'Jews Attacked The WTC'

Now that Washington seems to be pressing ahead with its plan of attacking Afghanistan, I would want to warn Bush that he might find himself sucked into a quagmire. The US has little experience of the country’s terrain. You can easily get inside Afghanistan. But you can’t get out of that country as easily. Afghans are Afghans, they can’t be cowed down. Had they not been so obstinate, so crude, so uncouth, they wouldn’t have defeated two superpowers in a span of 80 years. I just can’t understand why the US now wants to step into that treacherous hole.

As Washington’s friend, I think we should warn the Americans that Kabul isn’t a place for misadventure. The Afghans could pull the US into the same situation from which the Russians took 10 long years to extricate themselves. The Taliban are ferocious fighters. Even otherwise, history shows that whenever Afghanistan has been attacked, all the warring factions unite immediately to counter the invaders.

The emerging situation is fraught with serious consequences for Pakistan, too. There is bound to be a volatile reaction in Pakistan if Islamabad was to allow its territory to be accessed by the US for attacking Afghanistan. I think the response in the nwfp and Baluchistan will be beyond imagination because people in these two provinces have strong ethnic ties with the Afghans.

I think a powerful resistance will soon develop against the US decision to attack Afghanistan. This is because Washington has been responsible for immeasurable bloodshed across the globe, especially in the Muslim world. At the moment, only a few political forces in Pakistan are in favour of President Bush’s action, and even they are doing it for their own narrow interests. The Pakistan military government should refrain from toeing the US line or else a time will come when the spontaneous upsurge of the masses will simply wash it away.

Musharraf’s attempt to build a consensus over his new Afghan policy is a sham. He met politicians, religious leaders and editors to only apprise them of his decision to support the US, not to consult them.

Islamabad should be extremely wary of Washington’s intentions. Even if the Osama issue is resolved in accordance with Washington’s aspirations, the US would still want to contain Pakistan’s nuclear programme. It is perturbed over Islamabad’s growing relations with Beijing, particularly after the recent signing of the Gwadar Deep Sea Port Project, which the US thinks is a threat to its interest in the Gulf. It is true there are two contradictory opinions in the Muslim world about supporting Washington’s military campaign against Afghanistan. There is the common man who hates the US for its crimes against the Islamic world. On the other hand, there are monarchs, autocrats and military rulers who support the US to protect their own interests.

Yet, the region will soon be in a ferment and its people will rise against the imperialism of the US. That is why I cannot understand the reason for India’s jubilation. New Delhi should know that Afghanistan, historically, has protected the entire South Asia from aggressors. There have been reports that India offered its Jodhpur base to theUS for launching military attacks against Kabul. Jodhpur has little importance in Washington’s plan to attack Afghanistan. But, it is true that Jodhpur is of immense significance to Pakistan. For it was here in 1987 that Israeli pilots were seen flying Air Force jet fighters. Their aim quite simply was to attack Pakistani nuclear installations. But Pakistan issued a warning and the then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi intervened and aborted the plan.

(As told to Amir Mir)