Josh Shahryar's Afghanistan Primer: The US and The "Warlords"
Friday, December 4, 2009 at 17:26 
After my rather scathing criticism of President Barack Obama’s troop surge plan for Afghanistan yesterday, I received many questions from readers on Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail about the realities of the situation. This is the first of three articles trying to offer some answers.Obama gets away with one thing and one thing only in his approach: he is not the person who has made the wrong choices since the Afghan Invasion of 2001. The first step in the War on Terror was perhaps one of the most misguided and poorly planned of President Bush’s policies. Here is a summary: remove Taliban, institute democracy, then capture bin Laden, and then maybe get out?
What Was Missing in Obama’s Speech: The Black Jail of Afghanistan
Afghanistan Special: Josh Shahryar on the Obama Not-So-Grand Plan
A Gut Reaction to Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Speech: The Halfway House of The Long War (Part 1)
Afghanistan-Pakistan: Video & Transcript of Obama Speech (1 December)
The biggest blunder the US made, contrary to common belief, was not over the second step of democracy promotion but over the first one of regime change. Instead of using its superior military to fight the enemy, the US sought help from Afghan warlords who controlled less than 5% of Afghanistan’s territory and had been all but vanquished by the Taliban. This might have helped the US oust the Kabul Government, but it handed the country back to the Afghan warlords who may have committed some of the most heinous crimes against humanity.
Rewind history to the early 1990s.
After the ouster of the communist government of Afghanistan, these same warlords, then known as mujahideen and hailed the world over as freedom fighters, took over Afghanistan. For the next several years, the population was abused to the point where more than eight million Afghans were forced to leave the country. The rest remained at the mercy of men who ruled them with such brutality that just reading about it brings a shudder.
Hezbe Wahdat, one of the main groups led by a ruthless warlord named Ustad Abdul Ali Mazari, were notorious for their death dance. Stationed in Western Kabul, Mazari’s men, who were composed of the Hazara ethnic minority, would catch anyone who belonged to the Pashtun group and slaughter them without hesitation.
The death dance would proceed with a man being held down by several Hazara fighters. He would be decapitated and hot oil would be poured over his neck. This would make the body wildly jerk around.
Another group from the north, composed of the Uzbek minority, would place captured fighters and bystanders inside shipping containers, take them to the desert, and then fire hundreds of rounds. The lucky prisoners would be struck and die. Those who did not were left in the desert to die of starvation or thirst.
In the south, the Pashtun-led groups were notorious for sexually abusing young boys. This reached a point where commanders would openly marry boys as young as 12 in official ceremonies attended by their cronies. The situation was so dangerous for pre-teen and early-teen boys that they were kept at home until they grew beards
In this climate of fear, the Taliban entered the scene. Backed up by Pakistan militarily and by the Gulf states financially from 1994, they were able to take over the entire country within a few short years. Their forces were not much superior to their opponents; however, they used people’s hatred for the warlords to gain control of the country. At the time of the US invasion, they held all but one of 32 provinces of Afghanistan, ruling almost 95% of the territory and the population.
People always ask me how Taliban with their stone-age laws were able to rule Afghanistan for almost six years. The answer is simple: stone-age laws are better than no laws at all. They gave people something they had yearned for years –-- safety and security.
Previously, you would be robbed in daylight in front and inside your house. With the Taliban in power, you could haul sacks full of money from one side of the country to the other without hiding the fact that you were transporting cash. And except for targeting the Hazara minority, about 10% of the country’s population, they treated people far more mercifully than the warlords did.
Now the same groups of militias who committed the crimes of the 1990s form the majority of Afghan governors, provincial administrators, security chiefs, and army commanders, as well as the overwhelming majority of senators and representatives to the Afghan bicameral legislature. And they are only able to do so because of the US.
This is why the US invasion was a disaster from the very beginning. The US could have taken over Afghanistan without resorting to help from the much hated warlords, winning the hearts of Afghans. Instead, removing the regime that had brought peace of mind to many, Washington brought back the terror that had haunted them.
So, if the US strategy saved American lives at the start of the offensive, this conflict now takes American lives each week. Afghanistan now has both a Taliban, which not only exists but is enjoying success, and a corrupt and ineffective government.
The reason why the US cannot defeat the Taliban is not because they are powerful or America is weak but because the Taliban have the sympathy of a majority of the Afghanistan’s largely rural population. (The educated class, which makes up a small portion of the population, is simply hoping and praying that both the warlords and the Taliban could somehow miraculously cease to exist.)
The village-dwellers have two choices. They can either support the US military as it finds Taliban hideouts and brings the enemy to justice, then wait for the Americans to depart and leave them at the mercy of the warlords. Or they can continue to lie low and let the Taliban exist, hoping that when the US leaves, the Taliban will get rid of the warlords again.
The choice between a harsh Islamic regime that allows you to live a peaceful life if you lock your wives at home, grow beards, and pray five times a day or between a group of bandits who would pillage your property, rape your women and kill you is quite simple. The Afghans may be illiterate, but they’re not stupid.
If Obama and the US are serious, they still have plenty of time. They could do what the Taliban did and remove these criminals from the Afghan government. This would immediately win the hearts of Afghanistan’s people. If the US chooses otherwise, then it should not blame itself for failing to gain the support of the Afghans.
Reader Comments (59)
This war is for one reason only---the corporate interests making money off of it, since their private sector sales are disappearing. This is called stimulus....Do we or did we ever consider what Afghans want. Did we ever consider what the Iraqis wanted? Does this government even consider what the people of america want? This blatant disregard of others and the air of arrogance are beyond words that can be expressed.
Certainly. I guess that's where Bush failed and this where Obama might fail. The US must take into consideration every factor it can possibly consider. I think Bush didn't do that. I sure as hell hope Obama does. Otherwise, the results would be much the same.
"Afghanistan now has both a Taliban, which not only exists but is enjoying success, and a corrupt and ineffective government."
**********
History seems to be repeating itself in Afghanistan. Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (ideological kin of USSR)/post 2001 Afghanistan (economic kin of US) Mujahid movement/Taliban movement, Najibullah/Karzai (both corrupt), Soviet withdrawal/coming US withdrawal, ineffective and corrupt government breaking into factions, civil war/coming civil war.
2012 will be 1992 all over again.
Well, I think the core issue at hand is foreign intervention in the domestic affairs of a country. It doesn't always bring peace and prosperity. As a matter of fact, more often than not, it breeds instability.
[...]Well, I think the core issue at hand is foreign intervention in the domestic affairs of a country. It doesn’t always bring peace and prosperity. As a matter of fact, more often than not, it breeds instability.[...]
I fear more often than not it was never intended to bring peace and prosperity (at least not for the domestic population).
This actually is the best analysis of the situation in Afghanistan I've ever read - concise, but comprehensive while grasping the basics, straight out and plausible.
Hats off!
I dont know where you got this poor view about Afghanistan, You insulted afghan people’s hero like Abdul Ali Mazari, Who he fought to defend his people, He was the only leader in Afghanistan who crossed the ethnicity borders, he wanted equal rights for all afghans. This Death dance and some other stupid words you used against him is a propagandas against him by his enemy but they got no prove for it. By insulting Ustad Mazari you insulted 10 million Hazaras worldwide, He is every hazaras father and every hazara call him baba<>
I think you Josh Shahreyar is Ahmad Shah Masud's Dog that is why you say [removed by moderator] about baba mazari, anyway the history knows who committed crime in afghanistan, [removed by moderator]
The overall idea of warlords and their hand's stained with the blood of Afghan people is correct, but the writer himself is biased with writing propaganda as the truth. Why don't you talk about the ruthless warlord Ahmad Shah Masoud who bombarded Kabul? why don't you give example of the dog-fighter vice-president Qasem Fahim who looted Tajiks? You might know some facts about Afghanistan, but you are more ruthless with giving half-truth to the world. You don't say that it was CIA who funded the warlords? It was the warlords, starting from Ahmad Shah Masoud and Rabbani, who were puppets of ISI. It was Ahmad Shah Masoud who fought Russians and became the Russian puppet.
You don't appear to be a true Afghan, because a true Afghan would not point finger to the whole ethnicities. It was never Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras or Uzbeks who did the fighting. If it was, it was all Afghans killing each other. It was YOU killing your brother and there is no pride in saying it again and again from somewhere in Europe. The truth is that the whole warlords and ruthless commanders were a bunches of illiterate and uneducated slums of Afghan society who were empowered by ISI and CIA.
You are simply a half-educated [person] who spread half-truths which not only helps build Afghanistan, but will further damage its roots.
Wow! Relax people. You can't fit everything into a short article like this and there's nothing written in Josh's article to warrant this kind of vitriol.
Hello Josh. your writing is a disgrace to any form of journalistic attempt. You have failed to get the most basic facts right. Tajicks are the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan who played a very important role in both pre and post Taliban era and you have not mention them in your writing. On the other hand Hazaras have been the victoms of every political, social and economical malfunction in Afghanistan and some how you have managed to portray them as the most barbaric of all eithnic groups. In the 90s I worked in Aghanistan for eight years and I am very sure that you have no correct knowledge of Afghanistan's recent history.
One day fahim told that while i was comming to western part of kabul i told my friend that it was massoud( gosh monti) who ordered us to volley rockets to destroy the area.
It was Massod and Sayyaf who killed hundreds of innocent civillian in Afshar and all those rockets bombared to kill kabuli civillian by Hikmatyar.
You insulted Shahed mazari just to show your hatred against hazara and you proved how stupid you and all those who think like you are.
josh sha´hryar i only say to you you are stupid
josh and anti Josh!
I think here is not for you afghans to fighting.
you all know that Mazari and Masood were killed by Taliban and alqaeida before 2001 and they were not involved in incidents of recent years..., so i want to ask you that why are you insulting each other? Taliban are comming soon and will kill both of you. so is it not better that STOP this stupid insulting yourselves?
Mansur and Fawzia,
Thank you for giving us the other side of story. Not being deeply in-tune with Afghanistan domestic politics I was being swayed by Josh views. Well, I am glad to learn that Josh was embellishing a bit.
Qawma, Murtaza, Andy, Maryam, Fawzia and others:
I think you misunderstood the whole point. And I think you didn't even read the entire article before levying your criticism. Yes, I didn't mention the Tajiks warlords which I CERTAINLY should have. But I think if you wait and read the next article, you would know what I want so.
Every warlord in Afghanistan has been bad for the people. Ahmad Shah Massoud, Fahim, Dostum.. you name it.
If I had been biased, I wouldn't have mentioned that the Taliban targetted Hazaras specifically. As for going out of your way to attack my personally instead of attacking what I have presented simply because you belong to a certain ethnic group you feel like defending a man who belonged to it, I can only facepalm to that.
The fact is, every human rights organization out there that is not controlled by a warlord would tell you that ALL these warlords have committed crimes that would make any sensible human being cry.
Josh,
FYI. I am sorry to say that Americans could have cared less to get involved in Afghanistan if it was not for Bin Laden and his coward followers killing 3000 of our citizens. I lost 3 friends on September 11. How dare you to blame U.S. G.W. Bush would have been impeached if he sat on his toosh and did nothing following Sept. 11. The only blame I have for G.W. is that he did not pull out after leveling every cave in Afghanistan that could have served as a hide-out for Bin Laden and his cavemen followers. All most all Americans supported the bombing mission for sending Bin Laden and Taliban to hell. What many Americans did not authorize G.W. Bush to do was the mission of exporting democracy to Afghanistan or Iraq.
Democracy is not exportable, period. There are nations where its people either do not understand the meaning of democracy or not seeking it. I am sorry to say this but Afghanistan is one of those nations.
Obama will fail too because (a) you cannot fight ideology with bombs and ammunitions and (b) you cannot transplant the desire for democracy in countries where majority of the population are not interested. Obama was foolish to call Afghanistan a "just war" and "good war" during his 2008 campaign. Now those words have come to bite him in the ass. We the tax payers had to pay for Bush mistakes and now have to pay for Obama mistakes with blood and treasure. The good thing is we, the citizens, can pull the plug if majority of Americans favor that.
How dare I? I didn't really understand that point. I agree about the exporting democracy part. The problem isn't really democritizing Afghanistan at this point. The problem is, if you allowed the Taliban to reappear, they would give al-Qaeda and all other terrorist groups fighting America a safe-haven. THAT is your main problem at this point.
As for taxpayers, oh sure, certainly. You can pull out whenever you want. Do it now or do it maybe a few months or years. That is not something I can enforce upon Obama but since you can, please get going on it. As for blaming the US, well, I am going to blame failed foreign policy. That is my job.
An for anyone who wants to read about warlords' crimes in Afghanistan and their documentation, I would strongly urge you to read this moderately detailed report by Human Rights Watch:
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands
Josh,
Have you ever, ever read the Human Rights Watch Group 2005 Report (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/afghanistan0605/4.htm) about Afghanistan? I think as a journalist you had to read such an important piece of information about the realities in Afghanistan, HAZARAS have been the victim of war and violence in the country so far, but you try to hide the realities because you may be somehow linked to some warlords of Tajiks or Pushtuns who really committed war crimes against humanity, it is documented confirmed and evidenced, but you cannot provide documents about Hazara's violence against others. Please, do not try to misguide the people of the world about inocent Hazaras and their great leader who wanted peace and brotherhood among all people of Afghanistan and for that he gave his life. I won’t tell you a stupid, because being a stupid is even better than being MAD!
Dear Readers,
Josh has committed a big mistake in writing this valueless, the so called article due to his very little information about Afghanistan, its people and history. Please do not take this as a serious, real and informative review about Afghanistan. He has insulted 10 million Hazaras who have been the victim of war and cruelty for centuries. You can read about Hazaras in any encyclopedias or significant websites and books that have facts and figure about Afghanistan people.
Please read the HRW 2005 report about AFG, here is the link, you will see who have commited crimes against humanity.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/afghanistan0605/4.htm
What a spirited 'debate'. But I urge everyone to keep to the facts and stay away from personal attacks. It undermines any point you are trying to make. If you disagree with something, then disagree and state your view. The only point I'd like to add is Afghanistan has never had a strong central government & is and will continue to be a failed state. No amount of foreign intervention (military or financial) will change that. It is up to Afghani's (Do such a people even exist? Just like there never were Yugoslav's) to sort out. It has been ugly and most likely will continue to be so for quite some time.
Almost certainly, Joe. It is the job of Afghans to do what they can to solve their country's problems. But if the US is going to spend so much money and expend the lives of so many young American men and women, then at least it can do its best to ensure that their lives don't go in vain.
Non-interventionism is great - but once you've intervened the dynamics of conflicts change. Then, it's not always the brightest idea to simply leave. That is what happened in Afghanistan in the late 80s and is very much the root of all the troubles.
Thanks Andy for best comment!
"Hello Josh. your writing is a disgrace to any form of journalistic attempt. You have failed to get the most basic facts right. Tajicks are the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan who played a very important role in both pre and post Taliban era and you have not mention them in your writing. On the other hand Hazaras have been the victoms of every political, social and economical malfunction in Afghanistan and some how you have managed to portray them as the most barbaric of all eithnic groups. In the 90s I worked in Aghanistan for eight years and I am very sure that you have no correct knowledge of Afghanistan’s recent history."
Josh Shahryar is making a death dance of journalism through his biased writings about the atrocities of civil war in Afghanistan. He has not mentioned Massoud, Fahim, Rabbani and other brutal Tajik warlords. While as example, he has mentioned Hazara, Uzbek and Pashtoon, but not Tajik. It shows the writer is a Tajik, very biased and insincere to the principals of journalism.
Dear Zahir Irfan,
You say there is no documenation? Well, the link I provided you is from Human Rights Watch. Here's a snippit of what it says about the Hazara militias.. and I repeat MILITIAS. The Hazara people are victims just as all Afghans are victims. However, you are right in that they were prosecuted more than the other ethnic groups because they are Shias. As for alleging that I support some other warlord faction like Massoud, I can only feel insulted by that.
Snippit from http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands
"Hazaras abducted Pashtuns and Pashtuns abducted Hazaras wherever they saw each other. They pulled out the fingernails of prisoners, cut off hands, cut off legs, even hammered nails into prisoners' skulls. Humans were kept in [shipping] containers and containers were set on fire. . . .Cruelty, injustice, and inhumanity began, and became a chronic disease; humanity and honor were crucified.[78]"
Like I said, every militias in its own way violated human rights in the most brutal way possible. There is documented evidence for pretty much everything that I have claimed. This would be my last reply to criticism by supporters of Hezbe Wahdat.
What an excellent example about how propaganda works!
If done properly, it obviously achieves its aimes by installing means of honour, affiliation and using ethnic belongings. Thus leading to that some members of the target groups obviously forget about basic rules of discussion by heavily insulting people for their opinion and forgetting everything about civilized contacts.
To me, all the unsettling comments to Josh's summary only profoundly support his views by illustrating how torn the situation in Afghanistan probably is and how little the parties thereto seem to be willing to reconcile.
As one says over here: The better the hit, the stronger the outcry.
Well done, Josh!