Understanding Afghanistan : How Policies and Leaders changed its course before 9/11

To make sense of Afghanistan’s situation today, one has to look at the many tales that revolve around the country in the form of a historical, cultural and political narrative. Regimes, warlords and parties have come and gone, giving the country the name of “The Graveyard of Empires”.

The country was under monarchy until 1973, and the last ruler was Mohammad Zahir Shah. Many say that even though everything was state-controlled, Afghanistan was happy. Afghan women studied in universities, and had more representation in the parliament than women in the US Congress¹, and they did all of this in miniskirts, as untrue as it may seem. Well built roads, gorgeous gardens and white-peaked mountains made Kabul a paradise for visitors, many of whom were often Indians. It is said that Jews, ethnic Muslims and Hindus, all lived together in harmony. Shah’s policies of modernity and public welfare formed the backbone of Afghanistan’s prosperity. There has been some finger-pointing on the veracity of the above-mentioned facts, it is comforting to believe them, given the path the nation treaded on soon after.

Women in Kabul under the rule of Zahir Shah | Source: theguardian.com

The current world order plummets back to the cold-war, the USA and the USSR, and in the case of Afghanistan, it is no different. The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), backed by the the Soviet Union, overthrew Mohammad Daoud in 1978, who had ousted Zahir Shah in 1973, in a bloody rivalry. Adopting the principles of Marxism-Leninism², the PDPA tried to replace traditional Islamic practices with modern ones. Women were again empowered, with voting rights and a ban on forced marriages. The earlier ‘givens’ of keeping a beard for men and wearing a burqa for women was not the norm. Socialist structures were in place in terms of lands and loans. USSR chipped in with huge sums of money. An agreement on military backing was signed with them. The Afghans were now unhappy with the secular models of new governance and the USSR involvement in the country, and felt the policies cut across the traditional Islamic beliefs. Protests erupted, compelling the Soviet Union to invade in with troops and exercise control. Afghan civilians were victims of mass genocide, and the women were tortured and raped by the Russian soldiers. As a result, more than 6 million natives fled to Pakistan and Iran. On the flip side, the US was arming another group, the Mujahideen, which included many factions and parties, to ascertain their authority in the region. They fought the Russians with vigour.

A picture from the Soviet-Afghan War | Source: libcom.com

Due to international pressure and massive killings on both sides, the Soviets left the dismantled nation in 1989, bringing an end to the Soviet-Afghan war. In 1992, the Mujahideen stormed Kabul under the leadership of the renowned leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, and came to power. The Mujahideen government adopted policies that haunted them later on. Supporting only certain factions made them lose public support. Internal differences meant that the parties were often left fighting with each other. And come 1995, a new cluster was born in the villages of Afghanistan. THE TALIBAN Growing from a movement in the religious Afghan refugee schools, the Taliban, a group of Sunni³ students with traditional Islamic beliefs, soon became a political force, and captured some southern parts of the country in 1994. Heavy shelling in the capital followed in 1995, with massive support from Pakistan. In 1996, they captured Kabul and declared the formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Consequently, the economy, the infrastructure and the policy setup of the country fell to ruins. Supplies of water, food and energy to citizens became meagre. Infant mortality rate shot up. Help from various international charitable organisations and NGOs to Afghanistan was denied. UN offices in the country were forced to shut down. They also imposed the Sharia⁴ law with extreme strictness and consequently, brutal treatment towards all those who showed any opposition. Houses were razed, families wholly executed, just based on ethnicity. People were put in containers and left to suffocate. Recreational activities like cinema, kite flying and football were completely banned. But what stood out was the oppression of women, which was of the harshest form. They could not move out of their houses alone, let alone studying in institutions. Abductions, rapes and massacres became a common affair. Many of them were trafficked for slavery. Also, Al Qaeda, the terrorist organisation of which Osama Bin Laden had been a leader, had set up its base in Afghanistan, and together with the Taliban, it wreaked havoc in the country. Pakistan also sent in more than 50,000 nationals to fight against the anti-Taliban forces. Shah Massoud had formed the United Front to fight against the two, and with some northern areas under their control, many Afghans also migrated to this region to avoid the Taliban. Thus, The Taliban reign was nothing but hell for the Afghans.

Women in Afghanistan under the Taliban | Source: theglobepost.com

AN UNPRECEDENTED TURN On 9 September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two impersonators⁵ who set off bombs. The Lion of Panjshir was, after tons of attempts, finally down after a legendary battle of resistance. But, this is not the unprecedented turn. Two days later, four planes slammed against the World Trade Centre in the US, killing more than 3000 people. Osama Bin Laden was behind it, and it is believed that it was the mastermind who ordered the killing of Shah Massoud, who was attracting international attention against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

9/11 Attack | Source: reuters.com

WAR, AGAIN After failed demands, the US clamped down on the country. Aerial bombings destructed Taliban and Al Qaeda camps, and undertook targeted killings of leaders. Large American troops were sent in to take control. Prominent Taliban members fled to Pakistan, and the Hamid Karzai government under US influence came into power. It was time for the US war in Afghanistan, which continues to ravage Afghanistan.

Afghan kids look on as an American soldier passes by | Source: countercurrents.org In March 2020, a peace deal was signed, which ensures the complete exit of American troops from Afghanistan, which is a symbolic victory for the Taliban after 19 long years of carnage and resistance, which seems to have changed it’s course and ideals over generations, and promises better governance with zero terrorism. It remains uncertain, however, how the nation will embark on a novel road and what the future holds for the Afghans who’ve always looked on with eyes of suffering, courage and most importantly, hope. Definitions: I. Congress (noun) - a national legislative body, specially that of the US. II. Marxism-Leninism (noun) - It is a political philosophy that seeks to establish a socialist state to develop further into socialism and eventually communism. III. Sunni (noun) - the larger of the two main branches of Islam, which differs from Shia in its understanding of the Sunna, its conception of religious leadership, and its acceptance of the first three caliphs. IV. Sharia (noun) - It is an Islamic religious law that governs not only religious rituals but also aspects of day-to-day life in Islam. V. Impersonation (verb) - an act of pretending to be another person for the purpose of entertainment or fraud. References: 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/world/asia/taliban-afghanistan-war 2. https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan 3. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/weekinreview/18bumiller 4. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/asia-jan-june11-timeline-afghanistan 5. https://www.travelistly.com/stories/remembering-afghanistan-s-golden-age 6. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini, 2007 By - Sarthak Agarwal (sarthakagarwal097@gmail.com)