Mohammed Hanif: In Pakistan we cultivated the Taliban, then turned on them. Now we can only hope they forgive us

By Dilip -

Not too long ago, Pakistan and Afghanistan were called Af-Pak: two countries joined at the hip, doomed to live and die together. You didn’t get to choose your neighbours, we were told. Geography, we were taught, was our destiny. There was a lot of talk about geostrategic significance – which was the Pakistan military’s way of saying there were great advantages to be derived from our unfortunate neighbours.

More than four decades ago, our leaders insisted we had to help the Afghan mujahideen fight the Soviets because that would help us ward off communism in our own country. Having lived most of my life in Pakistan, I have probably come across half a dozen communists – and even they never agreed with each other.

That first jihad made generations of Afghans homeless but it also made some people in Pakistan very rich. The Soviet-Afghan war also sustained our brutal military dictatorship, brought us abundant supplies of cheap and high-quality heroin, and introduced something called “Kalashnikov culture”, which made it easier to settle political and personal disputes by killing each other. Pakistan won that war. Our generals and seasoned defence experts still can’t stop boasting that not only did we defeat the Soviet Union but we also brought about the end of communism…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/24/pakistan-taliban-us-retreat


In pictures: Afghans mark Independence Day as challenges to Taliban rule rise


Mohammed Hanif: The rest of the world has had it with US presidents, Trump or otherwise


Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy. By PAUL ROSENBERG


Zack Stanton: Violent Christian Extremism in the USA


Pakistani professor Junaid Hafeez gets death sentence in blasphemy case


HAMNA ZUBAIR - Qandeel Baloch is dead because we hate women who don't conform / When it comes to honour killing, India is neck and neck with Pakistan


Alia Waheed: Pakistan reckons with its ‘gender terrorism epidemic’ after murder of Noor Mukadam


Noor’s case will be a test for the authorities and for Pakistani society in more ways than one


The Bush administration made a catastrophic mistake in Afghanistan in 2001 / Afghanistan: The End of the Occupation


The last Jews in Afghanistan argued so much the Taliban kicked them out of prison and stole their Torah

Chris Hedges: The Collective Suicide Machine


Book review: AFGHANISTAN: ‘A SHOCKING INDICTMENT’


The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan: Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Paris, 15-21 January 1998


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