Immediately after the Soviet Afghan war ended, it looked like the right thing to have done.
But now, I don't think it was. Afghanistan should have just taken Communism and limited religion out of the public arena.
It would have saved countless lives and infrastructure had there been no Afghan-Soviet war. World views are very fickle and noone wants to remember Afghanistan before the war. They simply put it down to "the Afghan way" which is a load of bull.
It's true Pakistan may have been next. But the Soviets were most likely all done anyway.
The US and the Soviets have always been playing their Games in Afghanistan, and it's not likely to stop.
But you have to view the things on geo-political level. hindustan was pro-soviet.....therefore the soviets were our enemy. Whereas the US was (and still is????) our ally....the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
We told ourselves we dont want those Godless drunk communist bastards in our backyard. It was also an issue of morals.
a.) the communist/puppet government in Afghanistan was deeply unpopular
b.) when the soviets came marching in, they used to go into Mosques with shoes on, taunt people.....rape women....bayonet pregnant women. Walk into peoples homes and ransack belongings etc. etc.
the mojahhedin were weak, poorly trained and ill-equipped....that is where Pakistan's role came in.
Those were the days when the Ummah believed in Ittehad. My father used to tell me that PIA flights were PACKED with Bosnians, Turks, Özbeks, Arabs, Nigerians, --people from all over.
The unity was beatiful. The war was well fought. And the soviets left. It was victory for Afghans and Pakistan too in a way. But the victory became failure once again. We all know Afghanistan has always been in turmoil. But as soon as soviets left home, Afghanistan was worse off than Somalia.
Why the hell did we and the world abandon Afghanistan? As usual everyone was too short-sighted and too selfish. We got our F16s and military aid, we got the investment. We got the good reputation. It was further boosted by the fact that we helped taleban --as they were the ONLY people who brought peace to Afghanistan.
But war obviously has an effect on people. Nobody here can understand because theyve never been or faught in bloody war. As is customary in our region, power vacuum and greed prevailed. Taleban quickly turned into evil people. Robbing women and children even of their most basic human rights. Forcing men to grow beards, and all that other stupid wahhaby behaviour.
Since Pakistan was influential on Afghanistan politics, our biggest mistake was to allow the foreign fighters to stay in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is for Afghans, and nobody else. So why in hell were the foreign fighters allowed to stay there and get married to the locals etc. etc.
those foreigners are the real trouble makers.....taleban never should have given sanctuary to the AQ. They mis-used secular Pushtoon culture.
now look whats happened......
suggestions off the top of my head
1.) re-locate the Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan. They are America's responsibility, not Pakistan.s
2.) mine the border
3.) go to Asian Development Bank, bring in the NGOs and civil society movements, and develop FATA
4.) force all religious schools and Mosques to register with the state...those that refuse should be shut down
5.) invest proper money for PROPER police forces.......and these police forces should strictly enforce weapons rules. Displaying of weapons in public should not be allowed
6.) CRUSH the drugs trade......on one hand these talebs call themselves Muslims, but they buy the food and weapons with drugs money. Shame on them
7.) Enact new laws in Pakistan. All men between ages 18 to 30 must do mandatory military service for at least 6 months.......during this time, also teach them about giving back to the country and doing community service ---even if it just means picking up trash or litter off the street
