America’s Triple Betrayal of Afghan Friends
And interview with a survivor in Kabul, August 17, 2021
By Abdul Rashid bin Abdullah
Summary
This is the true story of the United States’ triple betrayal of friends in Afghanistan. First, the US lured the Soviets into their invasion in 1979 as is evidenced by the Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998). The US then worked with the Mujahideen to oust the Soviets at great cost to Afghan lives. In the chaos and civil war following the end of that occupation, with Saudi help the CIA created the Taliban training program in 1993. I know because I was there. That training took place in madrassas adjacent to Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan as there were about a million Afghan refugees in Pakistan at that time. They were programmed to be killing machines with a veneer of Islamic training to facilitate disregard for their own lives in pursuit of their primary objective, that was to unify Afghanistan. As the years rolled by, they did exactly that at great cost to their own lives. Then, the US betrayed them and declared war against them even though they were cooperating with the CIA in the opium eradication program. Beaten back, they regrouped while the US installed its own form of government. Following that, the Taliban returned and again unified the Afghanistan at great cost of their own (and other) lives. This time the US betrayed its modernist friends in Afghanistan not having any idea if the Taliban would punish or kill them. Fortunately, the Taliban grew wise during their years of war against the duplicitous crusaders, and granted pardons to all former American collaborators and forgiveness to those who otherwise went astray. Again, the Taliban decided to end the opium business. For the moment it looks like a happy ending. The Americans won those conflicts as rich Euro-American capitalists all made fortunes from those wars, while getting millions of Afghan Muslims killed (bringing glee to the hearts of the psychopathic zealot crusaders), even though they look like the murderous duplicitous dogs they are (my apologies to dogs), and finally, the Taliban won by having evicted the corrupt crusaders, hopefully once and for all.
August 17, 2021 - I visited Kabul in 2015 and made many friends. I enjoyed my time there and miss those friends. We stay in touch. I also visited and lived in 30 other countries, including Pakistan (twice with the first time 1993), India and (the Pakistani side of) Kashmir. So, I know the region a little at least.
First the good news.
It appears the American military is finally really leaving. Afghanistan has a very long history of fierce independence. Their leaving is a great blessing though there are still difficult roads ahead.
Forty-eight hours of relative peace in Afghanistan as of this writing. That is amazing. That is good.
I read that the Taliban made an agreement with the Chinese government: Peace in exchange for development to rebuild Afghanistan. That is good.
Things in Afghanistan now are so different from the 1990s and early part of the 21st century. Afghanistan has strong friends now. I think everyone now knows the bond with the US was a trick from the very beginning by the “maker of knots” (as per Sura al-Falak - secret evil plans).
And:
“‘Safer than before’: Russian Embassy in Kabul sees no reason to evacuate as Taliban takes over security, ambassador tells RT” https://www.rt.com/russia/532230-kabul-embassy-taliban-security-ambassador
In sum Russian diplomats know they can trust the Taliban more-so than Americans.
Probably most people in Kabul are still in psychological shock even though they must be experiencing enormous relief. The “Last Battle of Kabul” was avoided.
Events moved much faster than anyone expected. In many ways that swift and peaceful takeover of Kabul was a huge blessing. A final battle for Kabul would have been a catastrophic nightmare. Alhamdulillah (“Thanks to God”) that did not happen.
Who really wants to die in a Euro-American war designed only to enrich the already fabulously wealthy Euro-Americans? Please think about that.
Afghanistan was once the garden nation capital of the world – the center of the land Silk Roads. And now it can be again (Insha’Allah – God Willing) if the Euro-Americans would stop meddling in affairs in which they have no justifiable business.
It is a truism in evolution: We adapt to changing environments and survive, or we die. The speed of change in Kabul is stunning, and thus the need for rapid adaptation by everyone now.
August 18 Update: At their first international press conference since retaking the capital city “Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid promised Tuesday that the Taliban would respect women’s rights, forgive those who resisted them and ensure a secure Afghanistan as part of a publicity blitz aimed at convincing world powers and a fearful population that they have changed.”
His speech was inspiring and hopeful. A transcript can be found here. It seems all good, however the manner in which “Sharia” is interpreted can vary widely, with Saudi Salafist interpretations dominating which in this writer’s opinion is worrisome, given a) reasonably good evidence the leadership of the House of Saud is actually Jewish and not even Muslim b) Saudi Wahhabi have been associated with so many terrorist attacks on innocents including 9/11 and c) I have personally known formerly good Muslims that got sucked into the Wahhabi cult and became extremely unpleasant people afterward. In other words, Sharia can be good or bad depending on how its interpreted. That aside, I, and I believe most people are greatly relieved and even hopeful regarding the new Taliban administration in Kabul. The speech was humble (as Muslims should be) and the spokesman acknowledged mistakes were made.
I personally see the ascendancy of the Taliban in Kabul as more like the liberation of Acre in 1291 than anything else.
Some of my Kabul friends may not agree with that assessment, but I have studied the details of the histories of the crusades and the American drive towards hegemony in perpetuity far more closely than any of them. The bottom line is only time will tell the truth in this matter and my friends and I are in the same boat in regards to our hopes and uncertainties regarding the future.
Of course, the international media will loudly broadcast every mishap along the way to peace, like disagreements about the new flag, while totally ignoring the number of murders every single day in the USA and the plight of America’s political prisoners being tortured in its own and allies’ prison cells. They won’t mention how many Americans fled to Canada when President Trump was elected. Such duplicity is to be expected from Euro-American corporate owned news. Euro-American corporate owned news will do anything to try to start another civil in Afghanistan if they possibly can. They will feed fears, create rumors, turn molehills into mountains and agitate in every way possible. This is to be expected. It is a murder machine far richer, older, more treacherous and vastly deadlier than the Taliban ever were.
For example, at this time, “In Somalia, the US is bombing the very ‘terrorists’ it created” also. This is business as usual for the wealthy Euro-American capitalists. Muslim lives, Black lives, Latino lives, Asian lives and the ecology of course mean nothing. Only quarterly dividends mean anything to the corporate rulers of planet earth.
The following is only a small part of a longer interview but it reveals some of the thinking of modernist Afghans in Kabul as of August 17, and my observations on some of that thinking.
Interview (August 17, 2021)
Q: Are you still in Kabul and is there any fighting?
A: Yes, we are still here in Kabul. So far, their behavior is good, but I don’t think it will be good in a few weeks. So, we are trying to get out but all embassies are closed, our borders are closed. I don’t know what to do. Waiting. Here there isn’t any fighting, but I don’t know what will be the situation in coming days. Today it was good. They did not bother people.
Q: What are your plans now?
A: My plan is to go out from this country with my family.
Q: Afghan news reports state there have been 7,000 fatalities from COVID-19. Is anyone there wearing filter masks?
A: Very few people.
Q: It will be interesting to see how quickly they replace the Imams in the Masjids. Do you usually go to Jumaat? (Friday prayer)
A: Yes of course I go. But now I don’t want to go because I don’t like them.
Q: Have you seen Taliban around? Kabul is a big city and they are spread all around the country. Have you seen any of them? Estimates state there are only 60,000 of them, but that number has probably risen a lot since so many former Afghan military forces surrendered and joined them. Have you seen any, or many?
A: Yes, I have seen a lot of them. They captured everything here. They have the military vehicles especially for Rangers and Humvees. They are moving inside the city and saying “Hi” to everyone but I’m not sure this will continue because um – they will start their program after a week or two. I don’t know what is their program.
Q: To what extent is life going on like normal? Are students going to schools? Are offices and stories open?
A: Most stores are closed. Students are in their homes, universities, offices, banks are closed. Maybe in a few days it will all open. They said like that, but I’m not sure.
Q: Are women going out? If yes, are they wearing Hijab?
A: Women are visible outside much but they are not wearing the Hijab the Taliban wants. The Taliban are saying nothing.
Q: Have the Taliban taken over the TV stations and what is on TV now?
A: They have stopped all the foreign serials and all that.
Q: If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
A: For now, India, then any other country.
Q: Did you ever read the Zbigniew Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998)?
A: No.
[For the reader’s information:]
The CIA intentionally lured the Soviets into their 1979 invasion
Please read the (translated) Zbigniew Brzezinski interview posted on both sites below. Does it appear the US lured the Soviets into their invasion or not?
https://archives.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html &
http://dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu/brzezinski_interview
Zbigniew Brzezinski was the former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter. He, his friends, corporate America, the CIA, and all the corrupt presidents caused the past 30 years of wars, suffering, death and poverty in Afghanistan. Please read the above linked document. The final sentence of that interview is enlightening in a horrifying way as very clearly shows the true nature of Euro-American Crusader practices.
The aforementioned collective also created the Taliban – however may have done a better job than they intended.
The CIA with Saudi finance created the first generation of Taliban
This writer accompanied by Pakistani military officers visited an Afghan refugee camp/Taliban training madrassa near Islamabad in November 1993. It was explained that “the Americans” in conjunction with Saudi finance were supporting these madrassas in an effort to train the refugees such that they would return to Afghanistan, end the civil war created by the vacuum created by the Soviet departure in 1989 and unify the nation. I was told “talib” means “student.”
At that time, I noticed there were no math, history or English language books, only rather small, possibly incomplete Quran. When I asked about this, I was informed this was upon the direction of the Saudis paying for the Madrassas. This “oversight” caused me some concern; however, I was a journalist and guest and not in a position to raise too many objections.
One can only wonder if the designers of the Taliban program thought about what would happen after the Taliban unified Afghanistan? The answer is probably “no.”
This, as of yesterday August 17 is the second time the Taliban have ended a civil war.
The Taliban leadership is older now, more sophisticated, in better touch with the world, and potentially supported by Russia and China if they can maintain peace. This time around it appears very different from the last time.
This time they are coming in granting pardons to former American collaborators and appear to be working for peace inside Afghanistan and with neighbors, as all Muslims should when not being attacked.
It is time to refocus on building Afghanistan back even greater than it was before, and historically Afghanistan was truly great!
Flashback to before Euro-American domination of the world
The glories of ancient Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s impact on world trade can be seen very far back in history. For example, the blue lapis lazuli stone in the famous funeral mask of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun was exported from Badakhshan in Afghanistan to Egypt in 1300 BC.
By the 2nd century BC, it is known that the trade routes stretched even as far as China. In 130 BC, a Chinese traveler named Zhang Qian, sent by the Chinese Emperor, established relations with the people living in north Afghanistan based around Balkh. He found that they were “shrewd traders” and that Balkh “had markets for the sale of all sorts of merchandise.”
Shortly after Zhang Qian’s mission, regular trade missions were set in train which allowed merchandise to pass all the way from China to the Roman Empire in the west, and the Silk Road network could be said to be fully in operation.
The Silk Road had its heyday from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD. In the area of Afghanistan at this time, the powerful Kushan Empire was in control, which ruled not only most of modern-day Afghanistan, but also parts of Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well.
A huge volume of goods passed through Kushan hands, including silk from China, rubies and lapis lazuli from Badakhshan, spices, ivory and chrysotile (used for making incombustible asbestos cloth) from India, silverwork from the Persian empire, and finished goods from the Roman empire – gold, cut gems, glass vessels, amber, frankincense, asbestos cloth, amphorae and statues.
Some of the magnificent wealth of Afghanistan in the Kushan period came to light in 1937, when the summer capital of the Kushan Empire – Kapisa, near Bagram – was excavated. Merchants’ warehouses were discovered containing goods from all over the ancient world: vividly painted and highly valuable glass vases from Syria and Egypt; hundreds of ivory carvings from India, many engraved with astonishingly fine workmanship; and even statues and dishes with images of Roman and Greek gods, imported all the way from Italy. The size and variety of the collection bears witness not only to the prosperity of Afghanistan at the time, but how connected it was to many far-flung places in the ancient world.
One of the best and more recent examples of this in Afghanistan was the Timurid Empire (late 14th to early 16th century) when the trade networks leading to the west and China were open. It was the time at which some of the greatest Islamic buildings were built, for example the Mosalla at Herat, and great Islamic writers such as Jami were working. However, thanks to the great level of trade in goods and ideas, the Islamic buildings at the time had Chinese patterns in their tile-work, and Mongol ideas of law from the steppe were incorporated into Islamic law.
https://unama.unmissions.org/afghanistan-and-silk-road-land-heart-world-trade-bijan-omrani
Just looking at the map of the land Silk Roads one sees Afghanistan is in the middle.
Of course, the CIA wanted to cause chaos and death in Afghanistan; to cut the Silk Roads in two and profit hugely from the war machine to sustain that criminal violence. There is also evidence the US systematically goes around causing conflicts in every country that participates in the Chinese led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) they possibly can. That the US feels so unable to compete fairly is pathetic, but pathetic is the new norm for the US these days, for example topping the John Hopkins COVID-19 death list this month again followed by India.
Cases | Deaths by Country/Region/Sovereignty
US
28-Day: 2,756,850 | 13,175
Totals: 36,891,023 | 622,437
India
28-Day: 1,076,357 | 17,597
Totals: 32,250,679 | 432,079
[Recorded 2021.08.17, 8:07 pm Beijing time]
The CIA from the beginning only cared about making the already super-rich Euro-Americans richer. They never cared who or how many they have to kill.
Reports that “The Western-backed former Afghan leader, Ashraf Ghani, departed his country with so much money that it couldn’t all fit on his helicopter, and he was forced to leave some cash at the airport…” are not surprising. Some in the government were probably sincere, but too many were obviously as totally corrupt as they possibly could be and everyone in the country knew it. Who wants to live in a foreign-backed kleptocracy? Not the workers. Not anyone with morality of any kind. The same thing happened in Vietnam. The US consistently supports kleptocracies around the world. Corruption is their middle name.
Let us please not be myopic about this.
Afghanistan was at most times in history peaceful, rich and beautiful before western nations grabbed the lion’s share of international trade some 500 years ago via cheaper maritime transportation. That was when the economies of the land Silk Road began to wither.
Afghanistan is now on the threshold of regaining that status again, given new cheaper, trans-continental land-based transportation systems led by China.
So, let’s just forget about the US for now and smile for a change at just the thought of the possibility of peace.
About going to Jumaat
In the above interview my friend said he would not go to Friday Prayer knowing the Taliban would probably have some influence on the Khutbahs (sermons) and he said he disliked the Taliban.
I can’t blame him.
So many people are killed in wars.
Some things cannot be forgiven. However, there is another side to this he might not have considered.
Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with practical realities.
First, we are the products of our learning. My friend grew up in a CIA designed test-tube, the western-backed government side in Afghanistan. The Taliban movement was a different test tube, designed to create peerless and ruthless warriors that would unify the nation. My friend’s education was the mirror opposite of the Taliban. It was meant to be that way. That is the way to feed the flames of war.
Likes and dislikes are for the wealthy and powerful. Males of his age may be viewed as most suspicious by the Taliban.
Humble and sincere Muslims accept realities and do not permit biases and past experiences to cloud our judgements as to the realities now. Jumaat prayer is obligatory.
I would advise him to be humble. The Taliban won the war. Euro-American pride is annoying at the best of times and deadly dangerous at other times.
The Taliban appear to be making an effort at peace.
That alone is worthy of RESPECT.
I’m no great Islamic scholar or intellectual. In fact, I’m an older retired journalist, university lecturer and sportsman. One thing I know is: win or lose, I show respect to my opponent.
For the sake peace, and our children and the Taliban’s children, let us all make the effort to put the past behind.
Wants to go to India?
Thinking like an American will not help. India, like the US is a fake democracy. The American fake democracy is totally controlled by the same corporations that control the CIA, and the newspapers and lured the Soviets into their invasion, created the Taliban, caused the subsequent American invasion and total failure, including abandoning practically all its friends there. The Indian fake democracy is a social media hypnosis created by the Hindutva that has brought enslavement to more Muslims than any other nation besides the US. Sorry if those facts upset anyone, but my sample of information concerning world affairs is simply larger than most people having lived and traveled on all continents since I was six years old in 1963.
I wrote this to my friend:
India is a fake democracy just like the US. The COVID-19 epidemic in India is totally out of control just like the US. COVID-19 is killing people faster than any and all wars in the world now. Why would you want to go to India of all places?
I'm sorry to say this bro, but the US is teetering on the edge of civil war too. The poor are angry, so angry and there are so many poor in ever-growing numbers. Gun sales have skyrocketed during COVID-19. Practically everyone is expecting a civil war.
Just the COVID-19 death statistics now in the US and India prove something very interesting about “liberal democracies.” The word “liberal” means “free,” and yet death is not freedom. It’s the total loss of freedom.
An ‘American’ perspective is not a healthy perspective. India’s caste system is apartheid as bad as South Africa’s and yet the US ignores it because it is a useful nuclear armed tool against China and Pakistan. It has also proven to be a useful tool in Afghanistan. Is that the basis of a truly healthy, halal relationship?
With the Hindutva in power India is a gigantic hell run by some of the most dangerous psychopathic lunatics on earth - just like the USA. If you are rich and Hindutva in India you will be fine. If you are rich, white and a fake-Christian in the US, you will be fine too. Neither country is for me thank you, and I think you would bitterly regret going to India or the US if you went to either place.
I'm sorry to tell you this, but you were raised on lies about the world, the US and India and need to reevaluate your perspectives on everything. Does this mean I like the Taliban?
The concepts of liking and not liking are too simple. The Taliban are complex.
I despise people who kill innocent people and they killed tens of thousands of innocents. The Americans however killed far more.
That is all totally haram.
And yet, the Taliban forced the American military out of Afghanistan and won the war. Also remember the CIA has killed uncounted millions of innocents since WWII, lured the Soviets into their Afghan invasion in the first place, and then created the Taliban to reunify Afghanistan during the civil wars that raged in the vacuum following the Soviet defeat!
Please do your best to forget about the US and India nightmares. Focus on positive things like rebuilding Afghanistan now that the nightmare war is over…
Pakistan and India
Imagine Pakistan's position. They have the Muslim-hating Hindutva torturing, raping and murdering Muslims in Kashmir on a daily basis on their eastern front for the past 76 years without any “free press” to report on it. Does anyone think Pakistan wants another American backed Indo-Afghanistan on the western side too? They will then be “in the jaws” of Muslim hating predatory carnivores.
Muslim hating Hindus? Everyone should read the book: The Travels of Ibn Battuta. (Don’t trust the PDF versions you can download from the Internet. They are heavily redacted.) Muslims have survived in India, but were very frequently targets even in the 13th Century. His first encounter was a robbery at sea that left him and everyone else naked on the ship.
During the time Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister (2004 to 2014) India's role in history was exemplary. But before and after? Terrible!
Thinking like an average CNN watching, beer drinking, opium smoking American and wishing to escape to a “liberal democracy” will not benefit modernist Afghans. Death by COVID-19 is unpleasant in any case.
Glass-like structures grow in your lungs and you die by drowning in your own lung fluids and blood. It’s one of the worst ways to die. What’s worse is the Delta variant that originated in India is being allowed to run rampant there and in other “liberal” democracies.
Perhaps that plan of going to India might need further consideration?
The biggest dangers
1) Can the Taliban leadership control their own men on the ground and for how long?
2) Can the leadership get the modernists on board? The Taliban leadership needs the modernists to a) help calm fears and b) help build Afghanistan into a model Islamic country. The current fears themselves can ignite the violence we all hate so much. Once the Taliban learn they can trust the modernists, and the modernists learn they can trust the Taliban, then all Afghans can work together to combat COVID-19 and build the beautiful new Afghanistan.
3) Given the CIA wants endless wars around the world, is it possible they will find a way to divide the Taliban tribes against each other? I pray not, but it is a possibility.
4) How intensely will the CIA agitate in Afghanistan. Imagine paying Afghans to raise the old flag. They know they might be shot or imprisoned, but the money will feed the family for years! Such betrayals are the CIA’s standard operating procedure (SOP). That’s what NED is all about.
What is the USA Now?
I dislike being the bearer of bad news but I think the modernists have to reconsider their values. What are Americans concerned about now?
1) Should I encourage my child to get a sex change operation?
2) Why do the prices of my drugs keep going up?
3) Should I get a COVID-19 vaccine or not?
4) Should I wear a mask or not?
5) How many more guns can I afford to buy?
And other such idiotic questions. They are lost.
Sorry to write this but in my opinion the USA is about to implode.
That would be tragic and I hope and pray that can be avoided. There are many good people in the USA but they are terribly naive having been raised on lies and half-truths told by corporate/CIA controlled news and government. The economy is in serious trouble and the government is being honest about precisely nothing these days. All aspects of life and the media have been weaponized to turn the US into the world’s most colossal predator.
Nobody needs to attack the USA. It is doing a fine job of destroying itself. They created too many killers and most of those killers are in the USA. It is a nation at war with itself with horrible drug, alcohol and COVID-19 problems. It is a hell-bound train.
They created wars in so many countries with their infinite greed, lies and betrayals and now that infinite rage and aggression is turning inward.
So, for now it’s best to try to forget the terror, pain and death they caused in Afghanistan and move forward towards positive goals, like building a new peaceful prosperous Afghanistan.
The modernists are not to blame for being hypnotized by the money, power and ‘sexy’ American illusions. Simultaneously there is much that is good in the modern world and to ignore it would be questionable at best, and most likely sinful.
The Holy Prophet Mohammad (ṣallā -llāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallama) was a modernist in most important ways. He, under the guidance of Allah (subḥānahu wa-taʿālā) instructed the young Ummah in many new ways that were very modern at the time, like being clean, and the Constitution of Medina (Dustūr al-Madīnah) that created the first tolerant pluralist state more than a thousand years before the UN Charter.
We all must face the realities of history and today. But we cannot allow ourselves to be trapped by those histories either.
Let all of us who love Afghanistan have joy in our hearts and thank Allah! The war is over, Insha’Allah.
Even one day of peace is better than any day during the past 30 years.
If we live, we live. If we die, we die. Kun Faya Kun. But if we make peace? Then we enjoy the blessings of Allah and that should be the object of our heart’s desire.
Think positive. Focus on the dream of building a positive, beautiful, new Afghanistan that is the trade center of the world and true symbol of the peace of Islam.
The Quran and Peace
Whoever pardons and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from God. (Holy Quran 42:40)
Obey Allah and His messenger, and do not quarrel with one another, for you will despair and your strength will go… (Holy Quran 8:46)
The servants of The Compassionate are those who walk upon the earth in humility. When the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace”. (Holy Quran 25:63)
But if the enemy inclines towards peace, you (also) incline towards peace… (Holy Quran 8:61)
And if two parties of the believers fall to mutual fighting, make peace between them. If either of them commits aggression against the other, fight against the aggressors till they submit to the judgment of Allah. When they submit, make peace between them in equity and justice; surely Allah loves those who do justice. (Holy Quran 49:9)
Do not spread disorder on the earth after it has been set in order…(Holy Quran 7:56)
All people of moral conscience should hope and pray all Afghans join together to fight COVID-19, poverty and social, ethnic and economic inequalities.
About the author
The name on my passport is Gregory Brundage.
I prefer the name Abdul Rashid bin Abdullah. I converted to Islam in 1987, am 65 years old and have lived in China for 12 years. I worked as a journalist in several American wars, but never worked for a Euro-American newspaper, except my first. It was an African American newspaper. I only left there to work in South Asia in 1992.
Some of my (unpaid) work can be found here:
Finally, Jazak Allahu Khayran to the Taliban leadership for bringing a peaceful last chapter to the past long terrible wars in Afghanistan. My Afghan friends may not completely understand now, but for me it has been a long road from 1993 when I first met the Taliban and for the moment at least, I am happy.