#Charikar | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dispatchesfromafghanistan · 5 years

Text

The Last Postcard from Afghanistan - September 24

September 2019 Anniversaries:

18th anniversary of the Sep 11 Al Qaeda attack on the US

18th anniversary of the US attack on and invasion of Afghanistan

18th anniversary of Ahmad Shah Masoud's assasination by Arab 'journalists'

18th anniversary of the 'New Era' in Afghanistan

18th year of my involvement with the Afghan system of higher education

Elaborations:

Eurocentrism, American exceptionalism and an imperial mind-set assume, indeed compel and demand, that the entire human race must, forever, know about '9/11'. No doubt this was a major crime, but there are other significant 9/11s (Cheli)-and Afghanistan- which are hardly ever mentioned. Osama Bin Ladin and some of his Al-Qeda followers were not an Afghan creation, but Saudi-American-Pakistani agents who were invited by then Afghan pres. B Rabani and flown by Ariana Airline from Sudan to Jalalabad in the Summer of 1996. Bin Ladin had lived in Pakistan and worked closely with the Afghan mujahideen (the CIA, Mukhabarat, and ISI mercenaries) against the then leftist PDPA regime in Afghanistan. There were no Afghans among the 19 terrorists who attacked three locations in the US on Sep. 11; 17 were Saudis and two other Arabs. They planned the attack in Spain, Germany and Arizona; they took flying lessons in the US, and they used high- jacked American civilian planes in kamikazi fashion attacks on US soil. The Afghans had nothing to do with the 9/11 crime, but still, they have been subjected to and endured the most heinous collective punishment in recent history. It is said that some in the US government knew of the plot, but failed to act. When after 9/11, Washington demanded of Taliban to turn Bin Ladin over to the US, the Taliban refused, saying there was no extradition treaty between the US and Afghanistan. The Taliban also tried to avoid any confrontation with the US, and proposed that Bin Ladin could be tried by a neutral third party. The Bush administration, including the very same Dr.Khalilzad, 'the peace maker', refused the Taliban offer to negotiate, and the US launched the attack on and invasion of Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001. The attack was preceded by US/CIA special forces descending on Panjshair and distributing bags of money to the Northern Alliance leadership who helped the invaders. The December 2001 Bon conference was engineered by Lakhder Brahimi, Khalilzad, and the European Union which deliberately excluded the Taliban from the proceedings. Brahimi now says that was a fatal mistake. The Afghan attendees voted twice for Mr.Satar Seerat to be the interim president of Afghanistan, but again it was Khalilzad who engineered the crowning of Mr.H.Karzai as interim head of state. And when the Loya Girga in Kabul, overwhelmingly voted for former king Zahir Shah to be the constitutional head of state, again Khalilzad sabotaged the people's decision. It should be pointed out that for decades, Kalilzad the opportunist, has been dreaming and scheming about becoming Afghanistan's president, hence his complete turn around and talking to the Taliban in Doha endlessly. He belongs in the Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and C.Rice camp. He is the Afghan Ahmad Shalabi. Pres Trump's impulsive decision to cancel the 'peace' talks must be a huge disappointment for Khalilzad.Since Oct.7, 2001, the US/NATO have been relentless in waging an unjust, illegal, and immoral war on Afghanistan, using and testing the most powerful and vicious 'full spectrum' war technology and techniques, ranging from 'the mother of all bombs' to death-squads. Although there has been some attempt at 'nation-building' here, the overall damage done to Afghanistan may take a full century to repair. As I get ready to depart for Oregon, here is a summary of where things are.

The War:

Clearly, not only has the 'war on terrorism' failed misereably, but as is abundantly clear, terrorism has in fact exploded globally, including white terrorism in the US itself. As I type this, there was a massive explosion at a political rally by candidate/president Ghani in Charikar, killing at least 26 and wounding countless. An hour later there was another explosion near the US embassy and the defence ministry in Kabul's green zone, killing 24 and wounding many. Armed opposition controls half of Afghanistan, and more so at night including roads, schools, clinics, the tax system, etc. The armed opposition can and do hit with deadly force and success anywhere in the country, including Kabul's 'green zone.' An estimated 100 Afghan National Security Forces are killed daily. About 4000 civilians are killed yearly. The ministry of public health just said that in the last 12 months, 3300 civilians were killed (40) two nights ago by US-ANSF bombing at a wedding in Helmand, and about 20,000 injured. Due to nation-wide violence and uncertainty, we the expats at AUAF in Kabul are under full lockdown for the entire month of September. In addition to the Taliban, there are now 18 different insurgent/terrorist groups including Daesh(ISI) fighting the foreigners and their puppet Afghan government. The US/NATO forces and its Afghan proxy the ANSF, have escalated the war leading to numerous military and civilian casualties. There are attacks and counter attacks everywhere-cities, towns, and villages. No one is, or feels safe or secure anywhere. Civilians all over the country are caught between the armed opposition, government forces, and the Resolute Support forces and CIA trained #02 death squads, and are either directly killed by 'mistake' or become 'collateral' casualties. Many have called for war crime investigations.There is a world wide understanding and admission that the 'war on terror' has boomeranged, that the US has lost the war in Afghanistan, and that there is no military solution to the Afghan situation, hence the cancelled US-Taliban negotiations in Doha. The forty year turmoil in Afghanistan has wreaked havoc on everything in this country.

Diplomacy:

Realizing the US war on Afghanistan was a failure and a mistake, apparently, the Obama administration tried to engage the Taliban in 2010, and for pragmatic political reasons, those attempts have been intensified over the last year in the so-called Doha talks. Somethings should be pointed out though. Pres Trump's decision to engage the Taliban is essentially based on electioneering and US economics. This is why the talks were entirely secret and just between the US and the Taliban with the complete exclusion of the US- installed and supported Afghan government and others. The talks were mostly about the American troop withdrawal and not about peace in war-torn Afghanistan. They were called 'peace talks' after the Afghans protested for being excluded and delegitimised. The US chief negotiator Dr.Z.Khalilzad, a reactionary Afghan-American, is exactly the man who excluded the Taliban from the Bon Conference in December 2001 and has been trying very hard to stay in the limelight, some day install himself as head of state in Afghanistan, or snatch an undeserved Noble Peace Prize. Some here call him 'our Ahmad Shalabi'. No one, including Trump, the US Congress, or the Afghans know exactly what he has been saying/talking about with the Taliban. Hence his subpoena by Congress last Thursday. Khalilzad says he and the Taliban have been talking about: US troop withdrawal, a guarantee by the Taliban that they will not allow anyone to launch terrorist attacks from Afghanistan, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a cease fire. No question that the Afghan problem has become extremely costly, violent, and complex, and while some in and outside of Afghanistan want it solved, there are forces who want to continue the carnage. These include the US military-industrial complex, American warlords, the evengelists, the Afghan-international drugs, weapons, human and other mafias, certain ethnic groups in Afghanistan, Afghanistan's near and abroad neighbors, the poor and unemployed Afghans, and son. There is tons of money to be made out of human suffering. And many thoughtful observers believe that regardless of peace treaties, there will be no peace in the country for a while. And all this dishonest talk of 'Afghan owned' this and that is nonsense. This is an occupied country and the country's destiny is in other peoples' hand and the Afghans own little or nothing. No human or other rights.The question is why diplomacy was rejected early on and who if anyone will be held responsible for the astronomical human and material costs and the crimes committed?

Politics:

Afghan politics, the government, and the entire political culture have always been ethnicized. The country was founded by Ahmad Shah Abdali, from the dominant Pashtoon ethnic group, who have dominated the political system and government structure whether it was a monarchy, a constitutional monarchy, a republican, a leftist regime, the Taliban or the current 'democratically' elected presidential system. It must be said though that the Pashtoons may be the privileged dominant group in name, but the vast majority have been left out of any planned progress in the country. Other ethnic groups have had to acquiese grudgingly to this arrangement. But since 2001, this power structure order has been challenged both in and outside the political system, and the Pashtoons have had to accommodate the other major ethnic groups and share power. But this power sharing has created enormous tensions, and has affected, deformed, perverted and corrupted the notions of power, politics and the political process deeply. It has produced a dysfunctional kleptocracy/plutocracy. There is now a week left for the presidential election. and there are 15 candidates. The front runners are the incumbent A.Ghani-a Pashtoon and Abdullh the current CEO-a Tajik. A great deal of horse-trading, wheeling and dealing, promises, maneuvers, even cash have been deployed to put the various tickets together. All presidential candidates have tried to be 'inclusive' and choose 'leaders' of other groups as running mates so to get support from various ethnicities. In fact, nascent political parties, movements, and groups are all invariably ethnic based, the dominant ones being Pashtoon and Tajik.. Even the candidates' dress symbolizes, project, and signify who they are and whom they are trying to mobilise; and so Mr.Ghani wears a national dress including the turban, largely a Pashtoon attire. While Abdullah the sheik 'model' wears expensive brand name western suits. All 15 candidates have assembled their tickets from the various token ethnic groups with not even a handful of women, thus hoping to attract those groups' votes. So-called ethnic leaders and/or strong men are the same warlords from the anti Soviet /PDAPA jihad in the 80s- thanks to the CIA-Mukhabarat-ISI sponsorship. All elections including on university campuses, in the last 18 years have riddled with fraud, deceit, manipulation, etc. These mujahideen have assembled/stole enormous amounts of money, power and privileges and still hold society hostage If and when old, their sons are automatically anointed as their replacement. It is all in the family.There is very little ethnic crossover for any reason. The political compaign now is particularly vicious between Ghani and Abdullah, both partners in the J.Kerry- made so-called National Unity Government in 2014. There is enormous tension, anxiety, uncertainty, and hostility in the country, some predicting and fearing another civil war between North and South, Pashtoons and the Others. Yesterday, about 40 politicians and prominent Afghans at former pres Karzai's home called for postponing the election; because they think it could plunge the country into a deep and serious crisis. As a sign of things, we the expats at AUAF have been put under complete lockdown for all of September. There may be competent, committed, and decent individuals in the government, but the system as a whole is ineffective, inefficient, incompetent, corrupt, indifferrent, insensitive, self-absorbed, and out of touch. It is a classic living example of 'the rentier state'. It seems unable and unwilling to perform anything we expect of a government, from regulating traffic to protecting the country's terretorail integrity; security to healthcare; employment to clean air. Even now, 75% of the government budget comes from foreign aid. The current government has little to no legitimacy in the eyes of the people, who are left like orphans to fend for themselves. Groups and individuals scream, yell, demonstrate, strike, protest, block, sit-in, petition, etc, but the teflon government shows little to no response. I wonder when and whether the Afghan spring may arrive to install a government of, by ,and for the people. It must be pointed out that the West has been directly complicit in this state of affairs and must accept responsibility.

The Economy:

The 'war on terror' and the infusion of massive licit and illicit foreign capital into Afghanistan ( called Foreign aid) has produced a severely deformed economy. In a perverse way, the country really is a land of 'rags to riches'! People who had nothing have become multi millionaires; there may be a handful of billionaires; this in a fourth world country! And they are not shy to flaunt their wealth, power and privileges. This new class hold foreign passports, have largely exported their wealth, and sent their families abroad to Dubai, Turkey, India, and the west. If they are in the country, they live in mansions behind huge blast walls, have guards, travel in armored SUVs with armed escorts, shop in boutique stores and department stores, eat in fancy restaurants, send their children to elite designer schools, vacation abroad, have access to the government, foreign military bases, NGOs, and foreign embassies. They are the comprador class, the contractors, the hucksters and hustlers, the mafias, the smugglers, the criminal syndicates, partners of the kleptocracy, agents for multinational corporations, and the investors. They are this country's 1%. Collectively, this class with assistance or complicity of its foreign handlers stole most of the $125 billion in foreign assistance over the last 18 years. On the other hand we have the people 60% of whom are officially under the poverty line, and the 'middle class' who are food secure. 75% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture which still uses traditional ways and means with little help from government or the foreign aid industry. There is limited industry and social service sector. The economy is largely informal and/or underground with narcotics being one-fourth of the GDP. Since the country can harvest just 30% of its water with the rest flowing out to Iran and Pakistan, this has an adverse effect on agricultural production and life in the country. There is endemic poverty in both cities and the rural areas. Per capita income hovers around $500. Two million have been displaced by war, violence, droughts, floods, conflict and son. Streets are crowded with men, women and child beggars. Millions of children work to support their families. Corruption has been normalized. 70% of the government budget still comes from foreign assistance. With a week before the presidential election, the economy is on life-support. I have never seen such poverty in both urban and rural areas. Though this is an agricultural country, but it can not even feed itself and must import grains. This grotesque inequality, poverty and degradation have led to massive violent and nonviolent crimes, white and blue collar crime, organized and retail crime. People live in fear. The culture has been gangsterized, criminalized, degraded, perverted, and trivialized. The government itself is a vast, corrupt and criminal organization. Pompeo finally declared so, and stopped a $160 aid to the Afghan government. Anyone who can, is leaving the country, even risking their lives. A recent Gallup poll ranked Afghanistan at the top of the world's misery-unhappiness-suffering-hopelessness index. Under these circumstances, war has become a means of livelihood for millions! This country has enormous resources such as water, minerals, rare and precious metals, oil, gas, gold, copper, fertile land, fruits, herbs, and people. It is indeed a shame and a crime that its people are so poor and oppressed.

Society and Culture:

Forty years of invasions (USSR, USA, NATO), war, violence, upheaval, displacement, migration, and fratricide have disfigured and fractured society deeply. Families and communities are torn apart. There is hardly a family or community which has not directly or indirectly been affected by the four-decade upheaval. People have been killed, maimed, exiled, disappeared, lost, gone crazy, have become addicts, bought and sold, dismembered, imprisoned, widowed, orphaned, etc. People are alienated and estranged from each other. There is little mutual trust, fondness, respect, help, or belonging. Older ethics, morality, conventions, and nicities are disappearing. It is a struggle of all against all and a struggle for survival, money, power, and glamour. A vicious and ugly social Darwinism prevails at all levels and all aspects of life. Lies, deceit, fraud, treachery, disloyalty, betrayal are all normatised. Ethics, morality, guilt, and shame are almost vanished from daily life. Life for the rich and the poor seems to be all about money, power, privilege, networking, consumerism, appearance, getting ahead, and/or getting by. The end justifies the means. You can now rent, buy, hire men and women sex workers, goons, assasins, and/or suicide bombers. Everything is negotiable and everyone/everything has a price. A small segment of the population seems to lead the good life, the majority simply endure life and suffer . Alien and imported culture dominates most things from language to hair style, to food, to values, to household furnishings, social etiquette, mourning to entertainment, to dress, to cosmetic surgery. There are about 100 TV networks pedling trash, vulgarity, soft core pornography, consumerism and mindlessness materialism. People, especially urbanites prefer things foreign be it fruit, clothing, machinary, language, manners, food, education, medicine, and products you name it. People inevitably opt for the imported stuff regardless of the quality, inauthenticity, fitness, price, or threat and damage to indigenous ways. Most things about the country, from war to peace, education, foreign policy, technology, economic policy, trade, and commerce, aspects of language are decided from outside. People appear resigned and reconciled, they lack initiative, throw their hands in the air and see their destiny in the hands of Allah, the Americans(and other foreigners) and/or the dysfunctional government. There is little to no collective or individual sense of agency. People seem bewildered, anxious, fearful, uncertain and hopeless. They entrust themselves to God, fate, the extremists, or the West. Since society and culture seem to be under siege, certain elements, including the Taliban, have become extreme xenophobes rejecting all things foreign, hence the polarization of society between tradition and modernity, urban and rural. The country is in a very deep crisis, but very few seem to realize or care.

Education:

At the invitation of the first post-Taliban minister of higher education, Dr.Sharif Fayez, also an Afghan American academic, I arrived in Kabul in early March, 2002. I could not believe what I saw. I literally wept when I saw how my middle and high schools, like the entire country, were ravaged by the prolonged wars. The education system from top to bottom was severely limited in scope, purpose quality and quantity. Like the country itself, education too had become a wasteland. The ministry of higher education building had no running water so we had to use an outhouse. And I lived in a simple house with no in-door plumbing. There were just two old manual Pashto and Dari typewriters. Very few of us had phones. There was no internet or computers, or other technology in the building. Electricity was irregular so we begged UNESCO to get us a generator. There were just five public universities with about seven thousand students, mostly men. Other than delapidated buildings, there was nothing to little else you expect at a university.The system was isolated, archaic, underfunded, substandard, dysfunctional and useless. The system was gripped by mediocrity, tradition, ideologies, culture and religion. We had a monumental challenge to rebuild the education system. A few international organizations arrived to help. What I do remember was our commitment, dedication, determination, hope, and optimism. Afew Afghans and internationals believed we could modernize and rebuild the Afghan higher education, even against all odds. Everyone was thirsty for a good education. Although I was a tenured and full professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and had full responsibilities, but seeing the desperate situation in Afghanistan, I had to find ways to help. So L and C was kind enough to allow me to teach my full load at L and C during Spring and Summer and spend August to January in Kabul every year from 2002 to 2014. I served as senior adviser and handy man to the minister from 2002 to 2006. Around that, the government including the ministry of higher education, started to become ethnicised. Thus in 2006, I joined the University of Massachusetts team to design and teach in its MA program for university instructors from all of Afghanistan, at the Kabul Education University. KEU was later renamed Shaid Rabani Education University. Later the U of Mass and I designed an MPPA( master of public policy and administration) program at Kabul University, and I taught in that program during 2012-215. Since I worked two challenges jobs between 2002 and 2013, I began to feel tired. Late in 20013, I was offered a full time position to design, direct, and teach an MA Ed program at the American University of Afghanistan. This was to train 1000 trainers from two year teacher training institutions from all of Afghanistan. So I resigned my position at LC and joined AUAF as full professor and director of MAEd in 2013/14. In the summer of 2015, I was asked to design, teach in, and direct another. MA program in education and law enforcement at AUAF for the police academy instructors. That program ended on Sep.1, 2019.There has in fact been a big increase in the number of students, schools and tertiary institutions both public and private since 2002. There are now some nine million pupils, attending some 217000 schools; 38 public institutions and 140 odd private institutions of higher learning with 140000 and 150000 students. Half of the public schools have no buildings! Education is free from first grade to college. Most of the private universities are run in large rented houses.Though some 5 million school-age children and 93% of college -age youth still have no access to school and the quality of education at all levels is substandard. At the same time 80% of the women and 65% of the men in the country are illiterate. Most of what is called education is out of sink with the country's socioeconomic and cultural reality; it is shallow, substandard, and dysfunctional producing millions of un/underemployed academic prolitarriate constituting a huge socioeconomic problem and a time-bomb. There are reasons for this state of affairs. Insufficient funds is the main reason, with the country spending one the lowest amount per student in the world. Lack of capacity to run effective and efficient organizations is another reason.The two ministries for education can not even spend one-third of their development budget. Leadership changes is another reason. Government organizations are crippled by ethnic, political, or personal factionalism. The notion of an independent, competent, clean, secure, and stable civil service does not exist here.There have been 8 ministers of higher education and that many ministers of education since 2002; and to my knowledge, none were trained professional educators. All appointments at all levels are politicized and ethnicized, based on bribes, nepotism, or deal-making; the patronage and poenage system prevails. Most international experts are themselves under and/or unqualified and out of touch with the local realities. In case of women and girls 'culture' itself is a huge barrier to their education. And schooling and education are not viewed so much as a means to transform the individual or the society, but a way to make a living and/or get ahead.

As my departure nears, I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I have spent a lot of time and energy here over the last 18 years, trying to make a difference. I have endured frustration, hadship, stress and strain, and even risked health and life. And I care deeply about family, friends, coworkers, indeed all the people here who have to endure so much. Any people should not be subjected to so much brutality, pain, suffering and deprivation.. It offends and pains me greatly. And I have contempt for the predatory class and the various criminal syndicates for their inhumanity. To me they are almost like animals. And I also hold the US ruling class and its 'allies' responsible for this state of affairs. On the other hand, I know full well that there are limits to our endurance, and I feel that for now, I have reached my limits. And my wife Tahmina needs/wants out of here too. We know what lies ahead for us in Portland, but the US is by no means Afghanistan and we expect better. So if all goes well, we depart Kabul and arrive in Portland on October 2nd. I will, after a two weeks readjustment period, be happy/available to share my observations with anyone who is interested and concerned. Please feel free to share this report.Those interested, can Google Zaher Wahab Tumblr, and read these reports starting in 2009.

Zaher Wahab

Kabul Sep. 24,2019

2 notes · View notes