It has been four months since I expressed to you my misgivings about your support for the so-called Pakistan plan for “ulema” negotiation to resolve the Afghanistan conflict. As I suspected, Pakistan was stalling for time in order to prepare a military solution in support of the brutal Taliban. Again, while your office and the Clinton administration is silent, the Afghan people are engulfed in an onslaught of destruction and bloodshed. I have received media and private reports of large numbers of civilian casualties in Shebergan and Masar, as well as ethnic cleansing through relocation and the rounding up of Hazara and Uzbek males by the Taliban and their foreign allies similar to Milosevic’s murderous tactics in Bosnia.
It is obvious that your advisors misinformed you about the the intentions
of Pakistan, as well as the ongoing need for emergency humanitarian assistance
to the people in non-Taliban areas where a siege remains in place. Your
advisors obviously misinformed you about the Taliban’s intentions. It is
obvious by your silence that you are now again advised to “not take sides,”
while the Pakistan/Taliban onslaught is funded by opium revenues and money
from negative outside sources. If evidence proves that Osama bin Laden
has been involved in the recent terrorist bombings in Africa, it will further
show the tragic results of Administration policy.
I
n your new post, you have been given serious responsibilities. In the
long term, your decisions toward current events in Afghanistan will determine
whether this region of the world lives in peace and prosperity, or become
part of an out-of-control cycle of violence and deprivation. I don’t
blame you for trusting your staff and inter-agency advisors, or implementing
Administration policy pushed on you from above. But I have no hesitation
to say that the policies this administration has been following, with your
active participation, have been the worst kind of failures—causing needless
deaths to civilian populations while undermining any real possibility for
peace. This policy, intentional or not, has bolstered the intransigence
and military prowess of the Taliban. Narcotics trafficking has proliferated,
while Pakistan has shamelessly intensified its supplying of weapons and
troops.
In short, unless this administration, including your office, begins
taking a more responsible approach, you will continue to fail miserably,
with all the serious national security implications that apply to the United
States. It has already resulted in a horrendous human toll for the people
of Afghanistan, while threatening to create a vicious cycle of violence
and instability for the region. For example, you told me of your experience
as a reporter to watch the Russian military leave Afghanistan. It is ironic
that your policy has drawn a Russian military role back into Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, this has added fuel to the Taliban extremist’s fire, even
though Moscow now has a legitimate fear that Taliban terrorism will spread
throughout the region.
I have been preparing serious alternatives for Afghan policy for the
past six years. I have found no willingness on the part of this administration
to even try the alternatives that I have suggested. I have come to the
conclusion that our goals are different. But for the time being, I’ll give
you the benefit of the doubt. The stakes go far beyond Afghanistan. There
will be no peace in Central Asia, or on the subcontinent between Pakistan
and India until the U.S. decides that there will be no peace in this region
or elsewhere with a policy that is not based on the fundamental principles
of representative government and opposition to tyranny.
There are decent and humane Afghans who share these values. But we continue
with policies that strengthen the worst elements in Afghanistan. Because
of this shortsightedness, the Administration could not even put together
a credible emergency humanitarian relief operation, much less establish
peace.
A decisive U.S. role is needed. The first step that must be immediately
taken is to make clear to Pakistan that any other outside force that is
supporting the Taliban that their activities must cease. In addition, we
must strengthen those Afghans who are opposing Taliban tyranny, as well
as prepare an emergency humanitarian and medical airlift, as quickly as
possible.
printed in Omaid Weekly Issue #332, 31 August 1998