Looks and expressions | Afghanistan and the prisons of Zidane!

Talking about Afghanistan is a talk of turmoil, as soon as you open its door so you can’t close it again, the turmoil of turbulent beginnings and unknown endings, bitter, cruel, hot afflictions, dyed with the blood of criminals, heroes, martyrs, innocents, and the torments of the displaced and immigrants, the afflictions of heroism and steadfastness in the face of the mightiest empires, the passions of rosy dreams Loud wishes are shattered on the rock of dull reality, and disappear under the rubble of ruin, the flames of conflicts and the frivolous ambitions, the cunning of the political cunning and the naive fools of the simple, passionate and commanded agents, the grief of the honest people who responded to the calls that filled the squares, media fronts, and the pulpits of preachers in their countries, for the victory of their religion and their brothers. The mournful mercenaries, agents, and cowards throng the roads, gathering information and sending reports in preparation for a fateful moment. It is a sad hadith that was sparked by the publication of the book “The Long Summer of Afghanistan: From Jihad to Emirate.”A few days ago, the respected journalist and colleague Dr. Ahmed Mowaffaq Zeidan, the former director of Al Jazeera's office in Pakistan.

The book is truly a unique encyclopedia of its kind, and no Arab or non-Arab has preceded it in this way, and it is indispensable in the Afghan issue in general, and in the Afghan political Islam groups in particular, and depends on the informational narrative derived from direct contact with the events, or from the people involved in its manufacture. , avoiding, to a large extent, the analysis and the narrative of points of view.

unique encyclopedia

Dr. Zidan spent more than 35 years in close coexistence and specialized coverage of Afghan and Pakistani affairs. In his early years, he was focused on covering the events and developments of what was known at that time as the Afghan jihad, with a special interest in the Afghan Islamic movement, its emergence and development, and its internal and external relations. There is no mention of this field that he did not pick up, and there is no opportunity to meet with one of the personalities unless he conducts a lengthy or brief talk with him, and there is no reference from books, magazines or newspapers that he does not acquire. Besides being a journalist committed to providing the needs of the media institutions with which he works, he was A dedicated and unique researcher in the Afghan Islamic Movement file.

After years of effort and perseverance, this unique reference book, which no one has preceded, neither Arab nor non-Arab, came to light, to chronicle the emergence of the Islamic movement in Afghanistan, its development, and its regularity in military action in the face of the communist rule, and then its declaration of jihad against the former Soviet Union after its occupation Afghanistan, forcing him to withdraw, and then the disintegration of its contract and its winding down, to be replaced by the Taliban movement with its strict Islamic orientation and its totalitarian political idea.

The book came in about 500 pages of medium size, divided into 7 chapters. The first and second chapters dealt with the emergence of the Islamic movement in Afghanistan, the manner in which it took place, the stages it passed through and the intellectual currents that affected it, especially the thought of Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb and Abu al-Ala al-Mawdudi. , leading to the formation of political parties and their military formations, and the beginnings of their regularity in the regional and international political game. The author enumerated 4 stages that the Islamic movement has gone through since its inception: latency, emergence, motivation, and onslaught, before it reached unexpected ends.

The third, fourth and fifth chapters dealt with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in December 1979, and its final withdrawal in February 1989, and the ensuing political chaos and armed conflicts. The third chapter, which came under the name "Years of Embers", covered the popular uprising in all Afghan states In 1979, especially after the Herat massacre, which came in response to the popular uprising that was established there against communist rule, and this massacre claimed more than 5,000 civilians under the bombing of planes and the ramming of tanks.

These uprisings accelerated the entry of Soviet forces to support the coup of Communist President Babark Karmel against his predecessor, Hafizullah Amin, who was prime minister under President Nur Muhammad Taraki before he turned against him. Taraki, in turn, turned against President Muhammad Daoud in 1978, the cousin of King Zahir Shah , who ruled the country from 1933-1973 AD, and overthrew his cousin while he was on a vacation trip in Italy. This chapter reviews the details of the expansion of the war in Afghanistan in all the states, between the Afghan mujahideen and the government forces backed by the Soviet forces, and the details of the American and Western support for the mujahideen through Pakistan and the Arab countries, which opened the door wide for their citizens and humanitarian organizations to contribute to supporting the Afghan jihad with all kinds of support.

The Afghan Islamic movement was organized as a whole in the Afghan jihad, and it became a peer-to-peer of the second power in the world at that time, and the Islamic movement found in the furnace of two fires, the fire of a raging war that claimed the lives of about a million and a quarter of a million Afghans, and the ruthless struggle of regional and international interests. The fourth chapter presents the details of what happened in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet forces, and the fall of the capital, Kabul, into the hands of the Mujahideen, as the supporters abandoned them and the financial support gradually decreased until it stopped, and they entered into armed conflicts between the two parties of the Islamic Society led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, and the Islamic Party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and they failed. In agreeing on a political project that would fill the vacuum and achieve stability and security for Afghanistan, which the Afghan Islamic movement was not prepared for on the ideological, educational and organizational levels.

As for the sixth and seventh chapters, they dealt with the emergence of the Taliban movement and its rapid seizure of power in Afghanistan, putting an end to the chaos and insecurity that spread in Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul in the hands of the mujahideen and their preoccupation with their internal conflicts, as well as the relationship of Osama bin Laden with the movement, and the events of September 2001 that It followed the bombing of the two international trade towers in New York, where the United States and the international alliance with it occupied Afghanistan after it destroyed the headquarters of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, to begin new chapters in the history of Afghanistan under the protection of the international coalition forces led by the United States, placing itself again in the face of the remnants of the Taliban who took refuge in the mountains , to reorganize their ranks and stand an impenetrable obstacle to the United States in achieving its goals and restoring stability in Afghanistan until today.

I was hoping that this book had been published 10 years ago today, so that the war leaders in the Arab countries that are still burning with their conflicts could benefit from it. The book was full of great lessons about the absurdity of these conflicts, and the scenes that their eyes do not see due to the irritability and frenzy that surrounds them, and the connections regional and international captivating them.

eloquent lessons

Dr. Zaidan was not limited to the path of the emergence of the political, dynamic and Taliban line in Afghanistan, but rather dealt with all the regional and international events and changes simultaneous with it and directly affecting it, especially with regard to the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States over the region, and the dramatic successive changes in Pakistan and Iran, as well as The roles of the Arab countries allied to the United States of America. The book came as an encyclopedic in a unique way, and it was not preceded by any Arab or non-Arab, and it is indispensable in the Afghan issue in general, and in the Afghan political Islam groups in particular, relying on the informational narrative derived from direct coverage of the events, or from the people involved in making them, avoiding the Too much to engage in analyzes and narrate viewpoints. Dr. Zeidan has comforted future generations, when they need to know and understand this extended era.

The chapters of this valuable book, which this article does not have the capacity to introduce, let alone present it, ends and the chapters of the Afghan issue remain open and not finished yet. The Taliban movement, which bears the general orientation from which the Afghan Islamic movement started to establish an Islamic state, is still opposing the Afghan government and insisting on Responding to its requests, and removing foreign forces from it, and here are the American forces and the coalition forces preparing to leave Afghanistan, amid the increasing military operations between the Afghan government and the Taliban movement, without any indications on the horizon that herald a solution soon, achieving stability, launching development, and building the state of Afghanistan that The new generations and the families of the one and a quarter million dead who have been in the throes of ideological struggles for more than half a century are looking forward to it, vying for power, with different intentions for each of them.

I was hoping that this book had been published 10 years ago today, so that the war leaders in the Arab countries that are still burning with their conflicts could benefit from it. The book was full of valuable historical experiences and eloquent lessons about the absurdity of these conflicts, conveying to them the scenes that their eyes do not currently see. As a result of the irritability and frenzy that surrounds them, and the regional and international ties that take them away from the aspirations of their peoples and their homelands.

I told a colleague at the beginning of the “Syrian Civil War” in 2012, “The Afghanistan book has now been reopened in Syria, and its chapters will follow in succession, and no one but God knows when it will end. And here is the book in your hands. It happened and is happening with you right now."

Perhaps we will find out the details of these experiences and lessons in another article, God willing.