WHO ARE THE TALIBAN, ANYWAY?

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, and left in utter defeat in February 1989. It is believed that 1.5 million Afghanistanis were killed. Soviet losses were estimated to be 15,000 killed. It was an extremely brutal war, marked by the largest use of anti-personnel mines since World War Two, and the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

The Soviets were defeated by a combination of mujahideen [a loose confederation of Afghanistani tribes], with massive covert support from the US, Pakistan, China and a number of Arab states. The mujahideen held to no particular ideology prevalent in the west, but rather were united by a desire to repel the invaders, and, generally, adhere to Islam.

The Soviet defeat and withdrawal left a huge power vacuum in its wake. Afghanistan was ruined. Almost immediately the tribal warlords began to contend for power and domination, but nine years of war left the country exhausted. Anarchy prevailed. A small group of tribal leaders formed the Taliban, who were initially perceived by the weary Afghanistanis to be “Robin Hoods.” At first they brought a degree of relative stability, peace, and the rule of law to Afghanistan after they destroyed the last of the warring tribal leaders.

Between 1989 and 1994 they emerged as the new rulers of Afghanistan. Afghanistan fell off the radar of the US as we reveled in the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the vaporous feeling of a new world of American hegemony. But, other countries and other people did not share our feelings of the end of almost forty years of Cold War.

Pakistan began to see the Soviet defeat and anarchy in Afghanistan as an opportunity to gain strategic dominance over Afghanistan and a shift in the geopolitical power equation in South Asia. Control over Afghanistan would give the Pakistanis and edge over its historic enemy, India. In the period before and after 1994, Pakistan supported the Taliban in very way possible: training, arms, schools, sanctuary, money, and cover. It fair to say that the Taliban that emerged after 1994 was a creation of Pakistan’s Interservice Intelligence Agency [ISI], known as Pakistan’s “CIA.” Except the ISI is deeply embedded within Pakistan’s army which runs the country. During this time the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, led the army and ISI in its support of the Taliban. 

The Cold War may have ended, but peace was as illusory as ever.

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YESTERDAY IS TODAY, TOMORROW IS TOMORROW

I was watching a four minute video clip of a few American infantry men in the mountains of Afghanistan struggling as they carried about 120 pounds of equipment in on their backs, helmets, and arms. In 1969, as an infantryman, I carried about 60 pounds of equipment in the field.

The Afghanistan video clip was taken with a hand held cam. As I watched everything blurred, and the sudden sound of explosives, automatic weapons, and screams, punched my eyes, ears, and body. The screen went black, and dead quiet. The next brief images were of a dead Taliban fighter, and a dying American infantryman. The American soldier's 120 pound pack was awkwardly attached to his lifeless body, as if it has no reason to be there.

President Obama will soon make the most important decision of his presidency. Most important because it will effect the lives of untold American soldiers and their families;  young men will die, be horribly maimed for the rest of their lives, and carry the psychological scars of war until the day they finally die many years from now as the twenty-first century nears its end. We will spend billions in a war effort that this country can ill afford. This excludes the future cost of veterans care, and the refitting of our armed forces, ground down by over seven years of war.

The over-arching questions regarding the continuation of the American war in Iraq, and a continuance and/or further escalation of our war in Afghanistan are several. What are we now attempting to accomplish in the two countries? What price do we have to pay in human lives? What has been the human toll in Iraq and Afghanistan to date? What are the probable outcomes of our misbegotten war in Iraq, and what does further combat portend for the US and the Afghani people?

According to the latest figures available from the Department of Defense [DoD], we have suffered 4349 dead and 31,527 wounded in Iraq. Iraqi civilian deaths as of 1 September 2009 were 102,371. That is a firm number and leaves out Iraqi military and police deaths. There are few reliable sources for estimates of total Iraqi dead and wounded since our invasion on 20 March 2003.

US and NATO military operations began in Afghanistan on 7 October 2001. The most recent figures released by the DoD list 872 American troops dead, and 3321 wounded.

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