Yes there used to Afghanistan of Zahir Shah, Great Modern, Liberal society. free from Interference, not confused. But then the great Powers included that country in the great games of supermacy and Neo-Colonialism. They started interfering and then it all started. Russians came, Americans came, Pakistanis came, Saudis started pumping money, Egyptians started sending Israeli weapons, and Afghanistan started falling into chaos day by day.
Normal Human being kept on suffering and still there is no hope of any progress.
Those were the days when we used to Adore American way of life, Jeans, Joggers, Marlboro, Coca Cola, Martin Luther Kings, Freedom, Equal Opportunity, Justice. But now I was recently Kidnapped by Uzbekistan Security agencies on 10-12-2009 and relaesed on 12th April 2010 (124 days). But still I do not Blame Uzbekistan and only blame America for my Kidnapping. If the leader of the world liberals would not break those principles Uzbekistan will not be able to do any thing illegal.
Read my story: www.harleytourism.com/haroonchoudhry.html

I think it IS a normal country right now. Maybe people should look the their country's problems first, like obesity in the U.S. Millions of people there need to read a book or ten on how to lose weight.... at least that's what I think.

MISHMAEL

It is disheartening to see a country or civilization regress. Sadly, I believe the pace for which it is happening is greatly increasing. In the last 30 years look at Rhodesia, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, United States, Great Britain.

All the countries that have regressed round the world have done so due to the end of the imperialist colonial era: Zimbabwe, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, etc etc the list goes on. They were all built up into modern societies, typically as members of the British Commonwealth or as clients of another Power. And yes, I agree a lot of it has to do with the Soviets pernicious influence or outright insurgency around the globe, but also that the US let the Saudis export their reprehensible wahabbist primitivism to the rest of the islamic world.

Neoconservatives call these regions The Seam, as in a strip of land around the world filled with unstable countries lacking in civilizing influences. Leftist bigots see nothing wrong with people in these countries being forced back into medeival lifestyles.

Afghnistan was fine under the Soviets. It only became a medival hell hole thanks to American backed Taliban that drove Soviets out and installed a theocracy in its place.

Is it sensory stimulation or senseless propoganda that resulted in making you believe what you wrote? It is well documented that the Soviets got lured in to Afghanistan because of the machinations of the US-Pak-Saudi troika. Afghanistan bore the brunt of the great game starting from the late seventies until the fall of Soviet Union (Ref: The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski).

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the US abandoned that region until after 9/11. Meanwhile Pakistani intelligence agencies flirted with their imaginary 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan pushing that country in to deep morass. (Ref: Pakistan: Between mosque and military by Husain Haqqani).

It's fair to say that the Pakistanis, by themselves, could never overpower the Soviet army then or the Mujahids now. They needed the Western support in the form of money, weapons & training. The US also has much to answer, however it is trying to do the damage control; albeit too little too late.

NPEGASUS you are right after the fall of the Soviet Union, the US abandoned that region until after 9/11. but why ?? they created taliban with the help of pak army and when soviet union was over they left it and let pakistan clear the mess. Pakistan has been trying to coup up with its neighbours, from one side it has neighbour with whom they fight two wars and it cant leave other side of the border unattended.

this region will never be at peace since this was divided in such a way that there will always be disputes like kashmir b/w pak-inda and tribal areas b/w afghan-pak.

these counties have to establish political reforms rather then using their military to solve the problems. war is never been a solution.

Mr. lalqila, I don't know where do you get your information about Pakistan defeated Russia in Afghanistan! Afghans defeated the Russians and Pakistan got rich by beibg a middle man and brain washing all those poor Afghan children who lived there in a refugee camps, in the Madrassas that Zaiulhaq built with the US and saudi Arabia money. Before the Russian war in Afghanistan there were few hundred Madrassas in Pakistan by the late 1980s, and they grew to more than 20000 madrassas.The result is the chaos that is created by these terrorist who are the product of the Pakistan terrorist camps. Even today Pakistan is brain washing the young muslims from around the world and inviting them to come to Pakistan for training, and sending them back to the west for terrorism.
Afghanistan was a peaceful country when we had border with India, after the partition of India in 1947, and creation of a new country by name Pakistan, Afghanistan's future beacme unstable because of Pkistan's bad relationship with Afghanistan by Pakistan invadind Baluchistan and seizing a part of Afghanistan under the Durand Line Treaty, which never existed, and never signed by any ruler of Afghanistan. Afghanistan will never have an stable government as long as Pakistan is inveloved in the rebuilding process, Bush Administration made the biggest mistake by accepting pakista as a partner, and Obama's Administartion has realised that now by making a decision if United States get attacked again by any terrorists from Pakistan, the US forces will cross the Afghan border to Pakistan and destroy all the terrorist camps which Pakistan government has been ignoring them for the last 25 byears.

UNFORTUNATE_NATION:

You need to review modern history. The US did not create the Taliban but it made the mistake of abandoning the region because of its mypoic policies. The Taliban came on to the scene in 1994 much after the US left the region. Afghanistan's immediate neighbors, mainly Pakistan, helped usher in a radical Islamic government in the nineties in Kabul to suit their interests. Afghans who were tired of endless wars grudgingly accepted the Taliban rule.

Pakistan is a prisoner of its own doing; not that of partition with India or the differences with Afghanistan. Despite some terrorists have turned their guns inward, Pakistan continues to see virtue in shielding some groups for strategic use. The region will suffer more deaths and disasters until Pakistan's love affair with terrorist groups continues under some excuse or other.

Lal Qila,

Reality alert please....this is a global forum as opposed to a Pakistani forum wherein you can write your drivel and believe in it unchallenge, thanks to both government and private censorship observed across the "Kafir" inventing internet. It took the same Afghan motivation to oust the Soviet forces as that which had ousted Colonial Britian before it and beyond. That you need to project past and recent Afghan glories as though they were your own offers us a better insite your post-colonial Peon mindset than what the realities dictate. The Afghans came to liberate themselves from the Soviets as they are again doing against the Pakistani invasion via proxy (the Taliban). Pretty soon if not already, your vanglorious "people" will experience the same extreme prejudice from the Afghans as did your ancestros...you can bet on that...

Yup, I believe Khosrow has got it right. I was a young US Marine during the Soviet occupation. The Afghan Mujahideen were being wiped out as a result of Soviet air sorties. The US responded with money, stinger missiles, and training. The aid was brokered by the Pakistani government and given to folks like Hekmytar Gilbudeen. (Taliban leader).

Once the Soviets withdrew, the US began an expensive StarWars initiative program - and even leaked the plans to the Soviets. The result was breaking the financial back of their arms race. Without their military, and reforms, their hold on their Union couldn't last.

The US abandoned Afghanistan afterward - Thinking Afghanistan is best ran by Afghani's (which I still believe) But the Pakistani masadras, Like Daarl Ul Saloom, were breeding grounds for venomous intolerance and hate ( though others that are newer are far worse)

It is a damn shame that the path of Afghanistan has changed in such a way. Thank you for sharing this with us - there is hope yet. We just have to get Bin Laden so the war can end and the foreigners can go - Afghanistan needs to then get rid of it's warlords and corruption.

Lalqila,
Based on the fact that you dragged India into this, I guess you are a Pakistani.
Let us assume for a minute that Indians were involved in the Soviet Mission, still the country fell into disarray after the Soviets left. The Taliban (lets say a force of reorganised Mujahideen) then with Pakistani support took over the country. The Taliban period from 1990 onwards took the war ravaged country further into medieval ages.
Now, this is not the Indian version of events but an internationally accepted version. You can check multiple sources if you wish.
Stop dragging India into everything........especially for things Pakistan should take responsiblity for....

BR,
Karan

you know friends.
Pakistanis did not defeat Russians. it was afghans who defeat them. but unfortunately you know that these afghans were not capable of delivering what the need of Afghanistan was on that time and even this Democratic govt can't deliver what we need now.no body is to blame, but to blame the afghans and ourselves.

It took afghans/Pak only a decade to drive out the Russian Invaders whils it took India a couple of centuries at least to regain their land from its colonial masters but still are struggling to regain independance in its true from.

Yes the Afghans are applying the same motivation to drive out the Americans(some believe maybe helped by sympathisers from Pak) and have nearly succeeded, again in less than ten years.

I cant see what relevance the invention of Internet by the west has to do with anything. The West are not classed as "Kafirs" anyway because the share same religious History as Islam and respected for being the people of the "book" and for their belief in one god.
The true Kafirs are people that practice pagan religions with muitple gods.

Kabul was not the capital of Afghanistan at first it come later capital, At first Kandahar was the Capital of Afghanistan and a Pashtun Named Afghanistan Shah Baba had an empire on that time Afghanistan was included Pakistan tell on ocean of India, Iran and so..... still you people are investigating on views of Ahmad Shah Baba.
This is picture is after that time and about of how Kandahar and other province were modern you can investigate.

yeah, i agree with MYK007, these photos are only representing Kabul not the rest of Afghanistan.

To MYK007 and Soraya,

It may serve you both well to educate yourselves on the fact that no nation on Earth can ever aspire to take on board economic growth and development equally for all its citizens, unless we apply a big-government approach that harbors utopian ideals. The Soviet Union tried this as did China, and both today serve as poster-boys for the failure of such schemes. If we were to qualify your reasoning that somehow just because Kabul was all modernizing while the rest of the country remained "different’, then every state that borders Afghanistan would be qualified as failures, especially Pakistan. A comparable reflection of Afghanistan and Pakistan makes one thing clear to all, in that Afghanistan was where it was from her grass-roots liberally inclined foundations, whereas the synthetic state of Pakistan with its supposed sovereignty extending over occupied peoples, owes its very existence to Colonial Britain than to the nationalities it feigns to represent as a coherent state.

Given that Afghanistan remains intact today after three decades of warfare, while Pakistan has consistently experienced internal threats of separatism from within, we ought to ask ourselves why it is that Pakistan which experienced no Soviet invasion nor a secondary invasion via proxy (as per the Taliban), is burdened with illiteracy rates reportedly running as high as 80%. Furthermore, given that the underlying reason for Afghanistan’s drift to the Soviet Union in the first place had everything to do with the nation’s need to raise her defenses against a Pakistani Islamunist state that had already occupied Afghan lands and showed every sign of extending deep into Afghan territory as they did with the Taliban, what the entire world need to ask themselves is if we’d like to live with a nuclear proliferating, Jihadi sponsoring failed state such as Pakistan. We need to fix Afghanistan over her solid national foundations in preparation for the pending Pakistani fallout.

Interestingly enough, you’ve also conveniently positioned yourselves as concerned parties to Afghanistan’s Pashtuns, in concert with what we know to be a consistent propaganda effort by the Pakistani state, no doubt in the hope that you can bank on the ignorance of those Pashtuns raised and nurtured in your state sponsored Madrassa networks to keep Afghanistan marginalized. The facts however tell us that the pre-communist modern Kabul was a collective effort of practically every Afghan ethnicity, and especially that of its Pashtun rulers! All vehicles of the state therein catered for Afghans seeking education from all parts of the country, with the rural communities included. Any ceilings to national advancement owed itself more to financial constraints rather than any malignant intention on the part of the leaders. The proof in this lays in the fact that until the Soviet invasion that delivered a strategic advantage to Pakistan, the Afghan governments were free from rural unrest and insurgencies. The modernized Kabul presented herein was overwhelmingly accepted by both the urbane as well as rural Afghans with pride, with self-harming rivalries only emerging from contesting views towards modernization, rather than any significant challenge from Islamofascist retrogrades that began enjoying Pakistani support well before there was a Communist coup and a subsequent Soviet Invasion. Simply put, Afghanistan had never been ruled by Mullahs in her history and if we can help it, she will never again. In fact, we will bury Islamofascism along with the State of Pakistan.

…….whether Afghan or allied governments acknowledge this or not, the ordinary Afghan has always known as Americans are increasingly realizing that we are at war with the State of Pakistan….seems to me you’ve forgotten your ancestral warning cry that went something like this…
“Tooth of a tiger
Venom of the Cobra
Vengeance of an Afghan…”

………….. Wallah Chpraedum!

I just showed these pictures to my Uncle who grew up their during the time these pictures were taken and says that this is not the Afghanistan he has ever seen. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, but he says these pictures might have been in some upper class, rich places, but the majority did not live like this. He says this was not reality or realistic.

How can you be at war with another Muslim country? And one whose population includes Afghanis? Karachi is now the most populated city in the world, with a metro population of 18 million. This would not have been possible without the huge Afghan refugee community. I'm sorry but war is not the answer, only education is. In time you will see that sectarian violence will end in Pakistan and everyone will live side by side in peace... and this will begin in Karachi. My neighborhood of Sahafi Colony, in Karachi, is a mixture of all different ethnicities and religions and we are living peacefully.

Every body will agree with you the kabul was not as the rest of afghanistan.
but we have even lost kabul, which was a modern and beautiful city.

Every body will agree with you the kabul was not as the rest of afghanistan.
but we have even lost kabul, which was a modern and beautiful city.

i agree with MYK007 that kabul was not the same as rest of afghansitan.
but we were lucky that we have a modern city in the country . today we don't have at least that kabul.

Yes, these pictures represent only a tiny elite in Kabul, or rather in Sher-e Naw, Wazir Akbar Khan and on the campus, totally isolated from the reality of the countryside. Many of them probably never visited a village. Not surprisingly this elite living in exile has built a very romantic image of the past, far from the reality... few women did work and wore Western clothes in Sher-e Naw, but certainly not in less affluent parts of the capital.
I started traveling in Afghanistan in the early 1970s and the huge gap between Kabul and the rest of the country was undeniable.
There was no electricity, no roads, no schools in the countryside. In the rural South the question was not whether girls went to school or not, boys did not go to school. I spent time in the 1980s in Zabul, Uruzgan, rural Kandahar, Logar, Ghazni... I was regularly mistaken for a Kabuli in Zabul (which saved me a couple of times !), people in the villages had never seen Westerners. Young mujahidin often asked me to tell them what Kabul was like, it was like another planet for them, they had never been there and were afraid of the city. Easy to imagine what they felt in September 1996 when they entered Kabul after joining the Taliban.
The gap between the cities (particularly Kabul and Mazar, Kandahar and Herat have always been more conservative) is still very much there.

First of all Mohammad Qayumi is exaggerating and romanticizing and for an educator to be so ill informed or oblivious to the plight of 95 % of the rest of Afghans is a shame. The educated elites of Afghanistan always point out that women wore skirts and mingled with men in university campuses...there is only one in all of Kabul. There is a a misinformation campaign going on by some of the minority ethnic groups in Afghanistan to show the majority ethnic group as backward and uneducated; but the reality is that the Pasthuns represent a large majority of the upwardly mobile urban elites.

Lal Qila you must be a self hating Indian because you tend to blame India for every major catastrophe in the world. If you are a Paki then you are in denial and don't see the corrupt and duplicitous ways of your government that trained both Ahmad Shah Masud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in fomenting dissent and carrying out subversive activities in Afghanistan in the early 70's and now they are harboring and training the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Wake up and accept the fact that Pakistan is a banana republic and a false state unlike Hindustan- the land of the Hindus and Afghanistan- the land of the Afghans...what is Pakistan...the land of the pure which is made up of Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochis, Mohajirs and Pashtuns and half its territory belongs to Afghanistan and the rest to India.

""If you are a Paki then you are in denial and don't see the corrupt and duplicitous ways of your government that trained both Ahmad Shah Masud (sp) ""

Pakistan didnt have anything to do with Massoud - "lion of the panjshir"; or at least didnt want to. If there was a relationship it was very mixed compared to their support for other regional warlords. In fact, they actively campaigned against US funding Massoud. We (the US) poured millions through the ISI, assuming that they would fund whomever was actively campaigning against the Soviets. They preferred to fund people like Hekmatyar who were ethnic Pashtun and were more closely linked to islamist groups in Pakistan. Massoud was a Tajik who was more interested in a (relatively) secular government. When the CIA finally linked up with Massoud directly, they were surprised to discover that money they thought he was supposed to receive never materialized. (although its not clear whether those funds were diverted by ISI or simply stolen by his own cohort) The subsequent civil war that took place after the departure of the soviets was partly between these different groups, some of whom were supported by Saudi/Pakistani money, others whom were less preferred because of ethnic/religious/ or political leanings. All of this is discussed in detail in Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars".

That said, Lal Qila is still a complete nutjob who lives in a fantasy world

Your a great example of how Pakistan in the past and now involving and disrupting peace in Afghanistan. I am sure your an educated person but yet your here bringing the subject of problems between Pakistan and India which no one cares. Americans and NATO are the one can only fix the issue lets face it they have the worlds power and better then Pakistan. Guess who are looking for a Job in Afghanistan?? Pakistanis and Indians I think its time to put up a fence just like US and get these Illegals out of Afghanistan. Afghanistan had life once upon a time it doesn't matter how modern but peaceful. No one lost their Father, Mother, Husband, Son or Brother back then. It was modern to its own standards. Respect, Peace, Quran.
It is the fact that its hard to finish this mess in Afghanistan but it will happen one day not so far. Afghanistan is climbing to glory but it takes time. Pakistan was not but Indian and now you have a country named Pakistan. Afghanistan was there and will be there for ever. HOOA

Yes he is. It's quite clear from this and other posts that Lal Qila has a completely warped sense of history that often goes well beyond fantasy. I don't even know if he believes it. I'm just shocked that he doesn't feel embarrassed after he reads over the utter lies he routinely posts. Perhaps he just gets a rise out of experimenting in fiction.

Lal Qila is Urdu for Red Fort, the name of the Mughal-era fort in Old Delhi that for over 200 years also served as the Mughal seat of government...so I must ask, is the person who uses the screen name Lal Qila on this site really a Pakistani, or is he an Indian Muslim? Or is he simply a provocateur whose aim is to rile up Indians and Westerners? Or perhaps both...?

its also Pakistan's misfortune that it has neighbours like India and Afghanistan. If Pakistan is considered lucky having Afghanistan overwhelmingly Muslim and India has enough Muslim population then there would have been peace in the country and it has nothing to worry about from its both borders.

its easy to read new news and conclude that Afghanistan and india are doomed to suffer from terrorism for all time when you dont know the ground realities.

if pakistan would have been terrorist country then with whom it is fighting against ?? His allies Talibans in Afghanistan, with USA against taliban or Who ??

if pakistan is a terrorist's heaven then why there are daily suicide attacks in the country killing hundreeds of innocent poeple ??

it was easy for US to provide all financial and military support to train and help taliban against soviet union and leave when its over and now every one criticizing pakistan for helping them out.

60 suicide attacks only in 2007 killing 770 and injured 1574
4 suicide attacks between 15th Feb and 15th Mar 2008 killing 150 people
33 suicide attacks in North West Frontier Province (near Pak-Afghan border) killing 374 people and 640 injured

these are figure only two years before and there are many incidents in last two years
pakistan is in a condition no country would like to be in and yet pakistan is perceived very lucky having neighbours like Afghanistan and India who brought such peace to the country.

UNFORTUNATE_NATION,

You keep on asking wrong questions. Pakistan is both the perpetrator and the victim of terrorism. Pakistan sees some groups as threats while others as assets. The compulsions of Pakistan's paradox are also of its own making, not that of Pakistan's neighbors.

There are many countries in the world with unsettled borders or differences with their neighbors. Through out its existence, Pakistan has found necessary to address its concerns militarily or use the services of mujahadeen despite aid and support from the West and other patrons. Evidently, the malaise runs deep in Pakistan. In the words of Obama, Pakistan has a cancer in its midst.

That was exactly i was talking about on a group on Face book..,PLEASE ALSO JOIN US AT..., http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119831038049708&ref=ts

... you conveniently overlook that there was no country called Pakistan or people called Pakistani until just over 60 years ago. If historical peoples and natural borders have any weight, then it should actually default to an Afghan-Indo border somewhere in the middle of Pakistan, no ? You certainly know, in your far-reaching base of omniscience, that the term is an acronym and not a centuries old historically established ethnicity (like the Afghanis or Indians) ?

If you condemn Jews for callously and forcibly establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine or the US/UK for enabling or sponsoring it (and I might agree with you to some extent or another but will skip the larger argument for now), why wouldn't you hold an hapharzardly demarcated Islamic country (albeit by the Brits) to the same standards ?

Or is it that just you can't see past your particular religious/ideologic prism - the same egregious shortsightedness of which you regularly accuse America/Europe/India/Christians/Hindus/anyone not from your madrassa/etc. ?

All others : I'm just saying that Afghanistan sincerely deserves some good fortune soon and has been subject to the whims of other nations, but for a more balanced or palatable view, Rory Stewart's books would probably serve better to make an argument or shed insight than Lal's usual distracting vitriolic commentary and meandering hyperbole.

Distortion of facts seems to be a Hindoo trait perhaps part of deep-seated racism against non-Hindoos.

100% of Muslims of The Sub-Continent are natives to the land whereas only 5% of the Jews living in Palestine (in 1948) were born in Palestine.

So while Muslims have a full right to continue living in their own lands in The Sub Continent, the New Jews, migrants and forced imports from Eastern Europe, do not have any right to uproot the Palestinians and forcibly set themselves into the homes of the Palestinians.

Muslims would be happy to give 5% of Palestine, according to the 1948 numbers, to the Jews; and the 20% of Muslims trapped in Hindoo India should also be accorded their right to freedom and 20% of India should be partitioned further to provide a homeland for the Muslims.

http://lalqila.wordpress.com/

Lal Qila is in Old Delhi and you are an Indian hater...go figure. Pakistan should reunite with India and spend all that money allocated towards defense on educating its masses and create jobs for its citizens a la TATA, BIRLA, MITTAL..etc..etc. The funny thing is that I cannot tell a Paki from an Indian Hindu or Muslim...you all look the same but carry so much baggage. Lighten up Hindu hater.

... actually has a fair point (for once) with his percentage breakdown and logic in pointing out the indigenous population's right over those of immigrants (Indians/Afghans that practice Islam vs. non-Middle Eastern Jews) in regards to standing.

However, and reverting back to his usual antics, he equates India and Pakistan and ridiculously inveighs that perhaps a larger percentage of the subcontinent be designated for Muslims.

Let's see:

Freely admitting the shortcoming in my grasp of statistical reality, my argument of there being no such thing as Pakistan until 60 years ago or any mention of a people called Pakistanis in history vs. clear evidence of long-standing Afghan and Indian history went largely unaddressed. Why am I not surprised at an attempt to distract the original point in favor of a warped opinion and more vitriolic blabber ?

Also, anyone rational (key word) that compares a country that is largely stable and where freedom of religion and protection of minorities and civil rights is a fairly accepted fact (however sincerely but still better than many) to a chronically unstable state in which only an overwhelmingly majority of adherents of one religion and the military have their run of the country - and which didn't exist until very recent history and hasn't established anything resembling prosperity or freedom of choice - will inevitably not choose (or even entertain) the option of diluting the former's territory to expand the latter's existential state.

... but thanks for the thought, Lal. Duly noted somewhere between "not a really good idea" and "um... what ?". Before you retort with some supposedly pro-Islamic inane rambling (which readers of this site know isn't a reflection of the many, many reasonable Muslims ), it has nothing to do with religion - a basic fact that some people (ahem) are incapable of grasping.

The entire subcontinent should be returned to the Aryans :) Wherever they went.

I love how he promulgates this idea of 'nativism', and how apparently muslims by nature deserve some kind of unified homeland because, you know how they all get along. Oops! Unless they're Baluchi... or Shia! Or Ahmadi!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/world/asia/29pstan.html?scp=14&sq=pakistan&st=cse

Yes India might have a few large industrialists TATA, etc but they pale into insignificance when you consider the size of the country and over a billion population of which a majority live in abject poverty as depicted by the movies such as Slumdog Millionaire, midnight children.

Your quotes of Richard M. Nixon on India don't make the impression you're perhaps hoping for. Nixon has been criticized and even demonized by the popular press since his resignation in disgrace. Try quoting more recent presidents of the United States.

It is worth pointing out that Nixon felt this way because India was initially (and in many ways still is) a quasi socialist state that during his time played Soviet and American interests against one another.

But whatever. This guy is insane.

Establishment of religion as basis for a country simply doesn't work, and laxity in regards to separation of church and state hinders compounds the problem. In addition to stunting the continual evolution of mankind, it gave us the quandries of (among others) Pakistan, Israel, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and the disaster that was Bush's re-election. Let's not even delve historically into the Crusades and the internecine fallout within Sunnis and Shiites and ...

(sorry)

The vast majority of Afghans follow the Sufi tradition not the Wahhabi brand of Islam fostered by the Saudis and its client state Pakistan. Pakistan is the real enemy here not the religion of Islam.

This is not just in Afghanistan but throughout the Arab & Muslim world. We must draw a strong line between modernization and westernization. Many are exploiting the concept that any development and changes brought about by Western assistance will be synonymous with eroding and attacking their culture. We need to ensure this falsehood is pointed out (and ensure it is in fact, false!!!).

Most of the Afghans are brain washed by Indian government in Kabul against Pakistan. You are indeed right that Afghanistan was destroyed by Soviet occupation which was supported by India and the Afghans still prefer India as a friend and Pakistan as an enemy, millions of Afghans who lived in Pakistan as refugees now returned back to Afghanistan with university degrees who are helping in the re-development of the country. There are still 2 million registered Afghan refugees left in Peshawar (exluding the statistics from other cities and unregistered ones), how many Afghan refugees are there in India? Pakistan is facing a great war challenge in it's tribal areas because of helping Afghanistan against Soviets in 1980s. Afghans should be thankful to Pakistan for what it has done for it's neighbouring Islamic country no other country has done more for it. India is exporting terrorism to Pakistan which has proved several times. Pakistani forces have caught many RAW agents in it's tribal areas fighting against Pakistani troops which entered from Afghanistan, they have also caught many trucks full of Indian made weapons in tribal areas, for India interfering in Pakistan, Pakistan is forced to interfere in India.

@Usman
Indeed, Subhan Allah, brother. Your country is "forced" to pursue terrorism to achieve it's objectives.

FACT: You live in a la-la-land believing your own delusions. (Like your cleric who recently proclaimed that the 'f' in facebook was a Christian cross.)

Perhaps the intense hatred of non-Muslims, and Hindus in particular fostered by your Quran makes you conjure up delusions from your posterior.

WRONG!
I lived in Pakistan for a while and I know that anything can be correct about you people doing against Afghanistan, I never met an Indian in my whole life and they are not like you guys.

Pakistan is the worst virus in this world.

Thanks for the pointer to Adam's blog, it was fascinating. But I don't agree with your comment about "Afghanistan was a testing ground for omiscient foreigners' - mainly American - grandiose and ill-conceived plans". Or rather, I don't agree with how you make it seem like a bad thing :-) .

Afghanistan is part of the Eurasian landmass and on what they call the crossroads of history, which is a polite way of saying that any possible shit that could have happened has happened. It would have been stranger for it to have been ignored by major powers than for it to have been a part of power struggles.

And about foreigners or grandiose or ill-conceived plans, that too is a constant in history. Buddhism was started by a single individual in present day Nepal, and spread thousands of miles. The Mongols came out of central Asia and rolled over everything in their path. Etc. So just because white / European / Christian people are involved in foreign adventures, it's not automatically a bad thing. The American involvement in Afghanistan was both about making defensive alliances as well as an idealism about spreading American values, which are generally a good thing.

Its all about drug business my friend, bankers want to control the world by supporting US and British government and they control the drug market in the world and make money for the bankers, Afghanistan produces more than 93 % poppy of the world before 2001 Afghanistan was producing a very less amount comparing to today's production.

I was living in those days in Afghanistan and I could see everything!

I agree with your sentiment, my friend. I enjoy lively/candid discourse as much as the next person but cringe at the venom of some of the posts.

Well done

Well Smarg! What ever you think about Islam is your choice, however i must say that what you understand about it is not true. Islamic world is rotten because of not following Islam rather than vice versa.