لراوبر ویب پاڼه لراوبر يو افغان – تازه خبرونه
In The Name Of Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful
HRH King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud
P.O. Box 149
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
February 1, 2010
RE: Upcoming Afghan Peace Plan Jirga
Your Excellency:
My name is Abdul Kadir Mohmand. I am the founder of the Afghan Peace Plan Jirga that was held on January 2, 2010 in Hayward, California. I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During the 1980s, I was the Representative of the Afghan Mujahideen for North America. Also, in the 1980s through 1988, I returned to Afghanistan on various occasions to do my duty and fight against the Soviet occupiers and Afghan Communists.
The United States and NATO are sending Mr. Karzai to you to help them because they are in deep trouble. If the West’s occupation and war continues indefinitely it becomes more of a financial hardship on them. It will be a repeat of what happened to the Soviet Union. It is common knowledge that the Afghan Mujahideen, the freedom fighters, are asking for three things: (1) a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan; (2) the release of their prisoners; and (3) removal of their names from any black lists. The West wants the Mujahideen to surrender their weapons and respect the constitution, which was imposed upon the Afghans by the United States and NATO and is not Islamic. These conditions are not acceptable to the Afghan people including the freedom fighters. At the Afghan Summit in London, on January 28, 2010, Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that if the Afghan Freedom Fighters do not accept these conditions then he will punish them. I believe he means he will escalate his war crimes against the Pashtun. Mr. Karzai announced he would hold an Afghan Peace Plan Jirga in the spring. He cannot bring all parties, such as the Mujahideen, to the table because he has Afghan blood on his hands and has sold himself to the West. Someone who does not have Afghan blood on their hands and who has not sold himself to the foreigners needs to hold such a jirga. Currently, I along with some other Afghan brothers, who do not have Afghan blood on their hands and who have not sold themselves to foreigners, are in the process of working on another Afghan Peace Plan Jirga to be held inside Afghanistan. I am not looking for any personal benefit or position. I just want true peace in and the independence of my motherland.
If you want true peace and independence for the Afghans and you choose to involve yourself in this proposed peace process, then you must follow the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah. I believe that the United States and NATO need to sit at the table with the Afghan Mujahideen. Mr. Karzai does not as he is just a corrupt puppet representative of the West and the majority of the Afghan people do not see him as president. The real parties trying to control Afghanistan are the United States and NATO. Therefore, they are the ones who need to directly negotiate with the Mujahideen if any peace jirga or talks are held in Saudi Arabia or anywhere.
As far as any national Afghan peace jirga inside Afghanistan, there cannot be a peace jirga when there is the foreign occupation of Afghanistan with its troops waging war against the Afghans, because there is no true independence. There is no democracy. The foreign occupation must end and all foreign troops removed before the Afghans can sit amongst themselves and discuss peace and reconciliation without foreign interference and foreign agendas. It must not be a repeat of Bonn in 2001, where foreigners and bordering countries’ representatives interfered and imposed their own geo -political, geo-military and economic agendas on theAfghans.
For several years, I have been working to put together and hold an Afghan Peace Plan Jirga here in the United States at which Afghan intellectuals, who do not have Afghan blood on their hands and who have not sold themselves to foreigners, discuss and draft a plan for true peace and long term stability for the Afghan people. On January 2, 2010, in Hayward, California, Afghan intellectuals from around the world successfully gathered, discussed, and formulated a declaration at our Afghan Peace Plan Jirga for true peace and long term stability in Afghanistan. This Jirga was not sponsored and did not belong to any political party, any specific politician, government, or group. I appreciate all of those Afghan brothers and sisters who helped me organize it in California and donated their time and those who attended. As a law abiding person only exercising my First Amendment rights, I was saddened by the fact that the United States and others directed some Afghan agents to spy on the participants at the meeting and to try to interfere with the agenda. Despite the efforts by some to hijack our Jirga, the meeting went forward and was a success. The Declaration from this Jirga is included at the end of my letter. This Jirga was solely for peace and to please Almighty Allah.
The United States invaded Afghanistan to fight Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and terrorism. No in reality they are fighting Islam as evidenced by Bush’s reference to the operation as a “crusade” and references to Bible verses etched into the scopes of US guns. Second, because of Afghanistan’s geographical location, bordering or close proximity to five countries with nuclear weapons, Pakistan, India, China, Russia and soon to be Iran, the United States wants a long term presence in and influence over Afghanistan for foreign policy goals . Furthermore, the United States wants a permanent military presence in Afghanistan because of the importance of the Caspian Sea Region’s gas and oil, and the oil fields of the nearby Middle East. The Afghans by God’s Law have the right to defend themselves and their country. Who is conducting terrorism in Afghanistan? The military operations of the West and NATO with their carpet bombs and uranium tipped weapons or the Afghan civilians, who are the “collateral damage”? I want peace and long term stability in Afghanistan, my motherland.
Thus, since the Soviet invasion, I have dedicated my life to the attainment of a peaceful and free Afghanistan. However, stability and peace will not happen because there cannot be a democracy and true free elections when Afghanistan is occupied by foreign troops, who are waging war against its people and stealing its natural resources and treasures. During the past thirty years, the Afghan people have suffered too much for too long. Now, it has been eight years since the United States invaded Afghanistan and treated Afghans as scapegoats for the tragic events on 9/11/2001. Thus far the Afghans have only experienced destruction, genocide, corruption, and many false and unfulfilled promises under the West’s invasion and occupation. As observed in the recent “farcical” election, many Afghans did not get fooled and did not participate. This election was a mockery. Many Afghans realized that there is no democracy and free elections in their country when foreign armies control their country’s “sovereignty” and foreign soldiers bring terror to their daily lives. This recent election with its corrupt puppet government clearly shows why the foreign troops must leave Afghanistan. Without the removal of all foreign troops and the ending of foreign interference there can be no peace, no stability, no free elections, no prosperity and no independence for the Afghan people.
Instead of prosecuting Karzai for corrupt election practices, he is still in power as the United States’ representative. There will be more bloodshed because the Afghans will not accept any government, consisting of puppets, warlords, communists, war criminals, or one installed by foreigners. They will not accept any government until there is justice. The Afghan resistance now fighting the NATO and US forces is not Taliban. Rather, it is simply villagers, who are tired of foreign occupiers committing crimes against their families and tribes and dropping carpet bombs on their villages. They remember what the Northern Alliance, under the US war campaign and protection, did to them at Dasht-e-Laila. Many of the resistant fighters are the relatives of and tribal members of the Pashtun Muslim men , who laid down their weapons as requested by the West in 2001 and were then placed in containers and murdered by the Northern Alliance along with the US and UN forces in violation of international law. If peace and stability are truly to be in Afghanistan, then the world’s leaders need to follow the example presently set forth in Rwanda. The top military leaders and government architects need to be prosecuted for war crimes committed from 1978 to the present, including those individuals responsible for the war crimes committed at Dasht-e-Laila. Justice has never been brought for the Afghan victims. Without justice through lawful prosecution, there can never be peace and stability in Afghanistan. Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Jewish people have all been provided with justice through lawful prosecutions in international courts. The Afghan victims of war crimes have never been given justice. Therefore, they will continue to fight. To achieve peace and long term stability, the war criminals must be prosecuted and a loya jirga must be held with participants consisting of Afghan intellectuals, who do not have Afghan blood on their hands.
If the Afghan Freedom Fighters cut the West’s supply lines in Afghanistan and obtain anti-aircraft weapons as they did in the 1980s against the Soviets, then the United States will experience the same problems that the Soviet Union did in the late 1980s and 1990s.I do “not” want to see this kind of military action happen, because Afghanistan is my motherland and the United States is my children’s homeland. I only want to see peace for the two countries. We, the Afghan intellectual people, are capable of rebuilding our country without foreign interference. We are capable of organizing and holding our own jirgas. For centuries, we have done that on our own. In the jirga, we can look inward to our Islamic and Afghan roots and history and make the necessary changes to bring peace without puppets, war criminals, and foreigners. Once the foreign troops withdraw and there is no longer foreign occupation, then the current Afghan freedom fighters must be a part of a “national” jirga in order for the process to work.
In my opinion, escalating the war on terror in Afghanistan by sending more troops there is not the right strategy. Conducting war crimes prosecutions in lawful tribunals and the holding of a loya jirga by Afghan intellectuals, which includes current freedom fighters, are the right strategies. These two processes would truly be the first steps towards peace and long term stability for the Afghan people. These steps have been skipped-probably intentionally- for various foreign policy reasons and foreign countries’ benefit.
I have also included in my letter my earlier talking points for Afghanistan.
First, the Afghan people and the United States need change. The Obama Administration can bring that positive change with your help and the help of a team of respected Afghan intellectual leaders. The Afghan people have suffered too much for too long. It is inhumane and intolerable to allow their suffering to continue. The United States’ citizens are compassionate people and are concerned that their tax dollars are used to achieve reconstruction and long term stability in Afghanistan. There is still the opportunity to adopt and implement a new coherent strategy, which is capable of producing tangible results on the ground, helps the Afghan people achieve justice, and one that builds a functioning, legitimate state and coordinates the legitimate interests of the regional and global powers in Afghanistan with the interests of the Afghan people. To achieve peace and long term stability in Afghanistan there must be a new perspective, new policies, new approaches, new players, new Afghan leaders, and a new view on the prosecution of war criminals from 1978 to the present. Justice, peace, reconstruction, an Afghanistan that is not a training ground for foreign terrorists, and long term stability can be achieved, but not by continuing to pump more money and troops into an Afghanistan under a failed Karzai government and Zalmay Khalilzad’s failed Bonn government and policies. I along with many other educated Afghans are highly disappointed because President Obama has not taken the right steps yet, but there is still time.
Second, the present Afghan government is ineffective and corrupt. It cannot govern and bring about that positive change. The Karzai government has no effective control over more than two thirds of Afghanistan. It is a failed state with no legitimacy. It is not viable. Domination of the Karzai government by war lords, human rights abusers, war criminals and communists from the 1980s, such as Rashid Doshtum, drug traffickers, and wide spread corruption within the institutional structure of the state have undermined any trust, respect or confidence the Afghan people have in the current government. Monies for reconstruction are flowing into personal bank accounts, private militias, and the illicit drug trade. The Afghan people and the United States’ citizens have not received what they expected from the Karzai government. Heavy reliance upon foreign occupiers, dominance of human rights abusers, drug traffickers, Northern Alliance, and communist war criminals from the 1980s in top government positions, all have eroded any moral underpinnings of the Karzai government’s legitimacy.
Third, to achieve a positive change, the Pashtuns, the native population and the majority ethnic group, must not be sidelined. Under Zalmay Khalilzad and the Northern Alliance’s approach, the majority Pashtun have been sidelined from true participation in the Afghan government. They have created a climate of corruption and too much backlash against the majority Pashtun. Mr. Khalilzad was a key player and architect of the Bonn government and that jirga process, which has failed the Afghan people because of the dominance of the Afghan communist war criminals, Northern Alliance, and foreign nations, such as Iran, U.S. , and Pakistan’s, participation in and control over the process. False information has been provided by the Northern Alliance and Khalilzad to the West to create the sidelining of Pashtuns and the backlash against them. Zalmay Khalilzad helped make a government of well known war lords, human rights abusers, communist war criminals from the 1980s and drug traffickers.Mr. Khalilzad and others do not have the respect for the Afghan people. They do not know and follow the Pashtunwali Code. The Pashtuns must not be sidelined from true participation in any future elections and governments. Currently, in the Helmand Valley, Jalalabad and other Pashtun areas, the Pashtun tribes and villages , who are resisting because of war crimes committed against them, are being attacked, bombed and murdered by NATO, the Afghan Forces dominated by the Northern Alliance, and US forces , during this critical time leading up to elections. Once again, the Pashtuns are being sidelined. They will not be able to and will not participate in the election. This strategy is the wrong strategy and it will not bring peace and long term stability to Afghanistan, the region, and the world. History has shown there can be no peace without justice. It is not just to scapegoat the Pashtuns !
Fourth, to effectuate positive change, it must be made known that the present resistance inside Afghanistan to the Karzai government and foreign occupation consist of ordinary Pashtun villagers. Treating the Taliban as al Qaeda is a mistake, and treating the Pashtun as the Taliban is another. One of the major causes for the instability and resistance is the fact that the Pashtun have been sidelined and scape goated. The Pashtun villagers are frustrated with the backlash brought about by the Northern Alliance, the corrupt ineffective Karzai government, and the foreign military occupation – its air strikes and bombardments of their villages, “collateral damage”, killing of Pashtun civilians, aggressive, arbitrary searches of homes and seizures of Pashtuns from their villages, and overall hostile tactics. The occupying foreign forces and the Northern Alliance are acting like the Soviet Union and Afghan Communists in the 1980s. As history has shown, the Pashtuns will resist if treatment continues as is. Peace and long term stability will not happen. There can be no peace and stability without justice.
Fifth, there has been little reconstruction in Afghanistan under Bush and Obama, the Karzai government and the current approaches. Before the foreign invasions and occupations, Afghanistan was a beautiful garden. Now it is a toxic landfill. A few corrupt war lords in Kabul are building big buildings, but when one tours the majority of Kabul and the country side it is like a landfill. A dumping ground for super powers’ weaponry- present Western uranium tipped ones and the Communists’ mines and other weapons and chemicals with civilians as the targets. Afghan people live in garbage and drink polluted water. The Kabul River is a polluted disgrace. Where are the newly built sewers and water systems? Presently, there still is pollution, contamination and utter destruction of the infrastructure. There is widespread corruption with the aid funds and monies going into governmental leaders’ and their families’ and friends’ pockets and personal bank accounts. There are corrupt foreign contractors financially benefitting at the expense of the Afghan people’s continued misery. To win the Afghan people’s hearts and minds there needs to be economic success and true reconstruction. Then, there will be positive change. This success has not happened under the Karzai government and its failed policies and practices. I am sad to say it will not happen under Obama’s current approach.
Sixth, for positive change, the Obama Administration must open a sincere channel with respected Afghan intellectual leaders. These Afghan leaders will pave the way for negotiation with the Afghan resistance, which must be included in a comprehensive settlement. These respected Afghan intellectual leaders, need to be part of the team that meets with you, the Obama Administration, and the current Afghan Freedom Fighters. These leaders must be respected and known to the Afghans as good people and have the trust of the Afghan freedom fighters.
Seventh, this respected intellectual Afghan team will negotiate with all parties to ensure:
· A transitional Afghan administration to replace the current Kabul government. This administration does not represent any coalition of parties involved in the Afghan conflict. It does not represent any faction, party, ethnic group, or foreign interest. After amending the current constitution, it will leave power for an elected government.
· Justice for the Afghan people through lawful prosecution of war criminals from 1978 to the present through international tribunals.
· A new transitional government must be restructured so it is not a current war lords’ dominated government based on ethnicity, race, gender, language or gun power. It should be based on qualification, professionalism, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.
· A viable Afghan state needs to be non-aligned and neutral like Switzerland, having good relations with its neighbors and be a good partner with the international community. Furthermore, the neighbors of Afghanistan must pledge not to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. The UN Security Council must guarantee this assurance of non-interference. Afghanistan has an important strategic and economic location situated at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, China, Iran and the Gulf. A stable Afghanistan can play a positive role in the stability and prosperity of the region. Afghanistan can be stable only when non-aligned. Afghanistan has become a problem for its people and others when its neutrality has been disturbed. The interference of Great Britain in the 19th century, the Soviet Union in the 20th century, its neighbors and the US occupation in the 21st century have placed Afghanistan and the region in chaos.
· All foreign troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in a reasonable time frame. No permanent foreign troop bases in Afghanistan.
· All non-Afghan armed individuals or groups leave Afghanistan.
· Address the internal and external refugee problem. The return of the Pashtuns , who were displaced by the Northern Alliance and Western forces, to their properties and villages.
· Give Afghans hope for the future instead of using the strategy of humiliation and scape goating, bombardment, and military force.
· Having good relations and working with the international community.
· Eliminating corruption.
· Reconstruct and rebuild Afghanistan. Aid must be channeled through a single multi-donor trust fund. The fund must be administered under a 5-year comprehensive post-war reconstruction plan prepared by the Afghan government similar to the Marshal Plan. This type of structured economic reconstruction will help make Afghanistan stable. It will help tackle the narcotics problem, the widespread corruption, the human rights abuses, and the violence.
Please do what is right and just for the Afghan people, who have suffered so much during these past four decades. All I want is to see justice for the Afghan people, and peace and stability in Afghanistan, my motherland, before I die. I want my children to be able to visit a peaceful, stable and free Afghanistan. Help rebuild my beautiful garden.
Below is the Declaration (English Translation) made by the honorable Afghan intellectual participants at the January 2, 2010, Afghan Peace Plan Jirga in Hayward, California. After the recitation of verses of the Holy Qu’ran and speeches by prominent Afghan intellectuals, the participants made the following declaration:
1. “The Peace Plan Jirga declared the occupation of Afghanistan is a violation of international law.
2. The Peace Plan Jirga supported efforts inside Afghanistan to establish relations with the freedom fighters in order to bring peace in Afghanistan.
3. The Peace Plan Jirga participants condemned all types of corruption, injustice, and the production of narcotics by warlords, human rights violators, and other individuals.
4. The Peace Plan Jirga participants condemned the existence and re-creation of militia forces in Afghanistan.
5. The Peace Plan Jirga participants supported efforts to establish contacts with the freedom fighters via a Peace Jirga in order to bring peace in Afghanistan.
6. The Peace Plan Jirga participants support the efforts of our respected seniors and those Afghans who are honorable, trustworthy and well-liked among Afghans to initiate, hold and lead the Peace Jirga and its efforts .
7. With the participation of the representatives of the freedom fighters, the Peace Jirga can hold an Intra-Afghan Conference which will choose a peace delegation to participate in international conferences in order to bring peace in Afghanistan.
8. The Peace Jirga participants fully support an international peace conference in order to seek and find solutions for Afghanistan’s conflicts and problems.
9. The Peace Plan Jirga participants utterly disapprove of the casualties among the freedom fighters and strongly condemn the killing of civilians in Afghanistan’s cities, villages, towns, and counties. The Peace Jirga participants demand that the United Nations reexamine the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan if such killings continue.
10. The Peace Plan Jirga participants request the release of all prisoners, who were imprisoned by foreign troops in Afghanistan.
11. The Peace Plan Jirga participants demand the closure of all prisons, which were built and created by foreign forces.
12. The Peace Plan Jirga participants condemn all the bombardments of the regions where Pashtun live and demand the immediate suspension of all bombardment on both sides of the illegitimate Durand Line.
13. The Peace Plan Jirga participants condemn the deadly drone attacks on both sides of the illegitimate Durand Line and demand that these cruel attacks be ceased immediately.
14. The Peace Plan Jirga participants do not consider the presence and increase of foreign troops to be the solution for Afghanistan’s conflict and demand a deadline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan.
15. The Peace Plan Jirga participants demand that the temporary presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and their gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan be approved by a national government, supported by the Afghan freedom fighters, and regulated by an international treaty.
16. The Peace Plan Jirga participants support the creation of a strong national and Islamic government with the support of a national military and national police.
17. The Peace Plan Jirga participants want and support good and friendly relations with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries based on the principles of non-interference in the domestic affairs of one another.
18. The Peace Plan Jirga participants demand an immediate suspension of the cruel and unfair treatment of Afghan refugees by Pakistani and Iranian authorities.”
At your convenience, I may be reached at (269) 353-7044. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Abdul Kadir Mohmand
6147 Old Log Trail
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49009
(269) 353-7044
kmohmand@chartermi.net
CC: Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States, his Excellency Adel Al-Jubeir
Mr. Karzai
