Reviewed by Dr. Walid A. Majid, Yale
University August 1995
I think it was Winston Churchill who claimed at some point
in his life that he was bitten by a black dog. A few years ago, I had
heard that a UN official had made a remark to the same effect about the
Afghan population as whole. It may not be an exaggeration to say that
almost every Afghan, who cares about that devestated home of ours and who
anguishes over the loss of over two million of our brothers and sisters,
either has been or is going through some state of mental depression. We
really are a nation in need of a miracle cure.
I found some free time this summer and read the new book
by Prof. Barnett Rubin of Columbia University, The Fragmentation of
Afghanistan. This is his third book about Afghanistan and its heart
wrenching stories. His second book, A Nation is Dying, is the story of our
brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers as they are told by some of
the survivors of that maniacal and sadistic communist regime.
When I started reading Dr. Rubin's new book I was
anticipating another journey through the darkened alleys of life. Yet,
only after reading the first three pages I was lifted in pride, as he
quotes Kipling's famous ballad: Oh, East is East, and West is West, and
never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at
God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West,
Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to
face, though they come from the ends of the earth!
He follows it by Kipling's other famous poem. This one, my
favorite, about an Afghan woman: When you're wounded and left on
Afghanistan's plains, And the women come out to cut up what
remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains An'
go to your Gawd like a soldier.
The impression that our mothers and fathers of the past
left on the invading armies as they defended their country and religion so
that we, their children would be free, is a source of pride to us all.
Soon however, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan takes a
turn more appropriate for its name. The first third of the book is mainly
devoted to the days of the Zahir Shah's regime and the politics of those
days as the new revolutionaries were born in the corridors of Kabul
University. Most of the material is fairly well known in Afghan circles as
to how and why the communists and the so called Islamists were formed,
evolved and sponsered by foreign governments up to the end of Daoud's
regime.
The second third of the book is devoted to the evolution
of the communists from the day they took over as Marxist revolutionary
atheists to the days when Najib was quoting the Holy Quran. Dr. Rubin does
a very good job of explaining the changes in the regimes policies as
manifestations of the larger changes in international politics. The reader
also gets a very quantitative feel for the decline of the Afghan economy
and the overwhelming control the Soviets over its communist puppets.
The last third of the book is a jounrney into the life and
politics of tanzeems and the involvement of the Pakistani ISI in the day
to day operations of the tanzeems. Unfortunately, though most of the
analysis is done by giving too much weight to ethnic divisions. Although
the tanzeems were organized by the Pakistani intelligence circles to
purposely and artificially enhance ethnic rivalries and differences, the
true story of tanzeems cannot escape the predominant factor in their
policies and their politics, which was their greed and hunger for raw
power and wealth. The past two years of shifting alignments between these
groups serves as more testimony to the thesis that so called ethnic
policies are only tactics for enhancing each group's position as needed
and is not a fundamental source of the current conflict.
My only apprehension of the book is due to this over
emphasis of ethnic based analysis of many issues and events. His book is
the first one in which I have seen tables upon tables of ethnic makeup of
different administrations and tanzeems and parties. In general though Dr.
Rubin's book is very informative and educational. As usual I was very
impressed and envious by Dr. Rubin's depth of knowledge about that land we
call home. His overwhelming wealth of knowledge and the list of sources
becomes quite apparent and impressive in the pages of his latest book.
As predicted after finishing the book I was still feeling
what millions of us Afghans feel everyday. When will this nightmare end?
And when will they stop this shameful and costly thirst for money and
power at the expense of innocent children, women and men of all ages, all
walks of life and all proud Afghan ethnic groups. I hope and pray that
happiness will once again shine in our hearts and in our souls and that
our country will be free and united and worthy of the two millions sons
and daughters she lost.