Cyber group

[Azmal]

GUys please write to this guy Brian M Downing about his article Plan B for Afghanistan (dividing afghanistan into north and south) and let him know how we feel and how wrong and unrealistic his views are. He can be reached at brianmdowning@gmail.com

I was thinking we should make a cyber group...to contact the congressmans and senotors or the poltical anylise and bloggers that are preaching against Pashtons interest.

We can also write to sentors, President obama and others to do something about Pakistani shameful double game...and to stop the aid to pakistan.

(just a fyi...the people in Takam website also do this and we need to dismiss their bs.)


Brian M Downing is a political/military analyst and author of The Military Revolution and Political Change and The Paths of Glory: War and Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam. He can be reached at brianmdowning@gmail.com

[Admin Khan]

http://www.pashtunforums.com/political-talk-11/my-email-response-ignorant-american-columnist-advocating-afghan-partition-3778/

[Admin Khan]

Our very own Amir Al Ghaznavi of PF wrote,

This is my email response

Here is the email I sent him

I am writing this email in response to your latest article titled "Get Rid Of Afghanistan". While I certainly agree with your overall premise that modern day Afghanisan is a relic of 19th century British colonialism you article contained so many factually inaccurate statements that it delegitimizes whatever point you were trying to make while exposing your anti Pashtun biases.

1. Calling Afghanistan the "doormat of empires" simply because conquering the nation was easy highlights why your country's mission in Afghanistan is an absolute failure. Conquering Afghanistan has always been easy. Holding on to the country and retaining power in Afghanistan was always extremely difficult. Almost every conqueror of Afghanistan had to suppress numerous rebellions and outbreaks of conflict many of which inevitably led to the withdrawal or eventual defeat of the conqueror. Hardly a "doormat"

2. Again referring to my earlier point the term "Graveyard of Empires" cannot be simply limited to two particular "incidents": the Anglo Afghan war and the Soviet Invasion. You simply picked one battle of the English and made reference to it. The English fought launched three invasions of Afghanistan only to leave it as an intact independent country. You talk about the British recapturing Kabul but let me ask you. Did they colonize Kabul? How long did they hold onto Kabul? You know the answer. The British colonized 1/4 of the world and Afghanistan was where their extended hand was slapped away.

3. Most insulting is this notion that the Tajiks were the most resistance fighters against the Soviets. This is a slap in the face of the hundreds of thousands of dead Pashtuns. Resistance flared across the country but it was in the Tajiks and Pashtun areas where it was predominate. Pashtuns were half the country and since the Uzbeks (who were Afghan govt allied) and the Hazaras (who were left mostly to their own) did not fight it is clear to anyone with any semblance of logic or knowledge that the most resistance to the Soviets came from Pashtuns. There was ONE Tajik resistance group and at least FOUR Pashtun resistance groups. There were 5-6 Tajik provinces where fighting occured and at least 12 Pashtun provinces were the Soviets were fiercely engaged. There were thousands of recruits from the Pakistani tribal areas sent into Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and ALL of them were Pashtuns as the tribal areas are Pashtuns. How many Tajiks crossed over from Soviet Tajikistan to engage in the war? NONE.

You seem to be caught up in the media hype as most "analysts" with no understanding of the region tend to be. Just because Ahmad Shah Massoud was the most well known in the West due to his fluent French there were dozens of top notch Pashtun resistance commanders such as Jalaludin Haqqani who made Paktia a no go for Soviets and Abdul Haq who used to launch attacks in Kabul itself.

As for the ridicolous notion that Tajiks were the most effecient fighters....how do you reconcile this stupid statement with the fact that Massoud signed a cease fire with the Russians which lasted months...allowing safe passage for Soviets along the Salang Pass allowing Soviets to send more troops into the Pashtun south?

4. The British did not create Afghanistan as a "Pashtun empire". They carved a buffer zone out of a Pashtun Empire and incorporated the eastern half of this empire into British India. The British destroyed any semblance of a Pashtun empire. Read a book sir...it might help

5. As for your laissez faire suggestions from the West casually advocating the dismantling of a country...I suggest you leave this up to the people to decide. The fact is after 30 years of civil war and no proper governance there has yet to emerge a single legitimate independence movement amongst any of the Afghan ethnicites with any semblance of popular support.

In the future I suggest you no longer write about Afghanistan as its obvious you are grossly misinformed and outright ignorant. The only exception being the article you will write in a year or two about how your country joined the long list of others who conquered this "doormat" only to be shown the door in our unique lovable Afghan way.