The A-war

In 1979, as Soviet Tanks rolled into Afghanistan, the might of the Capitalist West united under the leadership of US to turn Afghanistan into the Soviet Union's Vietnam. With every passing year, the US and its allies, notably Saudi Arabia pumped in money to create the Frankenstein's monster they called Mujaheddin. With every Soviet helicopter downed and Soviet soldier killed, the Mujaheddin gained prestige and power. The Soviets pumped money and resources, but they were no match for the Afghans, indoctrinated against the godless Communists in Pakistani refugee camps. Then, Gorbachev came to power and winds of change started blowing across the Soviet Union. Afghanistan suddenly became a black hole from which the Soviets desperately wanted to extricate themselves. The Geneva accords were hastily concluded and the last Soviet soldier walked out of Afganistan in 1989, bringing the war to an abrupt end. 

The war came to an end, but the suffering continued. Afghanistan found itself with millions of armed zealots who wanted to preach the word of Allah at gunpoint. Within Afghanistan, they fought government and each other, but they felt stifled, as if their wings had been cut. In the meanwhile, the Soviet behemoth collapsed and the façade of unity that had bound the so-called 'Unbreakable Union of the free republics' fell apart. The Armenians and Azerbaijanis were at each other's throats and the Muslim Caucasus was on fire. At about the same time, Yugoslavia imploded with Serbs, Croats and Bosnians ravaging each other. The Mujaheddin suddenly found themselves a job. Much like the Iranian revolution had spread political Islam in the Middle East, the Mujaheddin sought to promote their brand of Salafi, Saudi-style Islam to the newly liberated Muslim territories of the past. Bands of Mujaheddins swooped into Bosnia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Uzbekistan and even far away Somalia to create a Grand Islamic Emirate, a la Caliphate of the Islamic Golden period. Backed by their financiers in Saudi Arabia and their mentors in Pakistan, the Mujaheddins proliferated their ideas to unemployed and disenchanted Muslim youth in Europe, Asia and Africa, creating terrorists who ultimately struck at the heart of America on 9/11. From Kashmir to Kent, radicalized youth made terrorism a very live and real threat.

The US invaded Afghanistan to avenge for the 9/11 attacks within 12 years of Soviet withdrawal. The tables had now turned. Friends had become implacable foes. For more than a decade now, US and its NATO allies have propped up the Karzai regime, much like the Soviet backed regimes of Karmal and Najibullah. Obama now says that the Afghans must take control of their destiny. He wants the allies out of Afghanistan by next year, leaving behind a weak, venal and inefficient administration that will probably collapse within months of US withdrawal, if the Taliban choose to attack. With Afghanistan once again in the hands of the Taliban, history will repeat itself. An entire swathe of territory from South Asia to Europe will be destabilized. More blood will be spilled in the streets of Grozny, Srinagar, Mogadishu, even London and Paris and probably even Islamabad and Riyadh.

The Americans must not repeat the mistake made by Soviets a quarter of century ago. Afghanistan must be stabilized as a modern, prosperous and strong nation capable of looking after its own interests and handling its treacherous southern neighbor. A failed Afghanistan, once again, will be too costly a proposition for the world. 

Whither Marx?

Yesterday would have been Marx's 130th birthday. For a man whose ideas drastically changed the world as we know it, the occasion was a muted affair. Ever since popular movements toppled the so-called Marxist regimes in the late 80s and early 90s, Marxism has become a much maligned term. For neo-liberals, Marxism is the philosophy that gave rise to totalitarian dictatorships that butchered the voices of free people and tried to stamp out their conscience. Marxism, for them, is the evil that spawned murderous movements such as Stalinism and Maoism that claimed millions of lives in the name of building an equal society. For left-leaning intellectuals, Marxism is nothing less than the word of God. It showed that poor could take power and break out of the shackles of poverty and superstition that they had been confined to by the rich and the men of God.

Marx's theory was simple yet inspiring. He talked about giving power to the dispossessed, to those at the bottom of the social hierarchy and to those who toiled. He thundered that the workers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains, creating a wave of consciousness among the powerless that culminated in epoch making events such as the Bolshevik and the Chinese revolutions that shocked the old world. He questioned the hold of religion on people's life and asked people to shun a God that had deprived them so and do all it takes to rise up and take power. He inveighed against the petty national interests and was one of the first 'internationalists'. At the end of it all, Marx wanted a classless world, where all would be equal, all resources would be shared and all needs would be met… "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need", such that over a period of time, a true stateless society would evolve.

So, where is Marxism today. Critics argue that the shrieks of the victims of Marxism from Soviet Union to Cambodia to Cuba to Angola amply demonstrate the ills of Marxism. Marxists claim that these were all disguised Marxist states, widely at odds with what Marx propounded. The burgeoning bureaucracy of the Communist states, for instance was diametrically opposite to what Marx had proposed. Similarly, the replacement of the old aristocratic ruling classes, with the Communist nomenklatura is not something that Marx would have appreciated. Yet, in many areas such as general economics and welfare, these states toed the Marxist line. Centralization of means of production, abolition of private property, right to education, work etc. were areas in which the so-called Communist states were pioneers.

Probably, Marxism was much too idealistic to be sustainable. Probably, as long as man exists, there will be exploitation and oppression. But the very fact is that Marx's ideas inspired millions of people across the globe to rise up, throw off the yoke of tyranny and challenge their fates to create an equal society for themselves meant that the ideals of Marxism could fire the imagination of people. Even though Marx is long gone and his ideas are being discredited today, the impact that he has had on the Capitalist world cannot be challenged. The emergence of rabidly fanatic communist cadres, hell bent on the destruction of status quo forced the ruling classes to accept the concept of equality of masses and led ultimately to the emergence of social-democratic ideologies which offered a mid way between the exploitative policies of Capitalism and the revolutionary Marxist ideology.

The spectre of Communism no longer haunts the world today, but the call that galvanized millions in the last century, continues to inspire the downtrodden even today.... "Workers of the world..... Unite!"