Tweet
Terry Glavin’s Afghan Circus
It is a testament to how horribly the Afghan war has gone, that the cheerleading of the mission, so effectively and loudly heard over the last decade, is beginning to diminish. The rats started scurrying off the pro war ship a few years ago, but one can always count on a few die hards, ignorant of reality and history, holding the pro war flag down to the very end.
Enter Terry Glavin. Without going into too much detail, its safe to say Mr Glavin has planted himself firmly in the pro war camp over the last decade. He certainly has the right to do so, and I certainly respect that he has a difference of opinion. But while I may respect a difference of opinion, I certainly have no obligations to respect dishonesty, ignorance and hidden agendas.
Glavin’s latest “analysis” is his take on the recent Quran burning protests, published in a variety of Canadian media outlets, including The National Post. While I finds myself in agreement with Glavin’s assessment that “most Afghans are legitimately aggrieved” by the Quran burning incident, and that there are certainly political factors at play behind the scenes (domestic and foreign), the assumptions and conclusions Glavin draws betrays an incredible lack of understanding of Afghanistan.
Coming from a wet behind the ears intern, ignorance is forgivable. Coming from a veteran journalist whose written extensively on Afghanistan for the better part of a decade, such ignorance is no accident, and hints at an agenda that requires exposure. I invite our readers to make that judgement for themselves.
A common theme of many of Glavin’s assessments, is a reliance on the opinions and perspectives of former members of the Northern Alliance. We witness this first hand, with his nauseating reference to Amrullah Saleh, as a “legendary Spy Chief”. Saleh was the former head of the Afghan NDS, before being sacked by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2010. Afghans of course live in a bizarro world, where the current Vice President Mohamed Qasim Fahim is a truck driver turned “Field Marshall”, the renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar still affectionate referred to by his supporters as “Engineer Saheb” (despite dropping out of Kabul University) and Mullah Omar still gallingly called by his self imposed title of “Amir ul Momineen”. So frankly, we’re not too surprised by Glavin’s insulting reference to the former Masoud scribe as a “legendary Spy Chief”. I also find Saleh and Co’s indiscriminate detention, mass use of torture, ethnic persecution and profiling and the occasional death or two, “legendary”.
The Jamiat E Islami narrative flows throughout Glavin’s piece, and you would have to be well versed in Afghan affairs to pick up on his agenda. An ominous reference to the Hezb E Islami offshoots in government here, a little historical revisionism there, and voila another bearded Pashtun to add to the hit list. But heres what separates the AFP’s from the Terry Glavins of this world. We understood long ago, that in a country like Afghanistan with its recent history of bloodbath and strife, justice is a dish that can only be served across the board.
Prosecute war criminals and those convicted of human rights violations? Music to our ears. But if youre not in a position to arrest, detain, convict and punish ALL Afghan war criminals, then the only other option is national reconciliation or forgiveness. The Terry Glavins of this world will jump through hula hoops to convince you the problem is the Taliban or Hekmatyar, and that simply going after them will resolve the Afghan dilemna. He will of course ignore the Parchamis and the Khalqis, the Royalists, the Daud Khan era Republicans, the ex Pats and representatives of a variety of different Mujahideen groups, all of whom are represented in office today, as are former Taliban and Hezb E Islami offshoots. Some how all of these belles got invited to the Grand Ball, but theres a couple of ugly step sisters we wont stand for.
So if youre a former Jihadi thug with a friend in high places, youre welcome in todays Afghanistan. If youre smart, youll trim your beard and replace your tattered Afghan clothes for an ill fitting suit. You may even be invited to press conferences and ribbon cutting ceremonies. If youre really smart, that band of rapists you have on payroll can now work on contractual basis with NATO, providing “security”. And by security we mean raping children and robbing the vulnerable and weak. Those are the good guys in Terry Glavin’s Afghanistan.
And if youre a bearded Afghan who enforces a hijab on a woman, youre the good guy compared to the bearded Afghan who enforced the burqa. If youre a Jihadi who rapes a woman, well at least youre not throwing acid at them! And if youre a communist who imprisoned, tortured and executed Afghans in the late 1970s simply for having a beard, well at least youre not forcing them to grow one. Thaaaat, would be bad.
The Afghan Defence Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, summarized this nonsense perfectly in a 2011 Macleans article:
As for the National Movement and Afghans who rally against peace-making with the Taliban, it’s all “political games,” Wardak says dismissively. “You see, the source of all evil here was the Communist party, which brought all these miseries upon us,” he says, referring to a 1978 coup that was followed by a Soviet invasion and a long and brutal war. “They initiated everything. More than two million Afghans were killed, and there were hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans and handicaps, right now also. We were able to forgive them. So what do you think the chances are of forgiving these others?”
Amrullah Saleh understands one thing very clearly, something Westerners have consistently missed: We interrupted an Afghan civil war in 2001 and chose one side. We continue to stand by that one side, while the losers lash out, and the country burns. And the reason why billions of dollars and the greatest military force in the history of humanity have failed in Afghanistan, is because the side we chose is just as despicable as the side we fight against.
I certainly am not surprised that Northern Alliance thugs would turn to a Western journalist to spew it positions. They’ve masterfully used the West to turn on their domestic rivals over the last ten years, and the only reason they refrain from supporting a reconciliation process is their asinine view that somehow Uncle Sam will insulate them forever from their vengeful Pashtun rivals. Just as how the Taliban insisted upon enforcing its will upon its non Pashtun rivals, confident in Pakistani and Jihadist support for its regime. Just as how the Khalqis and Parchamis felt they had nothing to fear from the countryside, from Pakistan, from the Saudis, from the Americas, as long as the Soviets stood behind them. History has been especially cruel to the Afghans…
Glavin is right in claiming the Americans have sold Afghans out. But the great sell out didn’t occur when the Americans started speaking half heartedly about negotiating with the Taliban. And I wont even get into the sell out after the Soviet withdrawal. Rather, Afghans were sold out when Glavin’s warlord friends were given the clear road to Kabul, and the go ahead to start pointing out every bearded Pashtun in a turban for a one way vacation to Guantanamo and Bagram. When Glavin’s warlord friends began occupying positions of power, and allowed to become the new elite of the new Afghanistan. Democracy and human rights were thrown out the window the second millions of dollars in aid kick backs, security contracts and outright bribes were handed to these thugs.
But you wont hear about this from Glavin. You’ll hear about the hellish conflict of the 1990’s but not a peep about the role his friends played in it. You’ll hear about foreign interference, but not the rupees, rubles and toumans that found its way into his friend’s pockets. You’ll even hear about Osama Bin Laden and the scourge of jihadism, but nothing on who invited and supported the presence of these jihadists in the first place.
“We’re supposed to believe the ISI doesn’t know his whereabouts”, Glavin exclaims about Hekmatyar. Glavin wants us to believe the Americans, with their multi billion dollar intelligence and security apparatus, are the naïve innocent well intentioned foreigners duped by the manipulative schemes of the Pakistanis. The same Pakistanis that the Americans coordinated the last jihad with, whose intelligence services senior appointments are vetted by the CIA, and whose generals continue to enjoy top dollar toys for their pissing contest with their eastern neighbours all at the American tax payer’s expense.
We’re supposed to believe that the only reason an insurgency exists is because the Pakistanis, those absolute geniuses, have managed to create and sustain one out of thin air, right under the noses of the most powerful country in history. We’re supposed to believe that the drug lords, tribal chieftains, intelligence plants, and war criminals America installed as the new Afghan over lords were going to magically become human rights respecting democrats, with a simply change of clothes and grooming habits, and the addition of a few western buzzwords to their vocabulary. We’re supposed to believe that the last thing a destroyed nation emerging from a 30 year civil war needs is reconciliation among all Afghan political, social and economic actors.
If any of this nonsense is mind boggling to you and makes you want to rip your hair out in frustration, I sympathize. Try dealing with this nonsense, this chorus of pro war cheerleading, historical revisionism and outright dishonesty for the better part of a decade. Try speaking out against the garbage narrative that passed for a discussion on the Afghan war only to be shut out of the media, academia and politics. Try speaking out on behalf of a community too riveted and pre occupied by its internal fissures to understand the big picture, and this decade, this lost wasted decade certainly frustrates.
Glavin reminds us the Vampire is back in town. His article reminds us, the Afghan circus never left town.
It is a testament to how horribly the Afghan war has gone, that the cheerleading of the mission, so effectively and loudly heard over the last decade, is beginning to diminish. The rats started scurrying off the pro war ship a few years ago, but one can always count on a few die hards, ignorant of reality and history, holding the pro war flag down to the very end.
Enter Terry Glavin. Without going into too much detail, its safe to say Mr Glavin has planted himself firmly in the pro war camp over the last decade. He certainly has the right to do so, and I certainly respect that he has a difference of opinion. But while I may respect a difference of opinion, I certainly have no obligations to respect dishonesty, ignorance and hidden agendas.
Glavin’s latest “analysis” is his take on the recent Quran burning protests, published in a variety of Canadian media outlets, including The National Post. While I finds myself in agreement with Glavin’s assessment that “most Afghans are legitimately aggrieved” by the Quran burning incident, and that there are certainly political factors at play behind the scenes (domestic and foreign), the assumptions and conclusions Glavin draws betrays an incredible lack of understanding of Afghanistan.
Coming from a wet behind the ears intern, ignorance is forgivable. Coming from a veteran journalist whose written extensively on Afghanistan for the better part of a decade, such ignorance is no accident, and hints at an agenda that requires exposure. I invite our readers to make that judgement for themselves.
A common theme of many of Glavin’s assessments, is a reliance on the opinions and perspectives of former members of the Northern Alliance. We witness this first hand, with his nauseating reference to Amrullah Saleh, as a “legendary Spy Chief”. Saleh was the former head of the Afghan NDS, before being sacked by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2010. Afghans of course live in a bizarro world, where the current Vice President Mohamed Qasim Fahim is a truck driver turned “Field Marshall”, the renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar still affectionate referred to by his supporters as “Engineer Saheb” (despite dropping out of Kabul University) and Mullah Omar still gallingly called by his self imposed title of “Amir ul Momineen”. So frankly, we’re not too surprised by Glavin’s insulting reference to the former Masoud scribe as a “legendary Spy Chief”. I also find Saleh and Co’s indiscriminate detention, mass use of torture, ethnic persecution and profiling and the occasional death or two, “legendary”.
The Jamiat E Islami narrative flows throughout Glavin’s piece, and you would have to be well versed in Afghan affairs to pick up on his agenda. An ominous reference to the Hezb E Islami offshoots in government here, a little historical revisionism there, and voila another bearded Pashtun to add to the hit list. But heres what separates the AFP’s from the Terry Glavins of this world. We understood long ago, that in a country like Afghanistan with its recent history of bloodbath and strife, justice is a dish that can only be served across the board.
Prosecute war criminals and those convicted of human rights violations? Music to our ears. But if youre not in a position to arrest, detain, convict and punish ALL Afghan war criminals, then the only other option is national reconciliation or forgiveness. The Terry Glavins of this world will jump through hula hoops to convince you the problem is the Taliban or Hekmatyar, and that simply going after them will resolve the Afghan dilemna. He will of course ignore the Parchamis and the Khalqis, the Royalists, the Daud Khan era Republicans, the ex Pats and representatives of a variety of different Mujahideen groups, all of whom are represented in office today, as are former Taliban and Hezb E Islami offshoots. Some how all of these belles got invited to the Grand Ball, but theres a couple of ugly step sisters we wont stand for.
So if youre a former Jihadi thug with a friend in high places, youre welcome in todays Afghanistan. If youre smart, youll trim your beard and replace your tattered Afghan clothes for an ill fitting suit. You may even be invited to press conferences and ribbon cutting ceremonies. If youre really smart, that band of rapists you have on payroll can now work on contractual basis with NATO, providing “security”. And by security we mean raping children and robbing the vulnerable and weak. Those are the good guys in Terry Glavin’s Afghanistan.
And if youre a bearded Afghan who enforces a hijab on a woman, youre the good guy compared to the bearded Afghan who enforced the burqa. If youre a Jihadi who rapes a woman, well at least youre not throwing acid at them! And if youre a communist who imprisoned, tortured and executed Afghans in the late 1970s simply for having a beard, well at least youre not forcing them to grow one. Thaaaat, would be bad.
The Afghan Defence Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, summarized this nonsense perfectly in a 2011 Macleans article:
As for the National Movement and Afghans who rally against peace-making with the Taliban, it’s all “political games,” Wardak says dismissively. “You see, the source of all evil here was the Communist party, which brought all these miseries upon us,” he says, referring to a 1978 coup that was followed by a Soviet invasion and a long and brutal war. “They initiated everything. More than two million Afghans were killed, and there were hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans and handicaps, right now also. We were able to forgive them. So what do you think the chances are of forgiving these others?”
Amrullah Saleh understands one thing very clearly, something Westerners have consistently missed: We interrupted an Afghan civil war in 2001 and chose one side. We continue to stand by that one side, while the losers lash out, and the country burns. And the reason why billions of dollars and the greatest military force in the history of humanity have failed in Afghanistan, is because the side we chose is just as despicable as the side we fight against.
I certainly am not surprised that Northern Alliance thugs would turn to a Western journalist to spew it positions. They’ve masterfully used the West to turn on their domestic rivals over the last ten years, and the only reason they refrain from supporting a reconciliation process is their asinine view that somehow Uncle Sam will insulate them forever from their vengeful Pashtun rivals. Just as how the Taliban insisted upon enforcing its will upon its non Pashtun rivals, confident in Pakistani and Jihadist support for its regime. Just as how the Khalqis and Parchamis felt they had nothing to fear from the countryside, from Pakistan, from the Saudis, from the Americas, as long as the Soviets stood behind them. History has been especially cruel to the Afghans…
Glavin is right in claiming the Americans have sold Afghans out. But the great sell out didn’t occur when the Americans started speaking half heartedly about negotiating with the Taliban. And I wont even get into the sell out after the Soviet withdrawal. Rather, Afghans were sold out when Glavin’s warlord friends were given the clear road to Kabul, and the go ahead to start pointing out every bearded Pashtun in a turban for a one way vacation to Guantanamo and Bagram. When Glavin’s warlord friends began occupying positions of power, and allowed to become the new elite of the new Afghanistan. Democracy and human rights were thrown out the window the second millions of dollars in aid kick backs, security contracts and outright bribes were handed to these thugs.
But you wont hear about this from Glavin. You’ll hear about the hellish conflict of the 1990’s but not a peep about the role his friends played in it. You’ll hear about foreign interference, but not the rupees, rubles and toumans that found its way into his friend’s pockets. You’ll even hear about Osama Bin Laden and the scourge of jihadism, but nothing on who invited and supported the presence of these jihadists in the first place.
“We’re supposed to believe the ISI doesn’t know his whereabouts”, Glavin exclaims about Hekmatyar. Glavin wants us to believe the Americans, with their multi billion dollar intelligence and security apparatus, are the naïve innocent well intentioned foreigners duped by the manipulative schemes of the Pakistanis. The same Pakistanis that the Americans coordinated the last jihad with, whose intelligence services senior appointments are vetted by the CIA, and whose generals continue to enjoy top dollar toys for their pissing contest with their eastern neighbours all at the American tax payer’s expense.
We’re supposed to believe that the only reason an insurgency exists is because the Pakistanis, those absolute geniuses, have managed to create and sustain one out of thin air, right under the noses of the most powerful country in history. We’re supposed to believe that the drug lords, tribal chieftains, intelligence plants, and war criminals America installed as the new Afghan over lords were going to magically become human rights respecting democrats, with a simply change of clothes and grooming habits, and the addition of a few western buzzwords to their vocabulary. We’re supposed to believe that the last thing a destroyed nation emerging from a 30 year civil war needs is reconciliation among all Afghan political, social and economic actors.
If any of this nonsense is mind boggling to you and makes you want to rip your hair out in frustration, I sympathize. Try dealing with this nonsense, this chorus of pro war cheerleading, historical revisionism and outright dishonesty for the better part of a decade. Try speaking out against the garbage narrative that passed for a discussion on the Afghan war only to be shut out of the media, academia and politics. Try speaking out on behalf of a community too riveted and pre occupied by its internal fissures to understand the big picture, and this decade, this lost wasted decade certainly frustrates.
Glavin reminds us the Vampire is back in town. His article reminds us, the Afghan circus never left town.
Comment