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Early in the Afghan campaign, someone posted a computer-generated image where Afghanistan had been turned into one big parking lot with dozens the Golden Arches of McDonalds studded at reasonable distances from one other. But alas, the U.S. has more than Big Macs in mind for Afghanistan.
In an interview with the News, a daily newspaper of Pakistan, on December 19, Rifat Hassan, a professor of humanities at the University of Louisville, KY, , warned against a Western, secular cultural invasion of Afghanistan in the garb of the “rehabilitation” of Afghan women.
She said the Western plan had already been put to effect through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in various projects in Afghanistan. She pointed out that these NGOs, armed with billions of dollars, had been activated with plenty of funds in the pipeline to implement a specific agenda. Hassan believes that the West is trying to change the social identity of Afghanistan under the cover of the emancipation and development of women.
Despite abundant denials from U.S. President, George W. Bush, on down, and carefully working to avoid using the taboo term, "nation-building", in any sentence containing "Afghanistan," the reality is that the U.S. has already embarked on such a mission.
The U.S. started the process by introducing the U.S.-based Hamid Karzai into Afghanistan, armed with enough cash to buy out the warlords and thus pull the rug from under the Taliban. Later, the U.S. used its power to get Karzai as the leader of the interim government, and in doing so, sidelined the older elements of the power structure. In effect, the traditionalists have been excluded and decisions have been left to the younger generation. Considering Karzai's close relations with the U.S., it is doubtful if he would step down after the six-month interim period. Of course, Karzai is deeply aware that he has only America as his backbone.
Despite denials, the U.S. is building more than one nation - the other being Pakistan. Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has "accepted" a U.S. request for a long-term U.S. military presence at the Jacobabad airbase, 300 miles north of Karachi. The U.S. requests, particularly for air-conditioned barracks, underscore the long-term nature of Washington's stay in the region. Pakistani officials say that while Jacobabad would be at the heart of U.S. military operations, U.S. forces would also maintain their presence at airfields in Pasni and Dalbandin. Certainly with the presence of state-of-the-art warplanes at three bases, Musharraf, or any military or civilian successor, would hardly be in a position to deny any American “requests”.
A senior aide to Musharraf told the Washington Post that the United States and its coalition partners believed that it was necessary to maintain a presence in the region "to ensure that leftover Taliban pose no terrorist threat to the political and physical rebuilding of Afghanistan."
The Americans want Musharraf to do what Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, has been ordered to do by Israeli Prime Minister, General Ariel Sharon - the Butcher of Shatilla and Sabra - in Palestine: eradicate everything the Americans disapprove of. Fortunately for the West, soon after seizing power, Musharraf had indicated that he is an admirer of Ataturk. The environment created by the post-9/11 scene only arms the General for doing what he likes best, destroying the Islamic character of Pakistan.
A senior staff member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee was quoted as saying: "Look, anyone with half a brain knows that what is involved in Afghanistan is nation-building."
Lee Feinstein, a former Defense Department peacekeeping expert and State Department official, stated that, "In Afghanistan, we don't have that problem. We see the very clear connection between disorder and terrorism. People really do understand that the lack of working institutions in Afghanistan is a direct threat to U.S. national security."
It's an open secret, but a broad range of diplomats, security analysts and congressional aides say that if the Bush administration hopes to keep Afghanistan free of terrorists, nation-building is precisely what the United States must embark upon in the war-ravaged country. This is exactly what the extreme right wing of the Republican Party desires.
It must be noted that two evangelically-oriented brothers backed Abdul Haq, who was sent on a mission to buy out Afghan loyalties but was apprehended by the Taliban and executed for treason. The various Western aid missions operating in Afghanistan have a clearly Christian agenda as indicated by the arrest of aid workers by the Taliban.
The use of Laura Bush and Cherie Blair in highlighting the alleged plight of Afghan women is an indicator that Western powers will take a definitive aim at women and use their “liberation” as cover for introducing a culture that drives the society away from Islam.
Various public pronouncements from the Western power elite are an indication that the only palatable Muslim is the Turkish-style Muslim, and this can be wrought through NGOs such as RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan), which actually came into being with Russian help in 1977-78. Also, the women being given prominence in the new Afghan setup have anti-religion credentials.
The writing on the wall is clear that Afghan women will be used as an excuse to introduce an anti-Islam agenda in that country. |
