Originally posted by AFG21
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http://www.pashtunforums.com/politic...42/index8.html
Here were your OWN words. Please pay special attention to the underlined parts. You were truthful there and did something that many of comrades in here in the past, from Mostafa to Toramana to the whole lot of them were unwilling to do: admit that the rural masses have a different perception of governance than do the elite or the Westernized Muslim population. I think only Osho before you was able to concede that he wanted to SUBVERT the will of his countrymen and was unabashed. You more than admitted that the Taliban's value system overlaps and reconciles quiet a bit more with the masses and made, with your own words, a solid argument for why they, or some acceptable equivalent, is more in line with the aspirations of the Afghan people.:
"I think that all Afghans are against this acupation, they only difrence is that some want a difrent resistantce than the taliban, we have to look at our history and see, when the russian where in Afghanistan peopel didn't care who the person against the russian were, if they were against them they were given money and weapons, but most peopel didn't realise that those peopel the so called "mujhahidin" wanted only power and money, becuase the same "mujhahidin" who were against the Kafir USSR are now sitting and letting 100 difrent Kafir nation in to Afghanistan. And now you peopel say it doesn't matter what the taliban are doing or what they have done in the past, they are against the accupiers so they are good. But if the Americans leave and the Taliban take power a lot of peopel are afraid that they would bring the same rule like they once did in the 90's. And some say the rural peopel are in favor, afcours they are in favor of taliban they don't know any better, they have the same mentality, like women is not allowed to go to work or to school. We peopel who have traveld to the WEst and have seen the world must realise that Taliban is not the solution. I am only pro taliban if they respect human rights and not do the same mistakes like in the past. But there is no gaurantee that they wouldn't do it.
So if some Afghans don't like taliban that doesn't mean that they love Americans and NATO, it is just the way taliban is fighting and what they did in the past. Because of that peopel have suspicion."
Your words alone.... not mine. Let us supplement this with scholarly views that affirm something that Mostafa and others are in idealistic denial of, namely that Taliban represent the rural Pashtun far better than available options.:
Here is an article by Dr. Kakar, a notable, renowned, but an ANTI Taliban Pashtun historian CONCEDES the same point you did above:
“In reality, the traditional way of life in villages has changed little by Taliban's rule. The situation of Afghans in the countryside controlled by the Taliban has improved because of increased peace and security, giving them the opportunity to rebuild after two decades of war. But this security comes at a cost. Forced recruitment of young men to fight the ever bloody war of attrition against the Northern alliance has depleted the man-power from these rural centers. In the cities and urban centers, the more modern and liberal way of life conflicts sharply with that of the Taliban's social and religious values.
Now, the Americans also are beginning to admit this very same point, regarding the Taliban being, in the least, a representative of the rural religious tradition:
“History tells a different story. The conflict is very complex, multi-dimensional and goes back three decades. In 2001–02 we installed a government in Kabul headed by Karzai. In doing this, we backed one side in a long civil war—the more progressive-secular and urban camp, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, and some Pashtuns and those who live in the north and west. But it excluded one-third of Afghans, the rural, religious, traditional camp, who are Pashtuns in the south and east—which include the Taliban—whose forerunners we backed in 1980s, against the Soviets.
http://www.thenation.com/article/157...-insider-talks
Now to combat this reality (that the Taliban are certainly the best representation of the will of the rural masses, these same folks come up with the nonsense that the Taliban seek to inflict ISI hegemony on all of Afghanistan. They point to the monetary backing and “strategic depth” they afforded the Quetta shura as proof. Hogwash, I respond emphatically. Why? Well, take the example of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, esteemed in some circles and derided in others. His value system means little to us in this analysis. What we know for sure is that he very likely had American backing and arms at some point during the Russo-Afghan war. Now to say that he was fighting to inflict American ideologies onto Afghanistan, so that Afghan school children could forget Pashto and recite the Pledge of allegiance, and replace Ahmad Shah Baba with Washington Baba is such an absurd thesis that if you recite it to a street fakeer he will show you all of his teeth. This is as absurd as the allegation that the Taliban seek to create Panjabistan solely because of their strategic assetts.
So then, what occurs again and again here is that the nationalists in support of Achekzai and his marxist ilk, and the Afghan elites in support of bygone days of Zahir Shah, Daud Khan, and (sickly enough) Najib create a flat earth society, reality defying narrative where every Pashtun was ready to do his comrade walk or buddy up in a pluralistic society with hindus.
You at least were brave enough to admit that you hold no such illusions. Then, let us speak in plain terms per your own quote above:
1) Why do you feel that you know what is best for the Afghan people?
2) Why do you suppose it is your right and NATOs right to subvert their will (which you admit) and to hoist upon them a secular system foreign to their way of life in some regard?
3) Have you not read history and not understood that generally, imposing such a system on a people rarely results in acceptance? Rather, a reactionary mindset settles in and radicalism increases as a response to occupation. It took nearly 1000 years for democracy to reach the American way, from Runny Meade in Britain, when King John ceded his power to the parliament, to the modern era. For you to think that it is correct to force your westernized views of what is right for not onto the native populace is a subversion of the right of a people to evolve their own way of governance autonomously (rubbish to whatever these folks assert and scream at this point regarding Saudi/Pakistani/Iranian hegemony… this is propaganda, pure and simple and they know it… it need not even be acknowledged.)
4) Dogs rights, womens rights, child labor laws etc… this appears to be the shining light you hold onto as set of privileges we must back the West in imposing on the Afghan people. How absurd. We are talking about a country where brutal warlords are being put back into power by the same modernizing NATO power you seek our support for, and you want to lead us to believe that they will erase thousands of years of customs, tribalism, and a way of life and replace it, no strings attached, with an enlightened modernistic government system that turns the countryside of Jalalabad into Los Angelas? The progression of individual rights in the US took hundreds of years. Black men were afforded the right to vote before women suffrage movements were able to propel a discussion about the 19th amendment into the public arena. Initially, in the US the fight was about who would get vote amongst white men à then who would get vote amongst men à then women were afforded the right to vote nearly 200 years after the American experience initiated on these shores à Under Kennedy further delineations were made regarding rights of all races/Civil rights. And these were the changes instituted on a people by themselves for their own gain to propel their own advancement. What makes you naïve enough to think that this nation, out for its own gain, as all empires are, will bestow such graces on you for your advancement by 2024?

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