By Phyllis Chesler

I lived in Kabul nearly fifty years ago. It was enchanting and dangerous. I lived on a wide and gracious street lined with trees. We had electricity, phones, hot and cold running water, and marble bathrooms. There was a movie theatre and an American-style cafeteria restaurant. Bazaars flourished, mosques shimmered, a thousand (all male) tea-houses thrived. Barefoot boys scurried bearing tea for businessmen all day long.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Reports are circulating that a U.S. Predator drone killed Abu Laith al-Libi, “one of the top al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan,” in Pakistan’s wild-west Waziristan province. al-Libi is one of America’s 12 most-wanted terrorists — well, at least he was. According to the Canadian Press:

… The killing of such a major al-Qaida figure is likely to embarrass President Pervez Musharraf, who has repeatedly said he would not sanction U.S. military action against al-Qaida members believed to be regrouping in the lawless area near the Afghan border. …

Musharraf has been unwilling to clean up Pakistan’s wild-west for his own political reasons. But recently we’ve found out about his true colors, as he either explicitly ordered Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, or passively allowed it to happen (same difference). This man is not the “friend” many of us once thought him to be. It is time for the U.S. to clean up Pakistan’s tribal areas once and for good, with or without the help of Musharraf, for the sake of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and America herself.

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By Phyllis Chesler

The East is much wilder than the Wild West of yore and once again, an infidel “do-gooder,” 49 year-old Syd Mizell, who taught English and embroidery to Afghan girls and women and helped them with “income-generating” projects , has been kidnapped in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Mizell worked for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation. The fact that she wore a burqa and spoke Pashto did not keep her safe. The Afghan government is currently hunting for her and her 35 year-old driver, Hadi Mahdi, but as yet, no group has taken responsibility or issued any demands.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Last night I finally saw the film based on Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. I loved it—yes, even if it captures a pre-Taliban country more mythical than real. Nevertheless, the musical soundtrack, the recitation of classical poetry, the innocent kite-flying competitions in Kabul, (not to mention Homayoun Ershadi who strongly resembles Marcello Mastroianni), all comprise utterly charming scenes and characters carefully chosen and calibrated to help us distinguish between sophisticated and westernized Afghans who are non-violent, (I know many), and the barbarians amongst them.

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By Evagoras C. Leventis

The Waziristan Accord between Pakistan’s government and tribal leaders in that country’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has failed not only to curb violence in the immediate region but also to restrict cross-border militant activity–including resurgent Taliban and al-Qa’ida cadres–between Pakistan’s "tribal belt" and Afghanistan. The purpose of this article is to examine the Waziristan Accord and to indicate why agreements of this nature will continue to fail unless there is a substantial modification in Pakistan’s internal and regional policies.

On September 5, 2006, in the town of Miranshah, on the football field of the Government Degree College, Maulana Syed Nek Zaman, a member of the National Assembly for the North Waziristan Agency and a tribal council member, read out an agreement between the Pakistani government and tribal elders that has since been known as the Waziristan Accord. The agreement, witnessed by approximately 500 elders, parliamentarians, and government officials, was signed on behalf of the Pakistan government by Dr. Fakhr-i-Alam, a political agent of North Waziristan, tribal and militia leaders from the mainly Pashtun tribes and clans of the area, and seven militants representing the Taliban shura (advisory council). The signing was witnessed by Major-General Azhar Ali Shah, the commanding officer of the Pakistani army in the region. The venue was heavily guarded by armed tribal militia members and allegedly also by armed Taliban members.^[1]

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Rosanne Klass’s reissued memoir describes Afghanistan in a more innocent time.

By Phyllis Chesler

Land of the High Flags: Afghanistan When the Going Was Good, by Rosanne Klass (Odyssey, 358 pp., $19.95)

The history of Afghanistan, once known as the “crossroads of the world,” is riven with brutal invasions and world abandonment. Barbarism, slavery, ruthlessness, and disease existed side by side with the country’s enormous physical beauty and the elaborate, formalized hospitality of its people. Conquerors razed Afghanistan’s extraordinary ancient cities and exquisite court palaces — Herat, Ghazni, and Balkh. Genghis Khan, and later Tamerlane, slaughtered significant portions of the Afghan population and returned to the country to conduct raids on the survivors, leaving precious little in the way of art or architecture. Alexander the Great also conquered Afghanistan on his way to India, though his soldiers tended to leave behind descendants rather than smoldering ruins.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Maybe I’ll be eating my critical words of the Bush administration which I posted yesterday. Still, I’d like to see the evidence of Iranian arms transfers to the Taliban, as who wants a repeat of the Iraq WMD debacle? With a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, we may be inching towards an all-out confrontation with Iran’s Islamists. From the Washington Post:

NATO has intercepted Iranian weapons shipments to Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, providing evidence Iran is violating international law to aid a group it once considered a bitter enemy, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

“There’s irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this,” Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on CNN. “It’s certainly coming from the government of Iran. It’s coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government.” …

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Today, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns accused Iran of supplying weapons to the Taliban. I wish it weren’t so, but I just can’t get enthusiastic about the Bush Administration’s latest claims. It is not that I doubt Iran is stoking the flames in Afghanistan. It is whether I — or anyone else, especially among our allies — have any reason to believe that Bush’s people can provide evidence. The U.S. has been flexing its military muscle in the Persian Gulf, and now in the field of diplomacy — but will it have the desired effect of quieting down Iran’s Islamists? I’ve heard a few too many officials crying wolf; I’ve seen a lot of bad spin control and awful public relations. The President has squandered his post-9/11 political capital.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

We’ve seen many an Islamist commander killed, only to be replaced by another schmuck/murderer/kook. Nonetheless, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing another one sent to paradise hell — and his death has not been greatly exaggerated:

The Taleban’s top military commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah, has been killed in fighting in the south.

His body was shown to reporters in Kandahar, and Taleban sources confirmed the death, after initial denials. …

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Remember Nick Berg? His murderers chanted “Allah Akbar!” (God is Great!) while they sawed the poor man’s head off. I’ve seen the tape. I saw and heard Berg gurgling and screaming. We knew about beheading in the name of Islam. Then we had decapitation in the name of ice cream. Isn’t beheading enough? No. Now the Islamo-fascists are using children to decapitate “infidels.” This is a culture? From the BBC:

The Taleban in Afghanistan have used a boy of around 12 to behead a man they accused of spying for the US.

Parts of a video of the beheading were broadcast on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network.

The Taleban said the dead man, Ghulam Nabi, had given the US information which led to an air strike in which a senior Taleban commander died.

The video footage shows Mr Nabi being blindfolded with a chequered scarf and making what is said to be a confession.

The boy, wearing a camouflage jacket and wielding a large knife, denounces him as a spy and then cuts off his head. …

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Germany and Austria stayed out of Iraq. Germany has 2,700 troops in Afghanistan. Austria “has just five officers” there. All Western forces face the threat of Islamo-fascist attacks in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, some al-Qaeda-linked group feels the need to threaten the two European nations:

“Germany will face more threats and dangers if it doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan…”

“Austria has always been one of the most safe countries in Europe, depending on tourism both in summer and winter,” the unidentified speaker said. “But if it doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, it may be among targeted nations.”

There’s no way to play it safe. The West’s mere existence is a threat to the Muslim radicals. Might as well choose to finish the good fight for preserving civilization.

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By Douglas Farah*

It is difficult in the best of times to get good information from the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but my sources who visit the region regularly said the situation is even worse than the dire situation already written about in numerous publications.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Bringing stability to Afghanistan is certainly not a lost cause, if Pakistan helps put a stop to Islamists (Tabiban and al-Qaeda) operating in the Wild West — that is, the tribal areas of western Pakistan. NATO announced today it had killed 150 Taliban terrorists along the border with Pakistan’s Wild West. Most notably, “Nato said Pakistan had helped Nato monitor the fighters, who were then hit with artillery and air strikes…” “…Nato officials said they had the close co-operation of the Pakistani authorities in monitoring the insurgents before they entered Afghanistan.”

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

The U.S. nailed another Islamist scumbag today — this time in Afghanistan. This guy had a hand in destroying an ancient statue of the Prince of Peace, the Buddha. What would the terror apologists say about that? His death may set back Taliban plans for their usual spring rampage of terror. Good riddance. No negotiating with people who would slit our throats before we could utter a diplomatic word. From JournalTimes.com:

KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. airstrike near the Pakistan border killed the Taliban’s southern military commander, a U.S. military spokesman said Saturday, calling him the highest-ranking Taliban ever slain by American forces.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

An Indian investigator on Saturday blamed Pakistan’s spy agency of orchestrating the July train bombings that killed at least 207 people in Mumbai, an accusation that could threaten the already shaky peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

- AP, Sept. 30, 2006

If true, Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, has put President Musharraf in an awkward position, more so than he is in already. Just today, he claimed to be the West’s “main ally,” yet a string of events this week involving Pakistan makes his claim slightly incredulous. I believe that he truly believes that a parliamentary/republican democracy is a goal for Pakistan, that Islamism is the world’s most dangerous problem, and that he fully intends to one day turn over power to the people. But putting these noble goals into practice is a high-stakes game for him because of: 1) the number of radical Islamists in Pakistan; and, 2) and because of the supposed “middle ground” he walks between appeasing the radical Muslims, and at the same time, trying to nudge Pakistan into the 21st century.

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