Listening to the BBC World News I heard a plaintiff and pleading voice that would touch me from that day to this and ever highlight that my ignorance was more weighty than my opinions, and that my feelings of compassion were more important than my thoughts or beliefs about what, or who, was right or wrong.
I don't remember his name, I don't remember many of his words, I don't even remember the timbre of his voice, but I can never forget the impact it had on me. He was a man of considerable power in Afghanistan, a country in upheaval having gone through a coup and not unusual violent struggles for power. I tend to recall Prime Minister being mentioned, but he may have been a lesser minister.
We were no stranger to power upheavals, the Cold War was in full swing, the US had military bases scattered across the UK and was moving mid range nuclear warheads between them. Nuclear fallout emergency broadcasts were commonplace on television, as common and ignored as cyclone warnings in the tropical north of Australia in storm season. The IRA were in full swing planning and executing 'terrorist' attacks in their own push for power in the name of freedoms and were, at the time, one of only a few 'warring parties' labelled by their religions.
The notions of East and West were about Communism or Capitalism, and which gave their peoples more freedoms to, and freedoms from.
Freedom from, and freedom to, become decidedly subjective aims within power struggles.
If I have learned one thing about rights and wrongs of a thing it is this - if it is not able to be universally applied then there is no 'right' about imposing it on others, there is only the perception that your perception is 'right'.
To me, to my ears, this man on the late night radio in Afghanistan was speaking reason. I could assume that I know who he was and do a web search now and find all possible perspectives on him, his position, his beliefs, his successes and failings, but at that time all I had was his voice. A voice of pleading and reason, begging the world community to come together and assist his country and his people towards a free future.
There was no social media or even global media beaming continuous live vision of the torturing and killing, there was only his sad descriptions of it. The sadness in his voice touched me as powerfully as graphic vision could have, and yet I know now, I could not even imagine the horrors he was talking about.
He wanted, he said, to bring peace and stability to his country; to bring freedoms and democracy to his people. He had signed International human rights treaties on behalf of his nation state, enraging the war lords and religious zealots who would not assign 'rights' to women, to children, to workers.
His government had recently ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the backlash he said was swift and vicious. Moving forward with reforms would see an increase, not decrease, in violence.
(https://treaties.un.org/pages: CEDAW Afghanistan, 14 Aug 1980)
He shared that he knew his ideas, his dreams for his country, were too communistic for the Western powers in the Cold War, (US/UK) and too democratic for the Eastern powers (USSR). He knew he was on a hiding to nothing with both the Soviets and the US. He wanted the wider world community to get involved, to pave a middle way.
Something in his sharing, something in his understanding and compassion for all sides, touched me. Something as he shared the suffering of his people made me think (ignorantly, naively) that the world community would hear his pleas and respond. How could anyone with reason not. It was as important a pleading as for any natural disaster that the world communities responded to, call a cease fire, bring all parties to the table and thrash it out until agreements are made and the freedoms of the people of Afghanistan are assured.
It seemed, to innocent me, to be reasonable, rational and logical.
A chill ran through me and I realised it was snowing outside my window. I turned off the radio and snuggled deeper into my warm, safe, bed.
Wiki: During the period of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. provided about 3 billion US dollars in military and economic assistance to the Mujahideen groups stationed on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.
Wiki: Mujahideen (Arabic: المجاهدين) is the plural form of mujahid (Arabic: مجاهد), the term for one engaged in Jihad. In English usage, it mostly referred to the guerrilla type military outfits led by the Muslim Afghan warriors in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, but now it often refers to other jihadist outfits in various countries.
I tried to make sense of the media reporting of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan from the 'Western' perspective. I admit I did not have the capacity to follow their logic. The UK were firmly aligned with the US in supporting the Mujahideen - and yet, it was the Mujahideen who were the 'war lords' that the man of (supposed) reason had been talking.
Passionate debates with my aunts and uncles, and deep and meaningful discussions with more 'learned' people, seemed to me to totally miss the point. It was, for me, about the unnecessary suffering of innocent people caught up in the warring of those with opposing ideologies. Others deemed the importance was in who won, whose ideology came out on top, who had the biggest stick. Irreconcilable differences were allowed to blind us to human suffering in the fallout of the arguments.
Those 'in the know' informed me that it was a matter of allegiances, that 'we', 'our' crack forces were training 'our future allies' in the highlands of Scotland to fight against the Afghan government and the Russian invaders. That they were 'middle east' nationals with 'alien' beliefs, cultures, clothing and practices, was a matter of derogatory humour rather than understanding of the importance of it.
These personal perspectives were reinforced by dehumanising political rhetoric from the then 'superpower' holders Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and their governments.
It irked, it niggled, it felt 'wrong', but I could not understand my emotions, or the issues enough to rationally debate it.
A chance meeting with an Irish man capped off my ignorance of my ignorance, while listening to him outline his perspective on the 'troubles' in Ireland. I was able to see reason in his perspective, his totally honest appraisal of the battles for power and the rejection of domination by force. His reasoning was sans any regard for or mention of, religious beliefs. It was about land and prosperity and resources and sovereignty. His conviction was absolute that those with the least power will use anything within their power - hence acts of 'terrorism'.
His voice softened somewhat as he espoused that those who had little to hope for had little to lose.
It was only after many hours that he asked if I didn't mind that I would be being monitored by the authorities. The question had no substance to me, I didn't even understand it as I looked into the street for the car that he said would be waiting. Then he (and to a lesser degree, I) realised that I had no idea 'who', or 'what', he was that 'authorities' would be watching him and anyone in his company. To me he was just a man sharing his perspectives on the troubles from a distinctly pro IRA perspective. It hadn't occurred to me that he had grown that perspective from inside the experiences of the IRA, or that he was a very senior 'person of interest' to the authorities.
He did me no harm, and meant me no ill, even by bringing me to the attention of 'authorities'.
The sharing of perspectives need not lead to blood shed, but it can lead to better understanding. I understood more what the IRA stood for, ached for, and was willing to kill and die for. Freedom from, freedom to from a different perspective.
...1989- early 1990s - The fall of the Berlin Wall and the thawing of the Cold War coincided with the escalation of attention on the ongoing Irish conflicts. The IRA were a bigger 'enemy' now than the communists. Terrorism had an Irish accent, and all I could hear in my own ears was the gentle lilt of the man who would have his country back. A man that had now been arrested and jailed for his crimes of 'terrorism' fighting a more powerful army with whatever means they had and with little hope in their hearts.
1990s - the rise of the Taliban -
Wiki: The Taliban movement traces its origin to the Pakistani-trained mujahideen in northern Pakistan, during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
In his interview with ABC News, the ex Pakistani prime minister and Chief of Army Pervez Musharraf said that western countries, chiefly USA and United Kingdom, had given aid of about 20 billion dollars during the 1980s to Pakistan specifically for training Taliban personnel and providing them with arms and ammunition.
Snapshots of horrors continuing in Afghanistan became more visual, more certain and more entrenched as the Taliban - the tree that grew from the seeds of the mujahideen fed and watered by 'western' allies, spread its branches further across Afghanistan and its roots deeper into the landscape that the allies had too little understanding about.
At least I knew I didn't understand what they were doing.
It's true that one cannot defeat evil with evil, or violence with violence. They only grow stronger with combined feeding.
In 1998 I was in a third year International Journalism class, having belatedly set out on achieving tertiary education and qualifications. My studies had combined media and communication courses with human rights and ethics subjects. I now had a handle on how little I know, and how much that framed my understanding of life, living and universal issues.
I don't know what it was that erupted from me like a volcanic explosion when the lecturer asked for suggestions on what international issues we should focus as an all of class study, with each student researching a different perspective of a complex situation.
The Israil-Palestine conflict seemed a natural winner, most discussed on western media outlets. But for me, Afghanistan was bigger, the potential more global, the interference more confusing, the 'sides' more complex.
It seemed like it was the manna from heaven in relation to my distinct lack of understanding of the conflicts in and about Afghanistan, and the sense that it was, and always had been, of utmost importance in the issues arising around the globe.
That sad man of supposed power speaking through the radio late on a snowy December evening of two decades earlier erupted into enthusiastic, factual and logical and passionate pleading to please turn our attention to Afghanistan - with the surprisingly emotive conclusion - before it's too late, because when it fully erupts, Afghanistan will be .... bigger than Vietnam, bigger than... bigger than anything we've ever seen before.
The seeds that were watered and fed by the western allies were now big enough to sprout on their own, and Afghanistan would not be the end, but only the beginning of their spread.
The passionate (pleading) delivery silenced the room, the lecturers looked one to another and agreed Afghanistan, and the involvement of the Allies, would be the topic.
There was an exponential increase in understanding the complexities as all the students in the class researched and represented the various perspectives both in what was happening and why we weren't being accurately informed - the allies and the Russians - their military and political arms, the western media interests all with different news and corporate values.
Hearing the perspectives of the Mujahideen and the clerics of Sharia law only served to increase my understanding of the great weight of opposition felt by the original man on the radio.
When all was expressed and the branches unravelled, one could only evaluate that indeed we were on the brink of a clash of cultures and ideas so huge, and it had been steadily growing almost unnoticed as a means to political, economic and idealistic ends on multiple sides. We had also all but ignored, or aided, some of the greatest crimes against humanity in the modern era.
The terror for the people of Afghanistan has not let up since I heard that sad man on the radio all those years before. The world ignored his pleas, all but ignored their continuing suffering and constant trauma and tragedies. What supposed 'IS' is broadcasting on online videos has been occurring continually from a long line of power mongers helped by or ignored by the rest of the world community.
What would that do to survivors? What hope and what value for life? A child growing up in that environment having to choose between one terrifying ideology or another, both and all equally horrific.
Wiki: A publication by the George Washington University describes: [O]utside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas.[63]
It was almost as a footnote amid the simultaneous rise of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and its splinter groups across the globe and 'terrorist' attacks on US interests in Africa and the Middle East, that the Taliban started calling the shots to their once supporters.
Wiki: Trans Afghan Gas Pipeline - The original project started on 15 March 1995 when an inaugural memorandum of understanding between the governments of Turkmenistan and Pakistan for a pipeline project was signed. This project was promoted by Argentinian company Bridas Corporation. The U.S. company Unocal, in conjunction with the Saudi oil company Delta, promoted alternative project without Bridas' involvement. On 21 October 1995, these two companies signed a separate agreement with Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov. In August 1996, the Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas) consortium for construction of a pipeline, led by Unocal, was formed. On 27 October 1997, CentGas was incorporated in formal signing ceremonies in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, by several international oil companies along with the Government of Turkmenistan.[citation needed]
Since the pipeline was to pass through Afghanistan, it was necessary to work with the Taliban. The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Robert Oakley, moved into CentGas in 1997. In January 1998, the Taliban, selecting CentGas over Argentinian competitor Bridas Corporation, signed an agreement that allowed the proposed project to proceed. In June 1998, Russian Gazprom relinquished its 10% stake in the project. On 7 August 1998, American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were bombed. The United States alleged that Osama bin Laden was behind those attacks, and all pipeline negotiations halted, as the Taliban's then leader, Mullah Omar, announced that bin Laden had the Taliban's support. Unocal withdrew from the consortium on 8 December 1998, and soon after closed its offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Wiki: al-Qa'ida is a global militant Islamistorganization founded by Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and several others, at some point between August 1988 and late 1989, with origins traceable to the Arab volunteers who fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless
army and an Islamist, extremist, wahhabi jihadist group
How I heard an academic describe the break up being delivered was along the lines of the Taliban spokesperson saying, 'You filthy infidels will never get your hands on our lands.'
Suddenly it all made so much more sense of that shudder and confusion all those years before. Crazy sense, horrific sense, dreadful sense but sense none the less.
When planes flew into the the twin towers on 9/11 my phone and emails went ballistic from those students and lecturers who had studied the tangled mess that was festering in Afghanistan. They knew the genie was now well and truly out of the bottle.
What followed in Bali, in Iraq, in Syria, in London, in Spain, in Kenya, in Boston, in Paris, in Beirut, in Paris again.... this is the new world disorder.
As with the Cold War, as with Ireland, as with every conflict of ideologies, peace will not be won with wars, but only with understanding. With bringing perspectives to the table for discussion and understanding that will lead to freedoms from and freedoms to without violence, repression and repercussions.
I think I heard a man saying this on a snowy December night in 1980. I thought he made sense then, and I think it still makes sense now. He was pleading with the world community for help, and this was the help we gave him.
I hear the soft Irish lilt remind me that those with the least power will use anything within their power - hence acts of 'terrorism' against those they see with more power.
And, that those who feel they have little to hope for, believe they have little to lose.
We all bleed red, and we all cry tears in our sorrow.
My views are based not on any religious texts or beliefs. If I had a 'holy book', or aspire to any philosophy it would be the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states - recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people...
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
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