan because al-Qaeda was physically present, one could argue in favor of US airstrikes against several US states and Germany! It makes no sense. The Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to remain in Afghanistan because both had been engaged, with US assistance, in the insurgency against the Soviet occupation.

Nevertheless, the president’s National Security Advisor, Gen. James Jones, USMC (Ret.), said in a recent interview that less than 100 al-Qaeda remain in Afghanistan and that the chance they would reconstitute a significant presence there was slim. Are we to believe that 30,000 more troops are needed to defeat 100 al-Qaeda fighters? I fear that there will be increasing pressure for the US to invade Pakistan, to where many Taliban and al-Qaeda have escaped. Already CIA drone attacks on Pakistan have destabilized that country and have killed scores of innocents, producing strong anti-American feelings and calls for revenge. I do not see how that contributes to our national security.

The president’s top advisor for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said recently, “I would say this about defining success in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the simplest sense, the Supreme Court test for another issue, we’ll know it when we see it.” That does not inspire much confidence.

Supporters of this surge argue that we must train an Afghan national army to take over and strengthen the rule and authority of Kabul. But experts have noted that the ranks of the Afghan national army are increasingly being filled by the Tajik minority at the expense of the Pashtun plurality. US diplomat Matthew Hoh, who resigned as Senior Civilian Representative for the U.S. Government in Zabul Province, noted in his resignation letter that he “fail[s] to see the value or the worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war.” Mr. Hoh went on to write that “[L]ike the Soviets, we continue to secure and bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by [the Afghan] people.”

I have always opposed nation-building as unconstitutional and ineffective. Afghanistan is no different. Without a real strategy in Afghanistan, without a vision of what victory will look like, we are left with the empty rhetoric of the last administration that “when the Afghan people stand up, the US will stand down.” I am afraid the only solution to the Afghanistan quagmire is a rapid and complete US withdrawal from that country and the region. We cannot afford to maintain this empire and our occupation of these foreign lands is not making us any safer. It is time to leave Afghanistan.

California Democratic Party Leadership to Obama: GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN

Thousands of Afghan students protest against US forces

McChrystal: Getting bin Laden key to defeating al Qaida

President Obama’s Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan

Report: Bin Laden Already Dead

US planned war in Afghanistan long before September 11

Afghanistan sitting on a gold mine. The real reason we’re fighting the war?

What? You didn’t know? Why, it’s a ‘necessary war’ to build a natural gas pipeline smack through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan!

And then, of course, there’s the poppy of Big Pharma’s eye, the Opium Trade . . .

Hamid Karzai’s brother, Drug Lord Ahmed Wali Karzai, has been ‘on CIA payroll’ since 2001

Britain is protecting the biggest heroin crop of all time

Low Price, High Potency Spike Heroin Deaths. Heroin: ‘It’s Our No. 1 Priority,’ Says DEA

BOSTON –A lethal combination of rock bottom prices combined with a spike in the potency and availability of heroin on Massachusetts streets has led to a startling increase in the number of heroin-related deaths in recent years.

How The USA Funds The Taliban

“They seek him here, they seek him there … the drones they bomb from everywhere. Is he in Ghazni? Or in Baden-Baden? That damned elusive Osama bin Laden.”

Once again the whereabouts of that modern Pimpernel, Osama, are in the news. First, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, needing to justify increasing Britain’s troop presence in Afghanistan to his voters, demands the Pakistani government do more to apprehend bin Laden. Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said Osama bin Laden was not in his country any longer.

BBC’s Orla Guerin reports from Islamabad that a member of the Taliban, detained in Pakistan, has told his interrogators that a contact he trusts claims to have seen the Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan early this year. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates responded, “We don’t know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is.” He added: “It’s been years since we had good intelligence” about the Al Qaeda leader’s whereabouts.

Whatever the reason for the latest round of where’s Osama, how is it possible that eight years after 9/11, with billions of dollars spent using the most sophisticated spying equipment in the world, not to mention drones and special forces scouring his likely hiding places, does nobody have the remotest idea of how to find him?

The best educated guess is he is in Pashtun territory, living under the code of protection — pashtunwali — that is the bedrock of their tribal culture.

Though no one is able to say with any degree of certainty whether the man is even alive.

Or, is he allowed to stay on the loose because limbo is the place where all the governments concerned prefer him to remain?

Full story

“Like the Soviets, the Americans do not understand that the insurgency is driven not only by Islamist fundamentalism, but also by ethnic nationalism. In the case of the Taliban, they are representing the grievances of the Pashtuns who have seen the artificial colonial “Durand Line” divide their homeland between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The best way to defuse the Taliban is to recognize the legitimacy of this historical grievance, and incorporate Pashtun civil society into both governments.

“But instead of unifying the different ethnic regions of Afghanistan, the NATO occupation seems headed more toward a de facto partition of these regions.

“The foreign policy team that President Obama has assembled includes some of the same figures who advocated the ethnic-sectarian partition of Yugoslavia and Iraq. (Obama’s Special Envoy to Af-Pak, Richard Holbrooke, authored the agreement that partioned Bosnia into Serb and Muslim-Croat republics in 1995, in effect rubberstamping the ethnic cleansing that had forcibly removed populations during a three-year civil war. He also turned a blind eye when Serb civilians were expelled from Croatia the same year, and from Kosovo in 1999.)”

–Excerpt from Zoltan Grossman’s article in Counterpunch “Afghanistan: The Roach Motel of Empires”

Our Establishment and the Jihadis who came from all over the World, has been fighting the Wars in, NWFP and FATA and Balauchistan against the Super Powers. First when Russian invaded Afghanistan (1979-1989) and later now when we are fighting another one against Taliban (2001-To date) when US has designs to occupy Afghanistan in the form of Military bases as it has in Saudia and other Arab countries.

1. Use of Islam against Russia in Great Game for Quest of Oil:

The fighters in the form of Muslim Madrassah students were brought from Arab countries of Saudia, Egypt, UAE, Morocco, and Algeria and where ever there was Islam. Fighter’s came from Christian countries of Europe and UK, USA and even Atheist countries like China (Xingjian Uighur Muslims) and Russia (Muslims of Chechnya’s).

The Help of CIA, Saudi, and Pakistan Intelligence (ISI) made this Mass migration of the Jihadis possible. The Main concept of Islam and Jihad was Hijacked and made to cater for the Psyche of War against a Communist Super Power that was Atheist and Non-Believers in Allah/ God. CIA had this Policy of using Religion against the Spread of Communism for a Long time and it was using all the other World religions effectively against Communism as it based on Atheism non Belief of God or Allah of Communists as basis of Hate, Although Communism was based on Principle of Socialism which is a major Part of Islam.

US was world leader of Capitalism/ Imperialism ( Interest based) , the system which works on system of Injustice to Poor and granting great power to Wealthy class, totally against the principles of Islam where Interests and other such Social Injustices are not tolerated as it harms the Poor.

This use of Islam for this purpose was approved by US President Jimmy Carter, and later by subsequent President Like Reagan and both senior and Junior Bushes.

This was Chief policy of CIA for Decades to come. The single Basis of Belief in one God was only plus point of US as it shared with Islam. Carter Doctrine, as we know US wanted to Have Military Basses; in all its spheres of Influences especially where there was Oil Fields. , Like Saudia, and other Middle Eastern countries extending upto Russian Controlled CIS states .

A total, of 1000 US bases were planned all over the world. The future was supposed to be Un-Tapped Oil reserves of CIS states Near Russia, At that, Time Russian border extended up to Afghanistan where after Afghan Jihad was pushed back to where it is now near shrunken Russia .

 The Great Berlin wall came down and Europe became one as European Union because, as Russian had no War Machine left to protect its Interests. The dream of USA became true what could not be achieved and was unthinkable was achieved by these Jihadis. All of Asia and the Central Asia, CIS countries Predominately Muslim were under Russian Control were now Liberated from Russian without Sacrifice of a Single Western/ American Officer and Soldier and by Finances that was like less then 1 % of America would spend on other wars.

America who could not dare to fight the Mighty, Russian Empire and could choose to fight Cold Wars instead of Fighting Eye to Eye with Russians had effectively outsourced war to Jihadis.

2. Revenge of the Great Game Wars through Jihadis in the Past:

The Great Game which started after Year 1800 many wars were fought here in 1849 as First Afghan War 1849 , where whole British Forces were eliminated Ruthlessly by Afghans and with just one survivors to tell the Tale  as “Doctor William Boyden .

The Second Afghan war of 1876 again, and then the Third afghan War of 1919.

These wars can be called, “The Great Game wars ,“ of British to Grab Resources of Central Asia. The British after losing miserably and being, humiliated, by proud and Nationalist, Enlightened Pushtoons, of Afghanistan.

The sun would never set in British Empire in the world, in contempt called NWFP Area as “The Frontier” were their Empire ended in Shame.

The Denied, Honor to Pushtoons of not naming their Land as Afghania, or Land of Afghans or Pukhtoonkha Province (Official Name at that Time).

So they devised cunning plan to use the Islam and Maulvis for this Purpose, many Religious Movements were created by British Intelligence Isservices (MI6), which were monitored by Governor NWFP Lord Cuningham and Indian Viceroy Himself.

The famous accounts of these can be seen in the Diaries of, Lord Cunningham lying in London Museum now, he writes, I quote “ he would pay only 10 Rupees each to a Maulvi who would portray British as Ahele Kitabs and friends and the Russian as Foes Atheist and Kafir to wage Jihad against”.

Whole Markazes like Deobandi and Barelavi ,were under their control and were financed by Viceroy.

Same is case of  Case of Creation of Ahamdis and jamamat Ahmadi who was Created as By Product of the same Great Game strategy . 

The Durrand Line Creation is also attributed to thier handy Work as Ahmadis like Sahibzada Abdul Latif of Afghanistan from Khost Area and that from NWFP region like Sahibzada Abdul Qayum Khan of Topi Swabi were instrumental in Helping  Mr. Durand foreign secrtary to Afghanistan of East India company representing Viceroy Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowneto Carve out  Durand Line with Amir Abdur Rehaman Khan king of Afghanistan 12 of November 1893.

Afghan Ahmadi Shabzada Abdul lateef of Khost

Durand line can be considered as Greatest tactical Advantage that paved the Way into afghanistan and Durrani Empire lost area of Khurasan  Iran , NWFP , FATA , Baluchistan and Punjab upto Chenab river in one stroke and Made Pashtun as a minority in Afghanistan whihc they ruled for over 10,00o Years .

Interestingly in NWFP Afghans and Pashtun were Made Minority as well after seperation of FATA and some districts to Punjab and Balauchistan. As now they were less in Number then Hazaras.

It may be noted that in the past Capital of Durrani Empire was in Lahore and Multan area of Punjab , whihc was shifted to Kandahar and Later to kabul which was capital during Mughal era of Afghanistan.

British  clipped and made small NWFP , Province can be termed as Brain Child of Viceroy Lord Curzon, who seperated FATA  from NWFP called Pashtunistan at That time. Which  Included some Part of Zhob areas of Balauchistan and Punjab too like Mian wali , DG Khan , Rajan pur Areas from Bannu NWFP.

The purpose was to  supress Pashtun/ Afghan  Nationalism and Promote Islamic Jihadis  against Russian Bolshieviks or Kafirs/ Aethiests.

The Hyderabad Deccan Nawab was their one Paid Agent who got 1000 rupees a month. As he had good, Relations with Religious centers of Deoband and was controlling it through his wealth which influence spread to NWFP and FATA too.

Some famous Maulvis who belongs to Maslaqs were reporting to  Viceroy  Lord Curzon and Governor NWFP  Lord Cunnigham Directly.

Monitoring, of Maulvis, was done through Respectable, Families of NWFP, like the, Shabizadas, Nawabs, Arbabs, and Khan Bahadurs (Titles) .

This was writen by Governor NWFP Cuningham, in His Diaries found in British Oriental muesim and Metioned By Khan Abdul Wali Khan Respectable Politians of  Awami National Party  in His Book Facts are sacred , on Page number 76 and chapter 5 .

Aftab Ahmad Sherpao who Helped US establish Bases in AF-Pak Area

Some famous name s are Ghulam Hyder Khan of Sherpao Village in Charsadda who was a Khan Bahudur too , who,s two sons Aftab Ahmad Sherpao and Late Hayat Sherpao are famous Politicains .

Aftab Ahmad Sherpao also served as Interior Minister of  Pakistan Under General President Mushraff Just Like His Father as Great assest for  Great Game Players of Britian and USA , He Provided USA with Air Bases in Balauchistan and also was Instrumental in Lal Masjid Incident and Formation of Swat Terrorists in 1994 called TNSM when he was Chief Minister  of NWFP

Wali of Swat family are famous to as accomplice in Manipulting Mullahs for Viceroy and Governor NWFP.

Bahudur Kuli Khan

In Southern NWF Bahudur Kuli Khan Family who sons are Yusaf Khattak and Aslam Khattak , Lt-Gen Habibullah Khattak and Kulsom Saifullah was his daughter .  The Saifullahs are very Prominant members of Pakistan Muslim League like Saleem Saifullah and Anwar Saifullah .

 Most of these people are still present around us today and are in Powerful Positions and Parliaments some with Beards and some without Beards as now they are Industrialists, Rich Tycoons.

Colonel, T. E. Lawrence of Arabia, The Jewish English famous Spy of MI6, who was instrumental in Creating Israel and Dictatorial King ships in Arabia out of Large Pan Arab state of Ottomans Empire, Islamic State created after Shahdat of Hazarat Ali PBUH, from 633 AD – Finished 1920.

 He was Transferred and Stationed in Waziristan in Wana (FATA) Airport, 1921 to 1929, just after, finishing his job, in Arabia. He disguised himself as a Mechanic of Royal Air force First and Later as Mullah Salman Shah. He Knew Quran by heart, and would make himself as Imam of a Masjid and as Muslim Aalim.

After enlist help, of these Local mullahs in destabilizing Afghan Government, The Guerrilla warfare of Jihads worked in 1930,s and Ameer-Aman Ullah Khan of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was destabilized and Ameer was Exiled in 1929 to Italy were he died in 1969.

Taliban Like Reign of “Mullah Bacha Saqaa” was established, by British.

Whom Forbid Women’s education and no Education at all just like Taliban does now and as not a new Tactic at all.

The British had learnt this Tactic from Changez Khan and his  son Halkoo Khan who would use Mullahs in His quest over Baghdad and Muslim Cities of Bukhara and Samarkand.

British who could not Defeat Pushtoons now were effectively were toppling Afghan Governments and annexing its areas like NWFP FATA and Balauchistan.

Colonel TE Lawrence in Miranshah Waziristan( FATA) Air Port 1928 Lying on Bed, and in Uniform in Jerusalem Israel 1918, which he helped in Creating along with Saudia Arabia in White Arab Dress . where he used to work with Shareef of Mecca while he crafted Saudia Arabia for them after Dismembering Muslim Ottomans Turkish Sultanate through Guerrilla war with Help from Arab Criminal s.

3. War against Russia using Islam and Jihadi Text Books:

After British left India and Pakistan came into Being, after World War -2, after losing its superiority to US, then it Sold its Regional Interests to USA the new Superpower of the World.

The Fourth  Afghan war, started after Russia Invaded Afghanistan and we had to send, Mujahideen from (1979 -1990) as an Ally of US.

The Fifrth  Afghan War ( 1999- To Date), is the current war on Terror as an Ally again of USA, a Key Player and we have Foes the superpowers Russia , China , Islamic republic of Iran , and Uzbekistan.

In order to use and hijack Islam, Jihadi Literature was invented in the American University of Nebraska, where Professor Thomas Gouttierre of University of Nebraska Afghan Department was Instrumental in developing this Text Book Program, according to Research in Manipulative Psychology.

These Jihadi Text Book as these were called had Violent Images that were to be taught to unsuspecting Children. These were supplied to Madrassahs all over Pakistan these, Madrashahs were about 300-400 in numbers at that time from where these books were supplied to Madrassahs and to refugee camps.

In the late 1980s, and early 1990s, the “Education Center for Afghanistan”, located in Peshawar, Pakistan, and operated by the Afghan mujahidin (holy warriors), published a series of primary education textbooks replete with images of Islamic militancy.

It was a medium for promoting political propaganda and inculcating values of Islamic militancy into a new generation of holy warriors prepared to conduct jihad against the enemies of Islam. Afghan and Pakistani children who read the books were now fit tough Guerilla fighters after this Brain Washing. Consider the following introduction to the Persian alphabet in a first-grade language arts book:

Alif [is for] Allah. Allah is one. Bi [is for] Father (baba). Father goes to the mosque… Pi [is for] Five (panj). Islam has five pillars… Ti [is for] Rifle (tufang). Javad obtains rifles for the Mujahidin… Jim [is for] Jihad. Jihad is an obligation. My mom went to the jihad. Our brother gave water to the Mujahidin… Dal [is for] Religion (din). Our religion is Islam. The Russians are the enemies of the religion of Islam… Zhi [is for] Good news (muzhdih). The Mujahidin missiles rain down like dew on the Russians. My brother gave me good news that the Russians in our country taste defeat… Shin [is for] Shakir. Shakir conducts jihad with the sword. God becomes happy with the defeat of the Russians… Zal [is for] Oppression (zulm). Oppression is forbidden. The Russians are oppressors. We perform jihad against the oppressors… Vav [is for] Nation (vatn). Ironically, this series is still in limited use now.

In May 2000 in some Afghan schools “Estiqlal Lycee”, a small co-educational Afghan elementary school in Islamabad, Pakistan. Half of the 236 students then at the Lycee were girls, many of whom had come from Afghanistan after 1996, when the Taliban seized power and implemented policies that denied girls access to education past grade three.

 One of the responsibilities of , ECA, “Education Center for Afghanistan,” was to write, print, and distribute textbooks.

The ECA was funded by the Education Program for Afghanistan at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), with a $50 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) , that ran from September 1986 through June 1994.

Raheem Yaseer, an Afghan educator who worked at the UNO office in Peshawar during the early years of the program and now acts as the campus coordinator for the program in Omaha USA.

After the Soviet forces withdrew, from Afghanistan, the Education Program for Afghanistan, under increasing pressure from Afghan parents and teachers, it was decided in 1991 to remove the militant images from the mujahidin textbook series.

The revision process was completed by 1992. Educators commonly refer to the edited versions as the “Revised UNO textbooks”, which are widely used in Pakistan and Afghanistan today.

However, Few years ago, “Joyce Gachiri”, a project officer on education for the Afghanistan Country Office of UNICEF located in Islamabad, reported seeing many of the unrevised mujahidin books in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as well as in the Province of Badakhshan, in the hands of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

According to “Ahmad Shah Durrani” , the printing press manager at the “Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief”, (ACBAR) in Peshawar–the organization responsible for printing the revised UNO textbooks–the unedited mujahidin textbooks were not printed by ACBAR after 1992.

But in June 2000 with new copies of the violence-filled unrevised textbooks Appeared. The appearance of these unedited textbooks freshly printed in Peshawar and sold at textbook shops in Kabul some eight years after they were to have been replaced suggests that the Taliban wished to inspire a new generation of militants with the message of jihad and are in use even today.

But the Taliban, who came to power in 1996, may not be entirely to blame. Between 1992 and 1996, militant factions of mujahidin ruled and battled over Kabul.

Thus, it is likely that, these textbooks never fell out of favor with the mujahidin leadership, who were responsible for the militant content in the first place.

The promotion of violence for the sake of Islam is the predominate theme throughout textbook series in mathematics, language and Arts for grades one through six. Madrashahs are now Battle stations for the CIA and America against Russia and enemies of America, result was Exit of Russia from Afghanistan 1989 and Paving way for America in 2001 for its Great Game Plan and Carter Doctrine of Military Basses in Heart land of Russia Territory through Jihadis.

The revenge of Vietnam and of North Korea was, taken effectively from Russia By these Jihadis served purpose of America very well.

4. Taliban Jihadis are following American Agenda of New Great Game too now:

As Taliban created, a Power vacuum suitable for America to fill very easily, as Russian had fallen from Super Power Status and China and Iran had not been in Position to Enter Afghanistan because of Taliban were fighting them and their Supported Groups like Ahmed Shah Masood , General Rasheed Dostum and Rabbani and were called the Northern Alliance.

These Groups were predominately Shia Tajiks and the Taliban were Sunni Pushtoons mostly.

Taliban Effectively Kept the Ground in Ready for America to Land there and Establish its Military Basses without any resistance at all. The Taliban Guerilla could not run Efficient Government, at all, as they had no Knowledge and were just Illiterate Mullahs with no Technical Expertise.

Infact after their Government Afghanistan was Established it was cursed and afflicted with Famine Draught and lack of Cash and it was through Intervention of Pakistan Government of Nawaz Shareef PML-N, Government. Provided them Free Food and Fuel to save them from Starving to Death.

Nawaz Shareef Incidentally was lobbying fro Taliban in United Nations a seat, through Foreign Minister. (1996-99). Taliban were doing atrocities/ Brutalities, and Human rights Violations that have no Place in Holy Quran but Practiced only by the American Protégé and Dictatorial and Brutal Arab Countries, like Saudia Arabia.

All world nations resisted the move. Interestingly the man chosen was Mr Karzai (Current President Afghanistan) as Taliban Envoy to UN. When Taliban were not able to Complete the Great Game Agenda of USA , after it failed to take over Afghanistan Totally 100%, and there was a chance , that Taliban would be overrun by Northern Alliance .

Iran was ready to even Invade Afghanistan with 200,000 strong Islamic Revolutionary Guards ,Army, to safeguard its Interests. America Jumped in quickly after September 2001 after it staged the Drama of 9/11 and war on Terror to Attack Afghanistan itself establish its Bases in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The Basses in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have been snatched back currently by Russians.

Because of this new situation America has to depend on Pakistan as it hold key to supply routes to Afghanistan ( 100 % ) , as Afghanistan is landlocked country in Present.

The Supply routes are Vital to American Economic/ Military Interests as well. As long as Pakistan is the source of Supply routes, it will be in favor as Long as this status quo is maintained, otherwise America will abandon it when other alternate are established.

Which are shifting towards Tajikistan where supply line starting from Georgia and ends at Tajikistan near Swat Chitral and Gilgit Pakistan .

Tajikistan a New supply route is already established after Bridges were built by USA. However, the war in Georgia between CIA and Russia Army has made this Question mark for Now.

The other route of Chubahr port of Iran and Sistan Route to Kandhar and Helemend is Untrustworthy for America as it Involves Iran , which is at Loggerheads with America and it cannot be utilized by America in Foreseeable future.

5.  War on Pakistan from these Religious out Fits:

The America role has not been of Friend, a new term has to be coined called Frienemy, that fits our relation well with America. As we are a friend and enemy too , we Receiving Aid and we are target of American Bombs Drones etc .

Famously Pakistan is included by America as part of Axis of Evil. Pakistan is the Sole Muslim Nuclear Armed power and is perceived as a Potential threat by Israel on paper only not in Practice. We are not treated Equals by US and as a partner even when Millions have died to safeguard American Interests.

Our motherland has provided to them Military basses. Our Deaths are more then World wars first and second put together. The Shia and Sunni Divide of Taliban is exploited by US in Pakistan, Violent Sunni Militant groups sprang up in Punjab and Sindh, where Shias are slaughtered every where in Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore, DI Khan and Kurram Agency.

Tit for Tat, deaths are happening This kind of Divide was only favorable to Zionists and our Enemies only , are performed by these Fake Religious Parties name of Islam, are killing Pakistanis in their pseudo Hate for America, which provides them with Dollars to further its Agenda.

Madrassahs have sprang up Everywhere and now have increased to about 4000 to 6000 from just few 400 in Afghan Jihad time. Schools are deserted and not funded by Government of Pakistan are used as Bakra Mandies and Punchaytas and Hujras.

These Terrorist out Fits would change their name when Government would put ban on them and appear as different organizations to slip through Bans. Now these Groups are part of Taliban and threaten the Federation of Pakistan as it an Ally on war on Terror.

Some of these Religious Leaders of these groups ran for elections in Punjab against mainstream parties like PPP, and later joined the Mainstream parties PML-N serve as Senators, MNA even today.

Taliban Claims that they are fighting Jihad but, evidence points otherwise, they are threatening Islamic countries which are threat to Israel like the Islamic republic of Iran it is challenging Israel on its Human Rights Record and it raised voiced against it which not a single 57 OIC Muslim Countries in the World for last 50 Years.

Criminal Activities by Taliban by abducting and Killing of Chinese Engineers who are helping Pakistan in its projects , is another Indication Taliban are in Fact American Stooges that want to Further the American causes against China.

Another Damning Evidence is Taliban Tilt towards Inviting trouble for Pakistan Nuclear Weapons and from World Nations, when tried to Capture Pakistani Territory and then establishing a Fake Islamic Emirate in Waziristan and Swat where they started Barbarism not found in Islamic Religion and Quran.

The first Suras of Quran were from Sura – Al Nisa which concern rights of Women are openly flouted by them. Islam asks to spare even our enemies, who do not fight us in Jihad.

Muslim Men women, children, who are not fighting Taliban are not even spared by them and their terror. They Burned Schools, when the first letter of Quran, says to read, and write in the Name of Allah.

Taliban behavior Reminiscent of Chengez khan and other such Savages especially similar to the ones Trained by CIA in South Americas and Africa like Rwanda and Congo etc are another Proof of their Agenda through Terror and Fear all weapons of Devil according to Holy Quran.

The International Outcry has put Pakistan Government, Army the ISI and in fact, the whole Nation at Mercy of These criminals and our survival is at Stake now.

Pakistan is trapped in this Quagmire as it now distanced for Islamic Countries, which consider Pakistan as stooge of America. Our Traditional Friend China and is not happy, Russia is not entirely and Iran too. We are without friends in the world now.

6. Why Jihad here and not in anywhere else?

Kashmir Jihad followed the Afghan Jihad, and these Jihadis went there and fought wars with Indian Forces, was the, only time, Jihad never happen in NWFP, FATA and Balucistan Area . The region of Interest to USA and Great Game for Oil. Kashmir Jihad was completely stopped, when Gen Mushraf wanted it stopped in 2002 after he did Peace Agreements with India as US wanted him to.

These Taliban/ Jihadi , forces relocated to FATA, NWFP, and Balauchistan and Jihad stopped as if a Light bulb is switched off, the Ideas was deleted from these Jihadi Minds , the Jihad in Kashmir Finished like it never existed and if there was no Kashmir Problem at all.

Just like US Af- Pak policy, Taliban are denouncing Jihad in Kashmir too. Taliban of Swat is denouncing Jihad in Kashmir as Sufi Mohammed said in his Interview and so did Mullah Nazir of Waziristan.

Even now, when are still being Muslim Women being Gang raped and Murdered by Indian Forces Jihad is non Existent. These Jihadis never contemplate to Announce the “Real Jihad “ to go to Israel, and Fight shoulder to shoulder with Palestinians Muslims and Hassan Nasurrallah of Lebanon , The Idea is never crossed in their minds that these Oppressed Muslims and for last Half century is where Jihad that is needed the most.

These so-called religious Parties could not even send Single doctor to treat the Muslim women and children, who were burned with Phosphorus bombs banned by UN but openly used by Israel and manufactured by USA.

Even the Arab countries protect Interest of Israel by not allowing other Muslims near Israel.

It is easy to get US visa then that of Jordon. Concept of Pan Islamism is a dead beat now.

We are faced with Separation Movements form Three out of Four Provinces of Pakistan because of this kind of Policies and are pushed us to Depths of Poverty as these wars have played havoc in NWFP, FATA and Balauchistan actively since year 1800, s.

Sadly we don’t have a leader to lead us well, we are reduced to just Sheep and Goats who is prowled by wolves.

MAY ALLAH GIVE US WISDOM TO GET OUT THIS FITNA.

The following photos are during  Eid Al-Adha at Killa Hajian a Pashtun village in Baluchistan. Two cows and around thirty goats were sacrificed that day and the meat was distributed to the Afghan refugees that live near by. You can see the beautiful Afghan children dressed in their Eid clothes waiting for their share. The lucky ones have plastic bags to put the meat in while others only have their kamis (long shirt) or a piece of cloth  in which to carry home their share.

Photos by Shakil Kakar

Dainel Ellsberg and Matthew Hoh brought to you by Brave New Conversations. Please listen to their conversation about our involvement in Afghanistan, and why we need to get out now. Please send this to all your mailing list.

Thank you Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films. Join their cause and help get the truth out.

To further understand the Pastun society that Matthew Hoh refers to, read Thomas Johnson and M. Chris Mason’s work entitled ” No Sign Until the Burst of Fire”, Understanding the Pakistan-Afghanistan Frontier”. It is a MUST READ to see how futile our efforts are in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Malalai Joya’s story will be on our Blog every day for the next month. Please buy her book and visit her site.. Read her San Jose Mercury Opinion: “U.S. is doing no good in Afghanistan” here.
On Saturday, Nov. 7, Malalai Joya was at a gathering at San Jose State University in California to promote her book “A Woman Among Warlords” and to gather support for her people in Afghanistan. Malalai is a very brave woman to take on her own government and also the U.S. government, the occupiers of her country.

Malalai Joya signing her new book, A Woman Among Warlords, a JB photo

Our story on Malalai Joya can be seen here. Buy a copy of her book, “A Woman Among Warlords” here, or at your favorite bookstore. A great Holiday gift idea. The subtitle is “The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice”. Visit Malalai’s website here for more information on how you can help.

CIA Chief Leon Panetta in Islamabad

[Ed. Note: Leon, tell President Zardari that we're leaving, but we will give them 5 Billion a year to keep up the fight. Get out now, dear friend, Leon Panetta, tell President Obama "It's not worth it". We are propping up a Failed State and Zardari only has support in the Teens, under 20% approval rating. Stop the killing of innocents.]

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Take Action Now: Pass our link to your friends right now. Call your Member of Congress and tell them to support Rep. Barbara Lee’s bill “To prohibit any increase in the number of members of the United States Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan.” Bill # H.R.3699. Do it now please. Then call President Obama: To reach the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 Leave a message: No more Troops. End the War(s).We will demonstrate in 100 cities if President Obama sends ANY troops to Central Asia ! Call Leon Panetta at (703) 482-0623, CIA headquarters, leave a message: No More Drone Assasination attacks, and don’t attack Quetta. End the War(s) NOW.

Today, please tell your member of Congress and U.S. Senators to End the War in Afghanistan, sign this petition. Tell them you will march in 100 cities if President Obama sends ANY troops to Central Asia. Tell them to support Barbara Lee’s bill HR 3699. If you live outside the United States, write to your leaders, End the War(s) Now.

Pre-text

On Wednesday 16^th September 2009 Eric Besson (the French immigration minister) announced on French National television that the “jungle”[1] would be closed by the end of the following week. He had previously announced to the press in April 2009 that all “jungles” and refugee encampments would be gone by the end of the year. Besson and the French authorities had also previously given a date at the end of June for the operation to commence, but alas it never came into fruition. Besson had also announced only weeks before the 16^th , that early in October the police would launch a test run for the real operation later in the year. Therefore the announcement on the 16^th was not immediately taken as gospel, however, early on Thursday 17^th there was a large police operation to clear the Ethiopian squat [2], and as the days went by and the town of Calais filled with journalists from around Europe, we began to increasingly realise that this was probably going to be it. As a result Calais Migrant Solidarity [3] put out an urgent callout for activists to come to Calais. Journalists were intent that Tuesday 22^nd of September would be the day, and they were right. We were as unsure as everyone else about what the operation would entail but we felt that this crime could not go ahead without dissent.

Arial shot of the Pashtun "jungle"

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I arrived at the Pashtun “jungle” late afternoon on the 21^st of September in anticipation of a full police lock down of the immediate surrounding area well in advance of the planned demolition the following day.

When I arrived the situation was as it had been for the last 36 hours. Media crews from all around Europe were walking around the “jungle” filming and photographing the Pashtun refugees and their less than aesthetically grand community.

This “jungle” was situated in the suburbs of Calais, about 1km from the centre, out towards the port, and right next to the infamous Rue des Gareenes where dozens of trucks are parked up at any given time, nearly

A house in the "jungle"

always with their doors wide open intentionally displaying  empty trailers with no place to hide. This is a renowned place for refugees to try and board lorries bound for the UK.

That sandy scrub land dotted with trees was home to multiple hundreds of Pashtun refugees who had built a small community out of scavenged material. Homes, a shop, a mosque and a rope swing were built from thrown away or donated wood, metal barriers, cardboard, plastic tarpaulin, carpets and rugs. Depending on the number of Pashtun refugees in Calais at any one time, some 10 or more people will share one of these homes. A single water point was situated at the entrance but this was as far as the amenities went as the local municipal council refused to pick up their garbage resulting in the place being royally littered, with one skip piled high, and of course sanitation was a la naturelle.

It is tempting for people from our aesthetically centered society to dismiss the “jungle” with adjectives such as “squalor” and nouns such as “huts” and “shacks”. It certainly was a horrible and degrading environment, but the choice of language chosen created an image in the media that was played on by Eric Besson, allowing him to charge that the “jungle” did no favors to the migrants and that eradicating it would be of no loss to them. Indeed the operation has been framed by Besson in the media as a humanitarian act.

It is far more appropriate to refer to the “jungle” as a community with homes, for, no matter how much the refugees considered it to be a degrading place to exist, that is how ultimately  how most considered it. Perhaps this just demonstrates how little these people had to hold onto, but the “jungle” was a place where people could go to at the end of the day; a semi- secure place to sleep, a base from which to make friends and share stories about their horrendous journey [4]; a place to cook, share and pray 5 times a day.

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Pashtun friends on the eve of the eviction

The last night of the “jungle” was my first night in the “jungle”. I was shown by a friend to his home where I could leave my bag. His home was like the rest from the outside, but inside there were photographs taken of him, his friends and other Pashtun residents by either other passer bys or journalists. After being prompted to remove my shoes, I was welcomed in to the usual question of “where are you from?”….. “ahh UK, UK good, I go UK, I go London!”

Inshallah.

As the sun began to drop I took a walk around. There was a strange atmosphere of unease, correspondents from the BBC filmed pre-recorded stories describing the operation that was due to commence the following morning. Many of the refugees kept asking about what was going to happen to the jungle and to them because, of course, the refugees had never been informed in person by the authorities on what was going to be happening. They instead rely on journalists and activists for their information, but I too knew nothing about what would happen to the people once their homes were destroyed. Many Pashtuns had fled Calais in the previous 5 days for Paris, Dunkirk or Belgium, to escape the inevitable sweeping arrests, but with the intention on returning once the storm had calmed. A couple of hundred however remained, clueless, scared but ultimately almost resigned to whatever was going to be install for them.

My night in the jungle was one of the most memorable of my life. When I returned to the house some of the guys were making bread and dinner on an open fire. It wasn’t long before dinner, but before hand I spoke to a Pasthun poet from the Swat Valley and we exchange a few words about the beautify and culture of his incredible land – “Gilgit”, “Peshawar”, “Kyber”, “Kalasha” and of course “polo”.

The food, placed in the centre of the floor for everyone to eat from, was incredibly good. Over dinner a man with fluent English translated our conversations about life in Pakistan or Afghanistan, Pashtun culture, the Taliban, the American and British assault, and the apathetic and material culture and politics of Europe. Under a couple of small candles, I was treated to some songs by the Pashtun Poet, and they were (not so) treated some English songs back. I think the poignancy of the sound, the flicker of the candle light and the silence outside infected everyone. There a long silence, everyone just stared at the candle…. what could have going through their mind?

I took a photo and made copies of my contact details for all of them to pass around. Inshallah, if you get to London, call me. I was riddled with sadness at the prospect of the following day.

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I had just a couple of hours rest before getting up very early. There was however no sign of the police yet, but a small group was gathered round a camp fire. At about an hour before sunrise the broadcast media vans returned and slowly the camp fire became populated with Pashtuns and journalists snapping away.

Migrants gather behind banners as police arrive behind them

I had heard from a friend that a huge number of French CRS police were massed in near by Coquelle the previous evening. At about 7:10am I had a text message to say that this large convoy had left for Calais. Just before 8am the police arrived pulling up with their masses of vans and coaches to take the migrants away in. As this happened, the refugees weirdly were all bunched together behind the banners for which we had them the material to write their own messages. The media were snapping away furiously, and as the police arrived, one by one, almost like crashing dominoes some migrants began to wail with tears and pain, infecting others who followed suit.

The pain of the journey, the eviction, and the future

After all the physical and emotional pain that they had been through [4], Lord can only imagine what they felt at this time. Was this the end? Was their trip to hell not only wasted emotionally but also financially, as so many have given up and sold their lives back home to come here, spending in excess of 10,000 pounds.

As clueless as they were about the consequences of this operation, I had a gut feeling that this was it for them, and that I would never see any of them again. This, combined with the sheer vocal despair coming from refugees in their early teens pushed me into emotional breakdown. I wept as I hugged some of teary eyed friends for possibly the last time. Indeed, tears are easy to come by now writing this weeks after the events – such is the pain that I saw and was apart of on that morning.

500 police officers arrive evict the "jungle"

As a reported 500 policemen marched into the “jungle” in an orderly fashion, the migrants stood all together, still and paralyzed. The media rushed around, a few Calais Migrant Solidarity activists unfurled some banners and began chanting towards the coming brigade of inhumanity. A human chain was formed by CMS and other local humanitarian groups such as SALAM as the police slowly and calmly approached. Convinced that the operation was simply a cruel media PR stunt, the police were clearly trying to embody what Besson had decried would be a “dignified” operation.

Activists attempting to stop the eviction

However their polite façade would soon fall as a scuffles broke out. The police first tried to grab refugees from the pack but with little success as activists would block their path and grab them back. This tactic was semi-successful for a short period before the police concentrated their efforts on removing any unwanted barrier. Adrenaline, anger and tears coursed through my veins in a desperate, but quite frankly pitifully small display of resistance proportionate to the crime being committed. It was not long before I, like the rest, was being kicked and dragged along the floor head first before being held to the ground well away from the group of refugees. By now refugees were being taken by police officers one by one, some resisting, but most just walked, heads slumped, some in tears, towards another unknown chapter in a godforsaken story.

human pain, pure and simple

Bulldozers make light work of the homes

A 6year ghettoised community reduced a single pile

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Postscript

My blog post entitled “After the destruction” (to follow) describes the immediate days following this large eviction. In short, about ¼ to 1/3 of the Pashtun refugees taken were released from their detention centres in the following days.

When I arrived in Calais for the first time in early August 2009 and first started hearing the stories of the migrants I didn’t think things could get much worse for them [5], but it has. Destroying the “jungle” has gotten rid of one of the few things the migrants had. The EU has stripped these people of all of their rights, their voice and now their home. They now walk the streets. Where is the logic in this operation you may cry? It is a subtle one, and one that has not been reported, but is one that is to be found around the world, most popularly in Palestine… it’s called ethnic cleansing, but a subtle one. The police and the authorities across the EU make the refugees” lives hell, squeezing them tightly [6], so they simply give up, take the pitiful 2000 euro reward offered by the International Organisation for Migration and return back to Afghanistan and tell others that the “free west” doesn’t exist, so don’t bother trying.
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VERY GOOD FILM HERE: Jason Parkison has made this film shot during the destruction:
http://current.com/items/91014318_the-dignified-destruction-of-calais-refugee-jungle.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/sep/22/france-refugee-camp-jungle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/sep/22/french-bulldoze-jungle-camp-calais

Notes

[1] In mainstream public media discourse the “jungle” refers to the Pashtun “jungle” in the suburbs of Calais. In Calais there are in fact several “jungles” and several squats in which migrants reside. “Jungles” refers to areas of scrub land that migrants have built homes from discarded or donated wood, plastic, carbboard, carpets etc. They are a thoroughily degrading place to live. In mainstream discourse however there only ever appears to be one “jungle” and that is the pashtun jungle which is the biggest, totalling between 300-500 pashtuns at a given time, and has the biggest reputation for links to mafia rings.

[2] Before the eviction process started on the 22nd of september there was a number of squats and “jungles” dotted in and around calais, each of which tended to correspond to an ethnic group, language or region. There was a Pashtun “jungle”, an Hazara “jungle”, a Vietnamese “jungle”, an Iranian “jungle”, reportedly a Kurdish “jungle”, a Sudanese “jungle”, an Arabic speaking squat, an Eritrean squat and an Ethiopian squat.

[3] Calais Migrant Solidarity is a network of activists primarily from France, Belgium and England who have had a continual presence in Calais since June 2009. They work concentrates on filling the gaps left by what the humanitarian agencies working Calais can’t do. CMS therefore concentrate their efforts on migrant security from the police, trying to document and communicate all acts of aggression and oppression against migrants from the police, resist evictions, visit those in detention, provide some aid, and since the evictions CMS has been working on trying to create a solution to their homelessness.

[4] Please see my blog post entitled “A tale of migration to the free world” for an account of the journey from Pashtun territories in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan to Western Europe.

[5] My blog post “A tale of migration to the free world” is a constructed generic tale of the journey based on conversations with refugees in calais.

[6] See the blog posts “A tale of migration to the free world” and “life after eviction” for details about repression of migrants.

This piece describes a generic journey that (mostly) young males from Afghanistan & NW Pakistan experience on their way to claiming asylum in the EU, and invariably Britain. The details of this blog piece have been taken from second-hand, research, listening to the stories that migrants in Calais have told me, as well as my own first-hand experience.

**THIS BLOG PIECE IS BEING CONTINUALLY UPDATED FOLLOWING ONGOING DISCUSSIONS WITH MIGRANTS**

***NON OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY OWN***

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“The Free World” – a favourite phrase of the Western elite, nearly always said in juxtaposed reference to places like Afghanistan. This well worn narrative goes that people apparently subservient to the “barbaric” and “backward” Islamic cultures of Asia need “modernizing” “liberating” and the people given the “freedom” they so crave, with simply only one model of the world apt enough for the job. The West of course has regarded itself the end point of the human developmental trajectory for centuries, particularly since the age of discovery in the 15/16^th century, when explorers first discovered the mass variety of human cultures in the far flung corners of the globe, that to their eyes were clearly inferior, which provided impetus for social Darwinism in the late 19^th Century, un-coincidentally, as Europe was amidst its grand colonizing project.

How ironic then that it is Afghans, who have been at the forefront of “post-colonial” foreign imperialism in the forms of Russian and Western grand modernization plans since the 1970s, that are probably spearheading the experience of thoroughly undignified inhumane rough living within the EU at the beginning of the 21^st Century. Since the 1990s, significant numbers of Afghans have been traversing the EU in search of a safe haven from a seemingly perpetual state of war. The EU is currently the focus of several different migratory routes from Africa, but the flow from the Asian East is now currently almost monopolized by Hazara, Tajik, and particularly Pashtun refugees from Afghanistan and the NW frontier provinces in Pakistan.

The journey they face is little short of a hideous crime and should bluntly rip through our moral conscience. This blog piece tries to describe a generic journey from Afghanistan and NW Pakistan to Britain through the EU – a place that is constructed by NATO as a model for civilized society. The evidence for this blog is based on my time spent working and talking with migrants in Calais, and should therefore before regarded as just a snap shot of some of the stories that are forged along this truly treacherous path.

During the age of discovery Western explorers left their lands on extraordinary journeys and travelled far and wide before reporting back on their discoveries, often, but not always, describing with a cultural sense of dismay and disgust. The following blog piece may just offer a small idea of the contents of an Afghan travelogue to the land of his’ or her’s “liberators” in 2009.

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I will start however with just a quick history of Afghanistan to highlight the horrors that these refugees have been through before they have even left their homes, and to provide some context and reasoning for the numbers arriving in the EU.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan has of course only been a geographically definable place since 1919 when it achieved independence from a period of British intervention, and today it is fair to say that largely there is still no such thing as an Afghan, as like with a lot of colonial nation state building, lines are drawn around culturally and linguistically diverse groups that have been created historically through harsh deserts and rugged mountain landscapes that disable easy, regular communication that would otherwise erode such wide cultural distinctions. As such, Afghanistan contains Tajiks, Uzbeks, Aikmans, Turkmen, Hazara, and Pashtuns, but these groups spread across all the neighboring regions of the central “stans”, including Pashtuns who spread into NW Pakistan territory, following their division under the Durrand line drawn by British rule in India in 1893.

Following a series of early coups, the period between 1933 to 1973 was relatively stable and Afghanistan became one of the premier highlights along the beaten overland ‘hippy trail’ between Istanbul and Kathmandu for 20^th century western backpackers. In 1973 however, Afghanistan became a republic following a bloodless coup, but the president, Mohammed Damond Khan came immediately under attack from the communist leaning People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan who gained power in 1978, to the displeasure of the conservative Islamic rural regions. The coup occurred during a period when the wider region was rapidly becoming the focal point of US foreign policy – with the Iranian revolution and the Egyptian/Israeli peace agreement – and as such Afghanistan became seen as a key battle in the cold war. Concerned at the swing to the left in Afghanistan, Jimmy Carter – the then US president – started covertly funding those rural conservative clans which were already organizing limited armed resistance against the new communist regime. While these clans were disparate, during the cold war they faced what they believed as a common enemy, and collectively became known as the Mujahdeen.

Soviet troops in Afghanistan

As expected,in response, 100,000 soviet troops entered Afghanistan in December 1987 after a request to occupy, pacify and solidify communist rule in Afghanistan. However, determined guerilla warfare launched primarily by the Mujaheedeen – under financial backing from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Egypt, the UK and of course the US – led to a full withdrawal of the then crumbling Soviet empire between 1987 and 1989. In the decade long bitter conflict an estimated 1 million Afghans were killed, 5 million fled to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, and another 2 million became internally displaced peoples.

Afghan Refugees in the 90s

The human catastrophe in Afghanistan was of course far from over. As soon as the soviet forces withdrew, the Mujahedeen pushed forward to overthrow the regime, achieving that goal in April 1992. At the end of this second civil war, Afghanistan lay in ruins, with the economy completely dependent on Soviet aid, which was rapidly beginning to dry up.

The third civil war from 1992-1996 was first a violent strugg

Kabul in ruins

le between the disparate Mujahedden war lording factions which no longer were united against a common enemy, so turned on each other in a struggle for power. In 1994, fed up with corrupt power hungry squabbling war lords, a new movement came into fruition in the South of Afghanistan thanks to financial help from elements operating in Pakistan. This new movement called “The Taliban” (the students); forged on a brand of radical Sunnni Islam; it took control of Kabul in September 1996 and instigating their strict code of controversial sharia law over Afghanistan.

The Taliban

Following the Taliban rise to power, the fourth civil war was engaged almost immediately following the birth of the Northern Alliance who were to attempt to rid Afghanistan of the radical Islamic rule of the Taliban, and to bring power to the ethnic groups in the North. They were however largely unsuccessful (until the US arrived), only igniting the Taliban to brutally ravage their territories, pushing many into neighboring countries.

Americans & Co arrive

Five years later, on September 11^th 2001, two airplanes crashed into the twin towers, and the Bush & Blair’s War of Terror was born. The first target was Afghanistan with objectives to destroy the al-Qaeda network, find Bin-laden and to overthrow the Taliban regime that was apparently harbouring al-Qaeda terrorist training camps. This initial operation had a classically ironic name – “Operation Enduring Freedom” and took little over a month for the Northern Alliance, NATO and the US to capture Kabul on 13^th November 2001.

Just one of the many dead

Since then Afghanistan has been subjected to western attempts at national state building; bringing “democracy”, “prosperity” and “human rights” to the Afghan people. The bloodshed continues with thousands of civilians and foreign troops being killed every year as the coalition forces struggle to contain the spread of the Taliban insurgency which has now spread into Pakistan, bringing horrific violence to Waziristan and the Swat valley, as the Pakistan government and the US lay siege to mountain villages, while the Taliban murder those who do not join in their fight.

As a result hapless civilians, primarily Pashtuns are in a no-win situation, and are forced to seek sanctuary in another land – the land which they have heard is the land of peace, prosperity, human rights and freedom.

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The route to safety is a long trecherous and indefinate path

The decision to leave these Pashtun areas is not taken lightly. If leaving your family and community behind to perhaps never see them ever again is not hard enough, then also consider the dear financial costs. I have been told varying figures from a numerous refugees in Calais and England, but depending on the length and route of the journey, on average refugees are paying around £10,000 to complete the journey to England. To raise this amount of money family homes and land are sold in anticipation that one day remittances can be sent back, or loans are taken en route from people smuggling agents in their home land by their families and forwarded on. Debt is then accumulated as the journey goes on, and what must be stressed and kept in mind is that the journey is originally unimaginable in terms of length and difficulty, and as such the level of debt is not foreseen. Being massively in debt then puts further necessity on refugees establishing themselves in the EU with a job, as failure to pay will not be forgotten and unfortunately the age old adage “we know where you live” applies.

This money is raised because people do not have passports to travel “legally” to EU countries such as Britain to claim asylum. The absurdity is that the British government says that “genuine” asylum seekers can claim asylum in Britain, but to do so they have to be in Britain, which is not only illegal, unless you have a passport and legitimate visa, which they are not allowed to have, but the British government actively tries to stop them getting in, making their journey even more risky and costly. So Pashtun refugees are forced to make the following horrendous journey because of their “illegal” status, and it is people smugglers who are the recipients of the cash and the primary means of facilitating their dreams of a safe place to live.

Inside and underneath the truck is the way in

People smugglers will either fix up or find trucks to take refugees through countries or across borders, or smugglers will provide boats, or other forms of help such as closing lorry doors. The most common way to get from Afghanistan all the way across to Western Europe (over 3,500km as the crow flies) is by hiding underneath lorries, clinging on the underside and balancing on the wheel fixings. On this Asian route, boats are also frequently used on the Turkish – Greek crossing despite the fact that nearly all migrants can’t swim and the boats are always incredibly cheap,

Stuffed boats from Northern African shores

flimsy and rammed full, and of course they always travel at night by being simply pointed in the general direction and left to their own divisive (African boats leaving North African shores frequently have fatal consequences for all those on board). Walking is also unfortunately not an uncommon method of transport – many refugees have told me they walked from Italy into France, over the Alps, leaving in groups, brushing the boundaries of hypothermia; some even being left behind en route.

Graphic showing the number of migrant deaths http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/images/mapFortressEuropeEng.png

It should be clearly stated that the age range making the following journey is enormous. Toddlers have been found making this trip with their mother and father, and it is certainly not uncommon to see young boys around 12 years old making this journey alone or with fellow brothers. The most common age found among Pashtun and Afghan refugees is however probably about 16 to 20.

Young children stuffed into migrant buses following release from Greek detention

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As far as I know, the first couple of countries – Iran and Turkey – are not particularly tricky to get smuggled through – a discreet transfer of monetary value seems to do the trick. The next stop however is the European Union – otherwise known as “Fortress Europe”, and the first port of call is Greece. Some get smuggled in on or underneath trucks; others will take flimsy boats that only sail at night from Turkey, which are crammed full of women, men and children to the Island of Lesvos.

13 year long migrant camp in Patra

If you’re lucky your will get smuggled right through Greece, if your unlucky…well, then you won’t. Welcome to Greece. You will either reside in a pretty squalor secret migrant camps in port cities like Patra, where you face a fascist police force. One refugee, in a recent Guardian film showed a mug shot of himself with a black eye and broken nose after the Greek police paid him a visit [1]. Alternatively, or most likely, in addition, you will end up

Pagani detention centre on Lesvos

in a Greek migrant concentration camp such as Pagani centre on the Island of Lesvos. No borders activists in Greece have revealed numbers of up to 150, including women and children, stuffed into a single prison room, with people hanging out of the bars for fresh air, with little access to clean water and sanitary facilities [2]. Conditions are so bad that children will go on hunger strike, riot and burn mattresses. However, at the end of October 2009 the Greek authorities announced the indefinite closure of Pangani, and while refugees will be simply taken to other detention centre, this is a

One of the many migrant revolts at Pagani

small victory for human rights activists and migrant revolt. In July of this year the Greek authorities set a president in the EU by removing the 13 year long migrant camp in the port city of Patra, causing hundreds of migrants to riot in the streets, which was then copied by the French in Calais in September 2009 [3].

Greece is such a hell hole that some refugees have told me in Calais that they would rather get deported back to their respective war zone, than Greece. The reason refugees keep being deported back to Greece is two-fold: (1) The Dublin Convention states that refugees must claim asylum in the first EU country they arrived in; (2) The same convention created the Eurodac identity system, whereby refugees have their finger prints stored on a centralized database, which, when being picked up by the police in the EU, it registers that person as present in a particular country. For refugees from Afgh

Migrants riot in patra after their camp was flattened

anistan and NW Pakistan, Greece is nearly always the first EU country they arrive in, but Greece has a very simple policy of a next to 0% asylum rate and brutal repression, forcing refugees further West. However, many refugees have finger prints in Greece and under Eurodac, other EU countries can then deport them back to Greece.

So, Greece is not the introduction to the EU that these refugees probably imagined, but, once released from prison they are given a 30 day people and told to leave. Rejected from Greece, refugees then head West towards Italy and sleep rough in the port city of Patra trying to get through the border. For those that get through, life in Italy is not made much easier, although it appears that for those who manage to get in, Italy seems to have a policy of beating you out of the country as soon as possible. Fascism, racism and violence is rife throughout the bonds of Italian society – a group of African migrants were massacred in Southern Italy earlier this year and I have met one Iranian migrant in Calais who has a deep scare across the side of his face where is was a slashed with a knife.

Then they arrive in France. There is a quick stop in a park in Paris, known as ‘little kabul’, before onto Calais. From 1999 until 2002, when the first mass waves of over land refugees were arriving in Calais from Afghanistan, the Red Cross ran a humanitarian centre in Sangatte which provided basic shelter and hot food. In 2002, under pressure from the British government that believed that Sangatte was creating a magnetic pull for ‘illegal immigration’ into Britain, Nicholas Sarkozy, the then interior minister, ordered the closure of Sangatte and its subsequent demolition, citing reasons of “national embarrassment” of the sites existence. Of course, refugees kept coming, as having a camp bed and some hot food in a Calais warehouse is surprisingly not very high up the list of reasons why refugees and migrants from Africa, Middle East and Central Asia risk their lives to come.

UK Border agency

Calais is a small town in North Eastern France and is the principle border crossing between Britain and mainland Europe. Britain did not sign the Shengen agreement however, so people cannot pass freely, but instead come up against what is probably the most heavily policed border in the EU. Since the crushing of Sangatte a series of financial deals have been struck between the French and the British to strengthen the border, and as a result the number of asylum seekers managing to get into Britain has plummeted.

This, combined with the closure of humanitarian provisions, has created a humanitarian crisis in Calais. Before September 22^nd there were at least 8 squalor refugee camps – known as “jungles” – and squats in and around Calais, each one of which were home to a specific ethinic, nationality or language group. The numbers in Calais naturally fluctuate but over the past few years there have consistently been around 300-500 refugees in Calais at given time, from Eretrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, Lybia, Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, but around 80% tend to be from Afghanistan or North West Pakistan.

Pashtun "jungle" in Calais

A house in the "jungle"

“Jungles” consist of scrub land with small modest homes built from discarded or donated wood, plastic, carpet, cardboard and metal. Although most of homes tended to be waterproof, the sanitary conditions were appalling and the municipal council in Calais refused to collect any of their household waste, leaving it to pile up for the rats to consume. The largest “jungle” was the Pashtun “jungle” which was home to about 80% of the refugees in Calais at any given time; it was riddled with scabies, and only had one single ground well water pipe for the several hundred inhabitants.

Evening dinner queue provided by Salam association in Calais

Hospitalised by the police

However, although the living conditions in Calais were seriously degrading, and the lunch and dinner handout provided by a couple of local French charities tends to be quite meager, the refugees’s biggest concern in Calais is their treatment at the hands of the police. There are quite a lot of police in Calais and in the evening and very early morning the CRS elite forces drive around in vans harassing the migrants in their camps and squats, in the local park, under bridges and on the streets. The level of repression is shocking and has reached inhumane proportions. Refugees complain that their mobile phones get taken or smashed, that tear gas has been put in their drinking water, that they get woken up very early in the morning by the police spraying tear gas into their homes before photographing them and hitting anyone who does not comply. The CRS will come and knock down some of their homes and then walk off, or they may arrive and steel their blankets, sleeping bags, clothes and food [4].

The police constantly arrest refugees for not having the correct documentation and raid squats and camps nightly, but the arrests are deployed principally as a tactic to grind refugees down. On one occasion, for 5 nights in a row the CRS arrested all the Iranian migrants from under the bridges in Calais, only to take them to a police station 3 kilometers out of town, before telling them to walk back. In short, all the refugees in Calais fear and despise the police throughout the EU. It is a simple policy of making their lives miserable so they eventually give up, return home and report back on their miserable time in the EU.

PLEASE SEE THESE EXCELLENT FILMS ABOUT CALAIS

http://current.com/items/88967594_after-sangatte-europes-untold-refugee-crisis.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/aug/03/calais-jungle

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jul/30/eritrean-asylum-seeker-naga

Pashtun homes flattened

This was the situation in Calais before 22nd September. Things have now however changed for the worse, as from late september, through into the first couple of weeks in October, the French authorities proceeded to destroy all but one of the refugee camps and squats in Calais. This was simply a PR stunt as the refugees do not disappear, but are simply homeless [5]. In Calais, the police are currently intent on not letting refugees build new jungles; and as such they constantly put knifes through or burn the plastic sheets or tents that are given to refugees, and have fences off some of the bridges which they used for just limited shelter.

Afghans found inside tanker full of flour

All the refugees in Calais are desperately trying to make it across the Anglo-Franco border. The most popular method of trying to get through the border is still in or underneath trucks, but waiting for them is a border regime of trained sniffer dogs, co2 probes, heat scanners, and a small army of people whose job it is, is to smash people’s dream of a better life and return them to a crushing life of misery. Other methods include boats, but migrants can rarely swim, or trains, which involve a 20minute 250km/ph journey beyond most people’s imagination, such is the level of danger. It is common to see people walking around Calais with broken ankles, wrists and arms having fallen from trucks, and reports of people suffocating inside trucks or getting mashed under trains are sadly to be found.

In short, the Anglo-Franco border, despite the claims to the contrary from the right-wing press, is one of the tightest in the world. Many refugees in Calais have been there for more than 8 months, trying a couple of times a week in some cases. Every time they are caught, processed and dumped back on the streets. It has become a degrading and demoralising ritual.

Cigarete lighter used to try and remove finger prints

The big fear is still however being put in a detention centre and removed, usually not Afghanistan, but to one of the countries in which a particular refugee will have finger prints. Removal to Greece is frequent due to the number of refugees who have been there and been finger printed. On arrival in Greece the refugees simply start the same process again and start heading West. Refugees are so desperate not to get taken back, that some will use cigarette litters to try and burn off or disfigure their finger prints.

In Calais i have met people who are on their 5th trip to Calais, and i know a man from Eritrea who has been playing the Dublin Convention football game – which involves just being kicked around Europe, refused at each turn – for 7 years. This one particular individual was a complete mess; drinking heavily and every other word was “fuck”… “fuck France… fuck England… fuck Greece…fuck the police…. fuck everyone”

Does this sound like the “free world” to you?

NOTES

[1] The link to the online guardian film is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/aug/03/calais-jungle

[2] No Borders in Lesvos can be found at: http://lesvos09.antira.info/

[3] A personal account of the evictions and destruction in Calais can befound in my post: “Tear and fears: The Eviction of the Pashtun jungle”

[4] For documentation of police abuse of migrants in Calais, please see calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com

[5] Please see both of the blog piece on the desturction and the aftermath

The following is an article that appeared in The News Pakistan and was written by Rahimullah Yusufzai.

The Afghans possess a strong sense of history. They are justifiably proud of their heroes, who are referred to as ‘qahraman’ in native languages Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian). Most parents, even if uneducated, make it a point to name their offspring after some of those great personalities from the past.

It was, therefore, not surprising that President Hamid Karzai named his son as Mirwais. Those familiar with Afghanistan’s history should know that Mirwais, a Pakhtun warrior from Kandahar, was the founder of the original Afghan state. Subsequently in 1747, Ahmad Shah Abdali founded the modern state of Afghanistan, which was built on the edifice created by Mirwais. No wonder then that Mirwais is revered by the Afghan people, and it shows when they commonly refer to him as Mirwais Neeka, a Pashto term used for a respected fatherly figure. His mausoleum near the city of Kandahar is often visited by grateful Afghans to offer prayers and refresh memories of their glorious past.

Mirwais is a common Afghan name. Though Mirwais Neeka was a Pashtun, the name is not confined to Pashtuns and one frequently finds Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, etc named Mirwais in every part of Afghanistan. Such is the Afghan pride in this genuine hero who took the first strong steps to establish the state of Afghanistan.

The Afghans are also proud of Mahmood Ghaznavi and Shahahuddin Ghori, the Afghan conquerors of India. Many Afghans weren’t amused when the government of Pakistan named some of its missile systems after Ghaznavi and Ghori because they consider them as their heroes and are possessive of everything Afghan. Former Afghan information minister Makhdoom Raheen, now ambassador to India, had used a different argument to oppose Pakistan’s naming of its nuclear-capable missiles after Afghan heroes. In his view, Pakistan was being jingoistic by naming its destructive new weapons after the much-adored Afghan heroes. It wasn’t a very convincing argument because Ghaznawi, Ghori and Abdali were all warriors and naming weapons after them wasn’t something unique. The reason for his opposition to the Pakistani move was none other than the Afghans’ possessiveness for Afghan heroes. Many of them don’t want to share those heroes from the past with other nations.

The Afghan ‘qahramans,’ or heroes, aren’t always male. The name of Malalai as a popular Afghan heroine immediately comes to mind. She was the brave girl who took part in the battle of Mewand, fought near Kandahar, in which the Afghans under the leadership of Wazir Akbar Khan defeated the formidable British army. She nursed the injured and gave water to thirsty Afghan fighters. She did all this in the thick of the battle and fought off enemy soldiers. Malalai of Mewand as she is often referred to became a household name in Afghanistan. Every Afghan village and street has girls named Malalai. Being named Malalai instantly confers pride on girls and prompts every acquaintance of theirs to know more about Malalai and the battle of Mewand. History is thus told and retold and memory of that memorable Afghan victory over the British troops is kept alive. Zarghoona is another Afghan heroine and there are more recent ones as well.

During a recent visit to Kabul, President Karzai spoke to me about attempts by ‘inimical” forces to erase Afghan history. He didn’t name those forces but nothing was left to imagination that he meant Pakistan when he alleged that the Taliban during their rule omitted teaching of Afghan history and heroes from the school syllabus in Afghanistan. In support of the argument that the Taliban deliberately removed portions of Afghan history from the curriculum, he recalled asking questions about past Afghan heroes from two young men with vastly different backgrounds. One was his cousin Izzatullah, an expert in computers but not much familiar with Afghan history. The other was the nearly illiterate Abdul Wahid, who lost 17 members of his family in Nato bombing of a village in Panjwai district in Kandahar during a big anti-Taliban offensive last year.

According to Mr Karzai, there were gaps in the knowledge of the two young men about Afghan heroes and history. He said Abdul Wahid, who was invited by him to come to Kabul to offer him assistance and share his pain after having lost almost all his family in the aerial strikes, knew about Mirwais Neeka and Ahmad Shah Abdali because their names were familiar and their graves were in Kandahar. But he was unaware of past Afghan heroes such as Ghaznavi, Ghori and Wazir Akbar Khan because he lacked formal schooling. More disturbing for President Karzai was the inadequate knowledge of his cousin Izzatullah about Afghan history and heroes. The reason for this as he saw it was the Taliban policy to omit texts of the glorious Afghan history from the syllabus when Izzatullah and other youngsters were growing up and studying at school. Mr Karzai felt this was unpardonable and the Taliban must answer as to how such a thing happened.

When pointed out by this writer, President Karzai conceded that children of Afghan refugees were taught Afghan history in schools run by the Pakistan government with help from foreign donors in camps for refugees in the NWFP and Balochistan. If Pakistan wanted the Afghan kids not to learn Afghan history it could have changed their school curriculum in the refugees’ camps. Still Mr Karzai insisted that the Taliban policy not to allow full teaching of Afghan history in Kandahar and other provinces under their control was something deliberate and dictated from outside. There is no way one could remove Mr Karzai’s misgivings about Pakistan at a time when he believes Islamabad is once again backing the Taliban and undermining his beleaguered government’s efforts to extend its writ to southern and eastern Afghan provinces hit by Taliban-led insurgency. But if one looks at the issue differently, his concern about the preservation of Afghan history and heroes in the minds of the coming generation of Afghans explains the heightened sense of the Afghan pride in their past. And that is the reason that one comes across so many Afghans named Mirwais, Babrak, Zalmay, Malalai and Zarghoona.

To read more Afghan/Pashtun names and their meanings please visit: http://www.khyber.org/culture/names/names.shtml

Pakistani Taliban militants in South Waziristan, an ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border, have vowed to fight a tough, protracted guerrilla war. The Waziristan offensive is closely watched by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan.

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber in a car set off explosives in a square northeast of the city of Peshawar, killing up to 20 people and wounding at least 30.

“They thought they would capture Waziristan easily but the fight in Waziristan will be tougher than in Kashmir,” a militant said.

The reference to Kashmir is where security forces have been battling separatist guerrillas since 1989.

Reuters

A nations proverbs gives you a little glimpse into their culture. The following are a few Pashtun/Afghan proverbs (matalona) and their English translations.

Har chata khpal watan kashmir de
(for everyone his country is like Kashmir)
Everyone sees his country or area the most beautiful in the world.

Koag bar tar manzela na rasagei
(A tilted load won’t reach its destination)
Honesty is the best policy.

Khar cha har chaire hum lar she, bia hum hagha khar we
(The donkey will remain donkey, no matter where ever it goes)
Nature cannot be changed

Da khali daig ghag lor de
(The emty vessel noise is more)
An empty vessel makes much noise.

Khori saag aw paskay da Pulao achawi
(He eats very simple food, but boasts as he is eating very rich food)

Da cha? pakhpala, Gila ma kawa da bala
(This is by whom? by myself, So do not blame any one else)
These are self-inflicted wounds, not by others.

Chindakha pa loota wakhata, wayal che Kashmir may walaido
(a frog climbed a stone, and said that I saw Kashmir)
It is said about some body who is claiming to have done something
which he does not have the power to do)

Sta da khaira may tobah da, kho da spie de rana kurray ka.
(don’t give me your alms, just save me from your dogs)
Do not do any thing good to me, but it will be a great favor to me if
you do not do any harm to me.

Da maar bachai maar wee.
(The snake’s baby is also a snake)
nature can’t be changed

ka yaw war may khatabasay ta da khudai wowahi, aw ka dwa war may
khatabasay ma de khudai wowahi.
(If you fool me once a curse on you, if you fool me twice a curse on
me.) One must learn from his past experiences.

Hindu stharay Khudai naraz
(The Hindu is tired, God is still angry)
Hindu is tired (despite praying so much) but God is still angry
with him. No matter how much he prays he prays to the wrong God..hence
nothing he does will ever be accepted
moral..it means with some people no matter how much you do they will
never be happy

Che ade, haghase ye lmasAy.
How the grand mother is, same is her grand daughter.

Chi na kar, pa hagha the sa kar
When it is not any of your business, then stay away

landai la halal na da khanak pa sar garzawe.
The animal is not even slaughtered, you come with your plate on your
head
(to collect meat).

Mola bal ta masali kavi pa khapla pri hamli kawi
(moulvi preaches to others, but sins himself)

Chi da kAmakal La dAng oue UkhYar La iSHara
(For foolish a kick, and for wise, only pointing out)

dA kamakal malgari nA kho ukHyar duShman khA dae!
(from foolish friend, a wise enemy is better)

Wrori ba kawu hesab tar menza
(The brotherhood at one side, and the business matters at the other)
We will behave like brothers, but we shall know what is yours and
what is mine.

Khar che makkay ta lar she, no haji ne shi
(If a donkey goes to Mecca, that doesnt make him a pilgrim of Hajj.)
Surrounding yourself with something you like wont turn you into it.

much pa topa ma wala
(Don’t hit mosquito with tank)
Don’t waste your engergy and resources on minor things

Wror a gorra khorr a ghwara
(It means from the brother u can predict the beauty of the girl)

toorr da torray dae,  spin da injuno dae
(Means that a man of dark complexion is for wars and the one with
white complextion is only for girls)

khwar shi pa pakhto hom na pohigi.. da di matlab dey chi topak khpal aw pradey na pijani
(It means a gun cant differentiate between relative and non-relative)

I hope you noticed the charming Pashtun sense of humour To read more Pashtun proverbs please visit: http://www.pukhto.net/Proverbs_main.php and http://www.khyber.org/pashtolanguage/pashtoproverbs.shtml

What’s the plan?

There is a silent void that gapes before the observer of the Western intervention in Afghanistan: what is the actual goal here? There has been no strategy stated for the foreign presence in Afghanistan. The endeavor here appears fixated on the avoidance of certain scenarios rather than the realization of others: the American Secretary of Defence Robert Gates’ statement that the West is not attempting to build a Valhalla in this country; that we must not allow the return of the Taliban; that we cannot leave and allow the country to become a haven for terrorists once more. These are all things that it is wise to steer clear of; but towards where are we steering?

The absence of a clearly defined and understood strategy might exist for one of several reasons; firstly, any such strategy would be complex and hence difficult to fit into a newspaper column or a sound bite; so perhaps it is the fault of the media for not being more mature and subtle in their reporting. It may be that the military powers want to treat any potential strategy with a certain amount of discretion (if not secrecy) so as not to show their hand to an adaptable and determined AGE movement.

However, (and one has unfortunately only to look at the fashion that America was impelled into Vietnam) there is every chance that the USA and the UK have no strategy and hope that by cobbling together enough tactical victories a strategic victory will reveal itself and give them the space required to evacuate the country. Furthermore, the task of formulating a strategy that satisfies the USA, the UK, the Canadians, the Pashtuns, the Tajiks, the Pakistanis, the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and the other nations that have interests in the region has proven to be impossible.

It may sound like under current circumstances the international intervention in Afghanistan is doomed to failure and this is exactly the point I am trying to make. Eventually, the West will tire of the toll that this region takes on it (as all others like them have done in the past), they will leave and the country will slide back into anarchy until a force sufficiently magnetic and brutal arises domestically to arrest the slide. So is there an alternative to this bleak prognosis? Yes, there is. What then is the method to reach this alternative vision? It is the same as it has always been; you work within the tribal system. For the record, when we are talking about AGE’s, we are really talking almost exclusively about Pashtun tribes. For that reason, the term AGE and Pashtun will be used interchangeably).

How do you do this? In two ways, hand in hand. Firstly, we may need to prove to the 10% of Afghans that are actually fighting you are tougher, stronger and more remorseless than they are. This will be challenging for us: we in the West do not have what it takes to win a shooting war in Afghanistan. These are a people that have grown up with war and they have a pain threshold commensurate to that experience. Almost every living Afghan will have had some immediate connection with the ferocious fighting that has ravaged the place, on and off, for all of living memory. The result is that they are nowhere near as shocked by the cruelty of war as we sheltered people of the West. They understand that war is hell…and the more hell we make it, the sooner it will all be over.

The ambivalence of the West about how to fight this insurgency can be found in the offer of General Abdul Rashid Dostum. General Dostum is the Uzbek warlord renowned for being precociously pitiless in a country where it requires real talent to stand out from the crowd. He announced an offer in his capacity as Defence Minister to take his army to the South and eradicate the problems there. He said that he could accomplish this, with the right support, in a month and even offered to be paid by the metre gained. Needless to say, the self-confidence of Dostum is matched by the misgivings of the Americans to let him off the leash and his offer was declined. That is to say nothing of the outrage that the Pashtuns would direct at President Karzai for inflicting Dostum on his own people. So we get what we have here now: a counter-insurgency operation that is going around in circles.

Many Afghans feel no such squeamishness for swift and brutal methods. When I questioned Sher, a retired translator, about a strategy to end the fighting here he said ‘…you will never defeat them [the Pashtun leaders] like this. But it is simple to beat them. You seal the borders at Spin Boldak and Khyber and you bring Dostum to the South’. Thus, the solution, for an Afghan, was essentially to erect a giant cage around the animal roaming the South of Afghanistan, and introduce an even bigger, crazier animal into the enclosure. How long will the borders have to be closed? ‘For as long as it takes…’ Sher said, palms turning up, smiling and leant forward, ’You kick all of the press, the media out of the country, everybody looks the other way…and you let the Afghans play their games.’

So accepting that attempting to hammer 10% of the Pashtun people into submission will only get us so far, we must start to make ropes with the other 90%. Challenges immediately arise as the time and the tedium (the real, on-the-ground, day-to-day tedium) of this approach has lead to a hesitation to employing it. Domestic political tests also emerge, as this strategy will be spun by some as going soft on terrorists. If our leaders are going to be baited by these pundits into ossification of mindsets then we are in really deep trouble. However if we did want to make rope with these tribes, if we did want to fabricate a bond with them, how would it unfold?

Firstly we need to start to compete in the propaganda war: we need to begin to have the same successes as the AGE’s. Most Afghans get their information from their family, and their mosque. Until we penetrate these institutions, we will continue to be considered an implacable enemy by people with whom we have had no contact. Furthermore, the possession of pamphlets promoting the Western cause is not only a death sentence in many parts of the country, with a literacy rate in Afghanistan of (according to the CIA) 28.1%, the overwhelming majority of rural Afghans can’t read them. I have also heard from my staff that they have heard countless broadcasts by AGE’s on the airwaves of Afghanistan explaining to the people why the NATO forces are the enemy and yet have never heard a single similar broadcast from NATO telling the people why they are their friends.

So, once we have started to communicate in more persuasive means with the people more you would take to the field with emissaries going village by village, valley by valley spreading the word of the righteous cause of the West. The aim of these emissaries would be to manufacture ties with sympathetic tribes and between sympathetic (or at least amenable) tribes, and then tie them all to us. Appearing in armored Humvees with M4’s at the ready will reflexively draw a hostile response (it is seen as asserting our strength, challenging the Afghans to assert theirs, lest they be seen as weak) and the discussion will have been concluded before it had even begun. This must be a diplomatic diffusion, not a military mission. An entity such as The State Department or the Department of Foreign Affairs must take the lead role. You need to know who to speak to in the villages, how to speak to them and when and where to speak to them, how many one should speak to at one time, and who in that tribe can influence the essential allies in the other village.

The Dutch in Uruzgan Province in Southern Afghanistan have employed a strategy very similar to this. To give the reader some perspective, in 2005 Uruzgan was hands-down one of the most dangerous Provinces in the country; no UN staff were allowed there permanently yet they were allowed in both Helmand and Kandahar Provinces. It is now one of the quietest Pashtun Provinces in the country, despite being immediately adjacent to Helmand and Kandahar Provinces (now under American, Canadian and British command and scenes now of the hardest fighting and highest casualties) and also the birthplace of Mullah Omar. Other NATO countries, especially the USA, were extremely skeptical (verging on contemptuous) of the Dutch gambit when they took over the Province and it still grates against the warrior mentality of the US armed forces (perhaps partially because it lays bear their lack of flexibility in counter-insurgency). Yet you cannot argue with what the Dutch have accomplished there.

So to take this to the national stage, we must begin from the areas of greatest flexibility, and seep through the country like water through dry soil, exploiting seams of support and circumventing the most potent areas of opposition, as the Americans did in the Pacific in WWII. As it will not be possible to send Westerners into the front line of this effort initially, you recruit Afghans to be your point-men. Nobody from Kabul; the people of this country feel nothing but cynicism towards that city. Instead, you send the man who’s daughter is now receiving a free education; you send the man whose son’s life was saved in an ISAF hospital after he stepped on a landmine and you send the son too. There are hundreds of reasons why the overwhelming majority of the Afghan people should embrace the presence of the West, but the use of artillery and air strikes makes many Afghans shrink from supporting the West as they should. For the illiterate, weary, jaded mass of Afghanistan, a straightforward and sincere approach is most effective. ‘My son is alive today because of the foreigners. I see your two sons there, who will you take them to if they step on landmines? Where will the Taliban be for you then?’

Now, hand in hand with their lending (renting, perhaps is a more accurate description) you their support is doing something for them, as appealing only to an Afghans compassionate side will only get you so far. Every village in this country needs something (a well, a school, teachers, a clinic) and this can be used to the advantage of the West. The social hierarchy in this country is determined by who is the best provider, and nobody can match the West on that level. So along with the landmine survivor and the assisted farmer you send money, immediately; you contract the local laborers to dig the well that week. Nothing destroys credibility in this country like unfulfilled promises; Afghans have heard so many that the confirmation of their initial suspicion is a bitter taste in their mouths.

Of course, not all the money set aside for these tasks will reach the ground and to expect otherwise is to court a stomach ulcer here. This is not a country that will be modernised overnight and the first thing we need to begin that modernisation is stability. Once we have stability we can have education and health; once we have education and health, we have the beginnings of a truly stable country.

The courting of the tribes in this country will have benefits beyond simply reducing the shooting. By being energetic and sincere in our efforts, we will eventually begin to tap into information meridians that course through this land: nothing here happens without every body knowing about it (usually with the exception of all of the foreigners). By getting Afghans on side on the hamlet, village and valley level the quality of intelligence garnered will approach perfection. More than that, the same vigor with which Afghans are repelling ISAF from their land will be turned to your advantage, as they will apply exactly the same standards to foreign fighters and interlopers coming onto their land to attack their patron.

The people of this country will need our support and assistance to do this, but that is all. We will also have to maintain this support for a very long time (a recent RAND report calculated that average length of a successfully defeated insurgency is 14 years), until the country is essentially self-sustaining since, as mentioned above, when we reduce our maintenance, the tribes will very likely reduce their co-operation. ‘The West has abandoned us again’, will be the protest as the tribes go looking for another benefactor. Therefore, we will have to ensure that they do not need another benefactor. We are up to our armpits in this place now; leaving with anything less than a genuine bond with the country will inevitably entail a return.

I do believe that this is can be a successful strategy. The fact that it will take years to work is one reason why it has not been attempted, yet it is not a reason to not try it. Patience is essential to accomplishing anything here. If you observe the rise of the AGE’s of this country, you will see that it has been a gradual and consistent. I believe that this is because they have been employing this strategy. They too have been making ropes. By playing on the mistakes of the foreigners, by manipulating the opinions of normal Afghans and by turning many of them into frightened sheep they are tying the people of Afghanistan to their cause. Our ropes are better. Our ropes can bring a quality to the lives of Afghans that they could never expect from an insurgent victory. Afghans, though distrustful, never look gift horse in the mouth.

The political pressure for quick victories has meant that it is the tactical victory that tempts, whereas the time required for a strategic victory means it long-term projects are left continually on the shelf. This is ironic considering that seven and a half years have passed since the invasion. If a concerted the rope-making strategy had been employed immediately after the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, we could have by now built a strong allegiance with the tribes in this country. The English language is littered with sayings relating to the syndrome of wasting time like this: more haste, less speed; if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well…etc. The requirement that we must plan properly before undertaking large projects that we are taught in school seems to wilt in the face of the demands of political success.

Nevertheless, this is the only way to really, truly, win in Afghanistan. Everything here is a negotiation, everything must be discussed, and then re-discussed, and then there is lunch, and then more discussions. Only through the painstaking assembly of consensus are any important decisions made. Of course, it will now be difficult in many parts of the country to convince the people that the West is their best friend and supporter, in need of protection, and that it is in the interests of the tribes to block AGE incursion on their land. However it is not impossible, and I believe that the rope-making template offers the process required.

When you look at the tens of billions already spent trying to suppress the insurgency and build some kind of national infrastructure in the area, the diffusion of a few millions now and then could be seen as not only economical, but sellable in Western domestic politics. Of course, it’s not a very romantic end to the intervention of the West into Afghanistan and it would involve an embarrassing climb-down from the some ideals (democracy, women’s rights, not negotiating with ‘terrorists’), nor is it particularly glorious. However, it is viable and realistic, and in this part of the world that’s usually the best one can hope for.

One final thing, and I cannot give a proper justification for this recommendation, but I feel it is essential that any plans for this country be made by people who are living in this country, and by people who actually talk (and listen) to non-governmental/aid agency Afghans regularly. I am referring to policy makers in Washington and London primarily. There is so much here that is alien that when one returns back to the normality of life in the West, that Afghanistan almost seems like a long hallucination. There is a Laotian proverb that goes:

“When you have heard, you must listen. When you have seen, you must judge in your heart.”

It’s meaning escaped me until I came here. I now understand it to mean that there are so many things that we are exposed to here that are so completely outside our normal frame of reference and understanding, that one finds oneself continually plunging back into one’s heart an asking: ’Was that right? Was that the best way?’ That is where the beginning of the solution here lies.