August 18, 2002

THE radical changes taking place in our region as the old order is demolished and a new system is ushered in have pushed the conservative religious elements against the wall. It has also left no space for the civil society to move in freely. In such a situation one has to turn to scholarly writings for guidance.

Among the Pushto literary icons, Dr Sher Zaman Taizi is a unique personality with modern tastes who has mastered the newest research techniques. A bridge between the East and West and between the past and present, he has equal command over Pushto, Dari and English.

Although one may disagree with his interpretation of events, one has to recognize his effort to preserve facts and figures for posterity. His book under review opens with an interesting Pushto proverb: “Baran pa Tirah osho, khre ye da Khalese yaurhe” means the rain in Tirah washed away donkeys in the Khalsa. Tirah is a mountainous area. When it rains there, the water flows down to flood the Khalsa area near Peshawar and damage it.

This sums up in a nutshell the entire theme of the book. The 9/11 tragedy in the United States has turned the tables on Afghanistan and brought misery and death to the Afghans. The process of change has no agenda or plan and the paradoxes are bewildering.

Small wonder the “holy war” became an “unholy war” and ultimately terrorism. The paradoxes are mindboggling. The United States spent $51 million to supply Afghan school children with textbooks filled with militant Islamic teaching. These were published in the early 1980s under the AID grant as an American covert operation to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, formed the core of the Afghan school system’s curriculum. The Taliban continued to use the same textbooks - but after erasing the human faces in keeping with their strict interpretation of Islamic injunctions.

As Afghan schools reopened on March 23, 2002, the United States was back in the business of providing school books. But now it was wrestling with the unintended consequences of its successful strategy of stirring Islamic fervour to fight Communism. What seemed like a good idea in the context of the cold war was criticized by humanitarian workers as a crude tool that steeped a generation in violence. Dr Taizi’s work provides thought-provoking material for serious readers about 9/11 and its impact on Afghanistan.

There are sections on the terrorist attacks on the US, US-led coalition forces attack on Afghanistan, the comeback of Zahir Shah and the Loya Jirga that concluded with the selection of Hamed Karzai as the president for 18 months under the Bonn Accord. The writer compresses this complex chain of events in only 48 pages of the book in a readable style. The remaining 200 or so pages contain relevant documents including the description of the hijacked flights, Pentagon and World Centres, US resolution, Bonn Accord, global reaction, etc.

Dr Taizi’s observation that “starting a war is not difficult but putting an end to the war is very difficult. The smouldering ashes in Afghanistan, at last, sparked off an infernal bonfire that engulfed almost the whole world.” He appeals emphatically to the UN and the OIC to take joint action to avert the looming threat of the third world war.

 

Terrorist attacks in USA and US attack on Afghanistan

By Dr Sher Zaman Taizi

Kamil Pukhto Adabi Jirgah, Pabo Seema, Nowshera Tel: 091-229832

Email: dszt@brain.net.pk  and Danish Kitabkhana, Qissa Khwani, Peshawar Tel 091-2564513.

Email: danish2k2000@yahoo.com  Azim Publishing House, Khyber Bazaar, Peshawar Tel: 091-213313.

Email: unienter@brain.net.pk

260pp. Rs200

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