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The Forum > Article Comments > Mecca of resistance > Comments

Mecca of resistance : Comments

By Heidi Kingstone, published 25/6/2012

The pullout will prove to the Mujahuddin that they have defeated 50 nations who pooled together to fight them and lost.

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Unfortunately I disagree with the author and with most of the comments that have been posted. It is an all too common trait with writers on Afghanistan that they are ignorant of even recent history, say from 1970 onward. Afghanistan had a secular nationalist government under Tariki in the 1970s. That government promoted women's rights, universal education, trade union rights and much else we take for granted in the West. It was systematically undermined by the US who trained and armed mujihideen in Pakistan and infiltrated them into Afghanistan and the Muslim republics of the then USSR and western China. That lead to the 10 year Soviet intervention, something specifically planned for as Brezezinski boasted in his book The Grand Chessboard.
The "withdrawal" from Afghanistan the author talks about did not lead to 9/11. The 2001 invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by the US and its allies including Australia was not a response to 9/11 despite claims to the contrary regularly parroted in our media. Even if the events of 9/11 had occurred as the official conspiracy has it, the invasion would still be illegal in international law.
There is a greeat deal more one could take issue with but space limitations prevent that. The interested reader would benefit from reading the works of Scott, Coll, Griffin, Fitzgerald & Gould and McCoy, authors the writer is clearly unfamiliar with. The topic is too important to be left to those whose sentiments outrun their knowledge of the facts.
Posted by James O'Neill, Monday, 25 June 2012 10:26:22 PM
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It is not a solution but it is worth thinking about lest it happens again in Iran, that all of the problems in Afghanistan are the result of the evil machinations of Bush and the neocon gang,
There is not going to be a solution or an end to the horror that is Afghanistan and it will only resolve itself in a very long time, by the withdrawal of all of the invading forces, allowing the Taliban/war lords to take power and eventually be displaced by people power.
The quicker the withdrawal takes place the less people will die and suffer.
Posted by sarnian, Friday, 29 June 2012 10:44:20 AM
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Oh no. Not another Great Satan Amerika causation theory!

Or was it the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 or the unpopular Afghan communist regime before that, that resulted in the Afghani jihadist reaction that we know today?

Planta
Posted by plantagenet, Friday, 29 June 2012 11:46:19 AM
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@ plantagenet. Pete, Can I suggest you read Fitzgerald and Gould's book Afghanistan's Untold Story which is a really useful summary of Afghan history and then read Peter Dale Scott's American War Machine. A good factual basis is always a useful starting point.
Posted by James O'Neill, Friday, 29 June 2012 3:05:05 PM
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Thanks James

Re "A good factual basis is always a useful starting point."

Your suggestion that OLO commenters are unqualified to comment until they read your booklists is noted :)

And you'll have to forgive me - I talk to people, in a variety of positions, currently in Afghanistan.

Anyway I'm currently reading Peter Bergen's "Manhunt" (for bin Laden) and also James P. Farwell's "The Pakistan Cauldron"

Regards

Pete
Posted by plantagenet, Friday, 29 June 2012 3:27:56 PM
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Plantagenet: Can I suggest that you not only "talk to people in a variety of positions" in Afghanistan, but perhaps go there and walk around outside of the "safe" areas" controlled by the military, well for as long as you last of course.
Posted by sarnian, Friday, 29 June 2012 3:52:27 PM
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