By William Markiewicz
At the recent UN conference in New York, one reporter asked Colin Powell if the world would forget the Tsunami as, for instance, it has forgotten Afghanistan. Powell categorically denied that Afghanistan has been forgotten. Well, if there is anything to say about Tsunami that we didn't already know, the journalist made the point in focussing on the fact that the worst calamities are forgotten in direct relation to separating distance and lapse of time. So, Afghanistan is really forgotten and, open to all sorts of silly misinformation:
The American Ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalizad (what an appropriate sounding name) has declared that the Americans may stay in Afghanistan indefinitely but that it shouldn't be a problem because "they like us here." If "they like us here" then why stay indefinitely? Because of the climate?
Besides this, who are "they?" There are no Afghans in Afghanistan, as there were no Yugoslavs in Yugoslavia. In both, the minorities hate the majority and therefore have welcomed invaders.
Afghanistan's Pashtuns, a dominant majority and the natives of the land, in the past have successfully defended a notable part of Afghanistan for themselves, while the Uzbeks, Tadjiks, Khazaks, and others, descendants of Ghengis Khan's invaders, established themselves in parts of Afghanistan and over extensive territories in Central Asia, becoming there "-stans:" Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan, etc.
The Americans had reason to attack Osama Bin Laden, and the Taliban who are mostly Pashtuns, but, wherever they attacked they pushed history back. In Yugoslavia all the neighbours of Serbs eventually got rid of their Serbian minorities which, they weren't able to achieve completely even in Nazi times. In Afghanistan, the non-Pashtun warlords, American "allies", flooded Americans with false denunciations about hidden Talibans, provoking American revenge on the mountain villages completely unprepared for defence. A British officer on TV was bragging that the Pashtuns are scared of them -- the Pashtuns who previously didn't know what fear is but also didn't know megabombs falling from the sky. Apparently they walk like ghosts, indifferent to everything. The UNESCO report speaks of a high degree of neuroses among them. Archaic, tribal Pashtuns became decadent before they could become a nation. Apparently the Serbs now also walk like ghosts on their land. Serbian tourists from abroad cry at what they see in Belgrade and other places in the country.
There is no Pashtunistan, though it should exist. There are no representatives of Western media on Pashtun territories. The ground could slide under the Pashtun villages and the rest of the world wouldn't even remark it. Non-Pashtun Afghans know that time is on their side and have a lot of patience.
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William Markiewicz