Recalling the fussy year of 2001 I can remember having night-long discussions with my colleagues regarding the probable outcome of American-Afghan war. High-speed internet wasn’t available then & same goes for Youtube, the portals for worldwide information. Thus, we as junior O level students can’t witness (or understand) the awesome military might of America, so easily available today in the face of dedicated missile & warplane Youtube channels. In a sense we were gullible & hence got amazed by the heroic Taliban stories of how they struck the equally mighty Soviet military & disseminated it! Little do we know that this Jihad (or should you label it as ‘freedom fighting’) had nothing to do with honour & religion but with the technology provided to Taliban by non-Muslims (Americans) in the face of Stinger missiles.
The outcome of that war (or Jihad to many) was already established, if one truly understand the variables that constitute the ‘victory equation’ of todays modern warfare. It was probably after five years that I as senior A level student started to infer those variables thanks to Jane’s Defence Magazine that I had access to.
From the beginning I was intrigued by machines & magic. Whatever I read (& believe me I do a lot of reading) revolves around these two spheres; but in these defence magazines I found both. The distinction between magic & machine was narrowing: men encapsulated in an armour & sustaining hit(s) from supersonic missile(s) was a wizardry to me at least! What I labelled as ‘wizardry’ is essentially technical & engineering marvels of West; but one can’t say it is the ‘apex’ because that is yet to come, if it ever comes!
I soon realised that Soviets were not up against the might of God’s Lions (or so did Talibans acknowledged themselves) but in reality they were fighting technology if not surpassing, it had equal standards to their own war machine. This in conjunction with the dying economy & onerous political affairs forced them to vacate Afghanistan & thus birthed imposing Taliban fibs with a unique touch of nobility, spirituality & morality. These virtuous species gained popularity & the general public too admired anyone who helped them in particular the alcohol-drinker slayer, Zia-ul-Haq. He was amiably regarded as a ‘garroter’ of the godless bastards (~Soviets) in the Islamic world & a ‘freedom lover’ in the international community, such was the craftsmanship of our President. Without explaining further the glamour of these so-called Islamic warriors earned & its devastating aftermaths, I will discuss what Afghanistan lost!
Whenever we mention Afghanistan be it in writing or speech, gloomy pictures of barren rocky mountains & destitute populace come to mind. One can compare this impoverished country to the stone ages as depicted in one my favourite cartoons “The Flintstones”. Ah! I am making huge mistakes, so says a critical observation of the following picture:
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Though the shaggy clothes of male cartoon characters are exactly the way Afghan male dress themselves (or they don’t have any other choice) such isn’t the case with the female dress.
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Though an affording Afghan may be driving a car but a female (even his wife) sitting next to him in a front seat, that's impossible.
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In the above picture two different families are accommodated in one car; believe me with seven to ten children per family (or should I say ‘per wife’) a typical Afghan family will not even fit in a Pajero.
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And lastly I haven’t seen any picture of a happy, laughing Afghan family.
All of the above comparison implies the irrevocable failure of the Taliban administration, Pakistan so eagerly & blindly helped building. The ruination of a peaceful & a progressive country at the hands of these illiterate beings casted a shadow over a beautiful era of Afghanistan. That splendid pre-Taliban (or pro-Soviet) era mostly forgotten & never mentioned to us because it wasn’t Islamic enough. So open your eyes wide & explore through the few images & let yourself know what Afghanistan & Afghans really lost!
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Almost all of the above infrastructure & progress was made with the technical & economical support from the Soviets. The ruling party namely “People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)” followed a Communist ideology similar to what Faiz Ahmad Faiz supported in Pakistan, read more about this in ‘Communism in Pakistan’
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