MARJA, Afghanistan — Since the American-led offensive into the last large Taliban enclave in Helmand Province began nine days ago, local Afghans have faced a dangerous and uncertain world.
Their homes are now in a region where the Marines have established a presence, the Taliban have moved into the shadows as a potent guerrilla force, and the Afghan government insists it will soon provide services and bring Marja into the national fold.
All the while, in northern Marja, the fighting grinds on at a pace of several firefights a day — a climate that has displaced many civilians and kept others hiding inside. Abdul Ajahn, an elder here, voiced a lingering fear.
“If the Taliban shoots from that side, and you are on this side, and I am in between?” he said to the Marines at a meeting arranged by a commander and local elders over the weekend. “Then I am sure you will shoot me.”
‘Colonel Imam’, the ex-Pakistani agent who trained Mullah Omar and the warlords to fight the Soviets, says the US must negotiate with its enemies.
It is unlikely that anybody alive today knows the Afghans as well as Imam. All the key figures were trained in his camps, from the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panj-shir, to warlords such as Gul-buddin Hekmatyar, his “naughtiest” student. “It was a matter of pride for me that my students later became big commanders,” he said.
Since the new US administration is in the process of reviewing the US policy on the so-called war of terrorism, it may be a good time to put forward a few points as a fuel for new thoughts aimed at having a constructive discussion and analyzing the tough situation starkly facing the world community. The proposed changes in our policy will hopefully not only help securing the US interests but also promote global stability in general and that of South and Central Asia in particular. Since America has been acting, and quite deservingly so, as a leader of the free and civilized world, American policies must reflect the values of civilized human life and truly respect the globally recognized human rights. Obama administration must shun the disgraced and disastrous policies of neocons that were aimed at enslaving other nations economically, occupying others lands, and grabbing others natural resources – all in the name of US national interest and security. That change ought to be a corner stone of the US foreign policy and its goals.
It’s been a long time since a voice from Pakistan spoke with this authority. Here in this video clip, former President Musharraf, in Michigan for a speech, gives a solid response to those who say that Pakistan is the headquarters of bin Laden & Co. A clip from a local TV network, aired on 14 Jan. 2009. For all his mistakes, the man has charisma. If only had he not made the mistake of becoming a democrat, just like the rest of them in Pakistan.
