Page 9 - Pakistan Link - March 26, 2021

OPINION MARCH 26, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9

Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam

173. Afghanistan, Land of Valor, Land of Sorrow - 4

n By Prof Nazeer Ahmed ment and Education, Washington,
Concord, CA DC; Director, American Institute
of Islamic History and Culture, CA;
he Soviets tried trading their Member, State Knowledge Com-
satraps. In 1986 Karmal was mission, Bangalore; and Chairman,
Treplaced by Najibullah. The Delixus Group)
arrival of stinger missiles neutral-
ized any advantage JINNAH FROM P7
that the Soviets magnificent voice, “Would you
enjoyed in the air. not like the great Quaid-i-Azam to
After losing tens of stand tall and tower over Gandhi?”
thousands of men The negative press about him
and spending bil- and the film had been skillfully ma-
lions, the invaders nipulated in the newspapers on our
realized they could not hold Af- arrival – by someone who imagined
ghanistan and they withdrew in he was a better candidate to play
1989 leaving the communists to Jinnah. Lee was baffled. He knew
their fate. how dangerous the incitement to
Fighting continued between hatred was. Published articles were
the Mujahedeen and the forces of urging Pakistanis to physically stop
Najibullah culminating in the vic- the production as it was a conspira-
tory of the Mujahedeen in 1993. cy against the country.
However, victory did not bring “Why don’t the Pakistanis un-
peace to the hapless Afghans. The nod from Washington. this rejection. It provided an added for Al Qaeda complicity. A diplo- derstand that we are here to pay
warlords who had temporarily The Taliban, joined by many excuse to get rid of the Taliban and matic standoff ensued. Despite the tribute to the great man? They ob-
buried their differences under the erstwhile mujahideen and ideal- have them replaced by a more pliant advice of their friends in Pakistan, ject to my having played Dracula –
umbrella of the Mujahedeen were ist youth, made rapid gains against government. the Taliban did not budge. Within and that was 30 years ago. If people
soon at each other’s throat, fighting the warlords. In 1996 they captured On September 11, 2001, the a month, the United States com- thought like this, then the Ameri-
for turf and terrain. Rabbani took Kabul. The warlords were pushed Twin Towers at the World Trade menced its bombing of Afghani- cans would object to Anthony Hop-
over the northwest. Dostum con- into a small enclave in Northern Center were attacked. The horren- stan. Simultaneously, the Northern kins playing an American president
trolled Mazar e Sharif. Hikmatyar Afghanistan around Mazar e Sharif. dous attack took the lives of almost Alliance was provided arms and after he acted in The Silence of the
was the chieftain in Herat. Yunus The Taliban brought stability encouragement to break out of its Lambs as a psychopathic killer.”
Khalis held sway over Jalalabad and to the country and controlled the Pakistan saw an enclave and take over the country. But Lee was big-hearted
Pashtun areas. Much of the coun- opium trade. However, the price The sustained, intense bomb- enough to ignore the personal at-
try was destroyed. Thousands per- for this stability was the imposi- opportunity to use ing obliterated the military infra- tacks. Once it was all over and he
ished. Children died and women tion of a rigid, extremist regime in the graduates of the structure of Afghanistan. Destroyed returned to his home in London, he
were abused. Agriculture suffered. Kabul. The participation of women were the mountain hideouts and remained a passionate champion of
Schools were closed. The infrastruc- in public life was banned. Women madrasas for a jihad in caves so carefully prepared during both Jinnah and the film made in
ture was in ruins. The flood of refu- were compelled to wear head to Afghanistan. Besides the Soviet occupation for a long his honor.
gees into Pakistan and Iran which toe chadurs and shrouds, and men guerilla war. The Taliban reeled un- Lee turned up loyally at the
had started during the occupation to grow their beards long. Televi- the obvious benefits of a der pressure of aerial bombardment launch of my book Jinnah, Pakistan
by the Soviets increased. Afghani- sion was banned and cinema houses stable backyard, Islamic from the United States and ground and Islamic Identity which was be-
stan became a macabre theater of closed. Magazines were censored Afghanistan would attacks from the Northern Alliance. ing launched at the School of Orien-
war in which a suffering, hapless for their pictures and their content. Thousands died. Civilian casualties tal and African Studies in the sum-
population was held hostage. Vice squads were organized to pa- also provide strategic were enormous. The Northern Alli- mer of 1997. He saw how warmly
The instability was a matter trol the streets. Violators of the rigid ance overran Kabul and, on the way, Pakistanis received him. When we
of concern to the ruling circles in behavioral code were severely and depth to Pakistan in its committed atrocities to avenge of talked – which we did fairly fre-
neighboring Pakistan who were publicly flogged. In 2001, the Tali- military confrontations the humiliation of earlier defeats. quently over the years – he would
host to over three million Afghan ban, at the orders of Mulla Omar, with India. The students The United States installed a say with a laugh that whenever he
refugees. As successive waves of ref- dynamited the famous Buddha sta- new government in Kabul. Hamid enters a taxi driven by someone he
ugees poured in across the Durand tus of Bamyan. These statues were and some of the faculty Karzai became the President of Af- thinks is Pakistani or visits a Paki-
Line to escape the violence in their carved out of sandstone in the 6th of the refugee madrasas ghanistan in 2004 in an American stani restaurant, he is invariably
native land, they were cared for by century CE and were the finest ex- backed government. The presence recognized and very kindly treated.
a host of Islamic organizations in amples of Gandhara Buddhist sculp- provided the backbone of foreign troops fueled an insur- Lee’s career went from strength
the NW Frontier Province of Paki- ture. They were declared UNESCO of the Taliban (literally, gency backed by the former Tali- to strength as he got starring roles
stan. Since there were no schools world heritage sites. The demolition ban. As resistance increased, so did in some of the biggest Hollywood
for children, the Jamaat e Islami and of the statues drew worldwide con- student) movement that the military presence of the United blockbusters of all times, like the
other Islamic organizations set up demnation and vehement protests considered it a religious State and its NATO allies. And the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars
madrasas to provide a modicum of from the Buddhist world. war continues with increasing in- films. He was even singing and
education to the refugee children. The extremist ideology of duty to wage a jihad to tensity fueled by the obscurantism publishing songs. The Queen rec-
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf coun- the Taliban was matched only by liberate Afghanistan of the Taliban and the fears of an ognized him as one of the greatest
tries provided much of the funding their political naïveté. The increas- from all alien influences obdurate, overcommitted super- British actors and knighted him.
for this education. These madrasas ing competition for the dwindling power run by neocons. In spite of a heavy working
became the focus of official Paki- energy resources of the world put and bring in stability Meanwhile, the suffering of the schedule, Lee completed his auto-
stan attention. Without the benefit Afghanistan squarely in the midst in accordance with a Afghan people continues with no biography, Tall, Dark and Gruesome
of a modern syllabus, the madrasas of oil politics. The discovery of oil end in sight. Refugees rot in camps (1999) and kindly sent me a copy
produced graduates imbued with and gas in the Caspian Sea region rigid and unbending in Pakistan and Iran. Children die inscribed “To Akbar Ahmed who
rigid doctrines that viewed all non- increased the strategic importance interpretation of Islam. from land mines. Famine threat- gave me the opportunity to portray
Islamic influences as alien that had of Afghanistan. There were only ens millions. Education and culture a giant of history.” In the book he
to be fought and expelled. two routes available to transport the In this endeavor they have come to a grinding halt. Wom- had a section called “Jinnah” in the
Pakistan saw an opportunity to oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to received covert and en continue to bear the brunt of form of a post-script. Once again
use the graduates of the madrasas the oil thirsty nations of Western the tragedies and are exploited and showing his generosity, he put my
for a jihad in Afghanistan. Besides Europe, United States, India and overt assistance from abused both inside and outside their name first on a list of people he
the obvious benefits of a stable back- China. One was through Iran but Pakistan, Saudi Arabia land. The war threatens to spill over thanked.
yard, Islamic Afghanistan would the participation of Iran in any oil into Pakistan and place it squarely in But his choicest words were
also provide strategic depth to Paki- venture was opposed by the United and the Gulf states, and the bull’s eye. An unstable Afghani- reserved for the Quaid himself. Lee
stan in its military confrontations States which was at loggerheads with a tolerant nod from stan poses a grave risk to all of its declared that his role in the Jinnah
with India. The students and some the Iranian regime since the Islamic Washington neighbors. A neutral Afghanistan, film was his “own personal tribute
of the faculty of the refugee madra- revolution of 1978. The other route allied neither with the United States to an extraordinary man and great
sas provided the backbone of the lay through Afghanistan and Paki- nor with Russia or China, with open statesman … this Great Leader,
Taliban (literally, student) move- stan. A proposal for such a pipeline 3,000 people and caused billions in frontiers for the passage of oil and the Father of the Nation, who liter-
ment that considered it a religious originating in Turkmenistan and economic loss. In its sheer mendaci- gas, and respect for the traditions ally gave his life for his country …
duty to wage a jihad to liberate Af- passing through western Afghani- ty, the attack was comparable to that of its ancient people and its Islamic whose image has been so shame-
ghanistan from all alien influences stan and Baluchistan to Karachi on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Unit- heritage would be in the best inter- fully distorted by the ignorant and
and bring in stability in accordance was presented to the Taliban gov- ed States accused Al Qaeda of car- ests of all. Whether this comes to whose reputation and achievements
with a rigid and unbending inter- ernment by UNOCAL, a US-Saudi rying out the attacks and demanded pass will depend as much on the ac- have been so grossly maligned. May
pretation of Islam. In this endeavor consortium. It was rejected in favor that the Taliban in Afghanistan turn tions of the Afghans as the regional he truly rest in peace!” (Professor
they received covert and overt assis- of an alternate proposal from the over Ben Laden and his cohorts to intentions of the United States. Akbar Ahmed is Ibn Khaldun Chair
tance from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia Argentine corporation Bridas. The the US. The Taliban, inexperienced (The author is Director, World of Islamic Studies at the American
and the Gulf states, and a tolerant hardliners in Washington bridled at in global affairs, demanded proof Organization for Resource Develop- University, Washington, DC)
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