A'kum...
Bacaan yang menarik untuk warga Hizbi, walaupun
artikel ini "dated" sedikit.
~akram~
The Invisible
Afghanistan
Posted: 20 Zul-Hijjah 1421, 16 March 2001
The Qur'an says, "O you who believe! If a rebellious evil person
comes to you with news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance,
Posted: 20 Zul-Hijjah 1421, 16 March 2001
The Qur'an says, "O you who believe! If a rebellious evil person
comes to you with news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance,
and afterwards you become regretful for what
you have done."
[Al-Hujurat 49:6]
[Sayyid Rahmatullah Hashemi is the roving Ambassador from
Afghanistan who recently visited the US. The following is the
[Sayyid Rahmatullah Hashemi is the roving Ambassador from
Afghanistan who recently visited the US. The following is the
edited version of the transcription of a
lecture given by him at
the University Of Southern California in Los
Angeles, on
March 10, 2001]
* - * - *
> " I was just coming from a meeting with a group of scholars, and the
> first thing we started talking about there was the statues. And the
> first thing we started talking about here was also the statues. It
is
> very unfortunate how little we see and how little we know. Nobody
has
> seen the problems of Afghanistan; nobody saw their problems before.
> And the only thing that represents Afghanistan today are the
statues.
>
>
> Afghanistan is called the Crossroads of Asia. So, we are suffering
> because of our geo-strategic location. We have suffered in the 18th
> century, 19th century, and we are still suffering in this century.
We
> have not attacked the British. We have not attacked the Russians. It
> was them who attacked us. So the problems in Afghanistan you see are
> not our creation.
>
>
> The Soviet Invasion
>
>
> The recent problems in Afghanistan started in 1979. Afghanistan was
a
> peaceful country. The Russians, along with their 140,000 troops
> attacked Afghanistan in the December of 1979, just 21 years ago,
> stayed there for a decade, killed one and a half million people,
> maimed one million more people, and six million out of the eighteen
> million people migrated because of the Russian brutalities. Even
> today, our children are dying because of the landmines that they
> planted for us. And nobody knows about this.
>
>
> After the Russians left during the Russian occupation, on the other
> side, the American government, the British government, the French,
the
> Chinese, and all of the rest, supported the counter-revolutionaries
> called the Mujahideen; There were seven parties only in Pakistan and
> eight parties in Iran who fought the Russian occupation. And after
the
> Russians left, these parties went into Afghanistan. All of them had
> different ideologies, and a lot of weapons. And instead of having a
> single administration, they fought in Afghanistan. The destruction
> that they brought was worse than the destruction the Russians
brought.
> 63,000 people were only killed in the capitol, Kabul. Another
million
> people migrated because of this lawlessness.
>
>
> The Beginning of Taliban
>
>
> Seeing this destruction and lawlessness, a group of students called
> the Taliban, i.e. a group of students (Taliban is the plural of
> student in our language; it may be two students in Arabic, but in
our
> language it means students) started a movement called the Movement
of
> Students. It first started in a village in the southern province of
> Afghanistan, called Kandahar. It happened when a war-lord, or a
> commander abducted two minor girls and violated them. The parents of
> those girls went to a school and asked the teacher of the school to
> help them. The teacher of that school, along with his 53 students,
> finding only 16 guns, went and attacked the base of that commander.
> After releasing those two girls, they hanged that commander, and so
> many of his people were also hanged. This story was told everywhere.
> BBC also quoted this story. Hearing this story, many other students
> joined this movement and started disarming the rest of the warlords.
> This same students movement now controls 95% of the country
including
> its capital. Only a bunch of those warlords are remaining in the
> northern corridor of Afghanistan.
>
>
> Our Achievements
>
>
> We have been in government for only five years, and the following
> things that we have done, and many of you may not know:
>
>
> 1.) The first thing we have done is reunifying the fragmented
country.
> Afghanistan was formerly fragmented into five parts. We unified it
> when nobody else could do it.
>
>
> 2.) Second thing we have done, which everybody failed to do, was
> disarming the population. After the war every Afghan got a
> Kalashnikov, and even sophisticated weapons such as stinger
missiles,
> and they even got fighter planes and fighter helicopters. Disarming
> these people seemed to be impossible. The United Nations in 1992
made
> an appeal asking for 3 billion dollars to re-purchase those arms.
And
> because of its impracticality, that plan never materialized, and
> everybody forgot about Afghanistan. So the second thing we have done
> is to disarm 95% of that country.
>
>
> 3.) The third thing that we have done is to establish a single
> administration in Afghanistan, which did not exist for 10 years.
>
>
> 4.) The fourth achievement that we have that is surprising to
> everybody is that we have eradicated 75% of world's opium
cultivation.
> Afghanistan produced 75% of worlds opium. And last year we issued an
> edict asking the people to stop growing opium, and this year, the
> United Nations Drug Control Program, UNDCP, and their head, Mr.
> Barnard F. proudly announced that there was 0% of opium cultivation.
> Zero, zilch, none at all.
>
>
> Incidentally this was not good news for UN itself because many of
them
> lost their jobs. In the UNDCP, 700 so called experts were working
> there and they got their salaries and they never went into
> Afghanistan. So when we issued this edict, I know that they were not
> happy. And this year they lost their jobs.
>
>
> 5.) The fifth achievement that we have, is the restoration of Human
> rights. Now, you may think that we are involved in violation of
Human
> Rights. The reality is exactly the opposite. Among the fundamental
> rights of a human being is the right to live. Before us, nobody
could
> live peacefully in Afghanistan.
>
>
> The first thing we have done, is to give to the people a secure and
> peaceful life. The second major thing that we have restored is to
give
> them free and fair justice; you don't have to buy justice, unlike
> here. In Afghanistan justice is free and readily available.
>
>
> Women's Rights
>
>
> We have been criticized for violating women's rights. Do you know
what
> happened before us? I can see some Afghans living here, and they
will
> agree with me, that in the rural areas of Afghanistan, women were
used
> as animals. They were sold actually. We stopped this abominable
> practice.
>
>
> They didn't use to have any say in the selection of their husbands.
> First thing we have done is to let them choose their future.
>
>
> Another thing that used to happen in Afghanistan was women were
> exchanged as gifts. Of course, this was not something religious;
this
> was something cultural. When two fighting tribes wanted
> reconciliation, they would exchange women. And this has been
stopped.
>
>
> Unlike what is generally said, women do work in Afghanistan. True
that
> until 1996 when we captured the capital Kabul, we did ask women to
> stay home. It didn't mean that we wanted them to stay at home
forever.
> We said that there is no law, and there is no order, and you have to
> stay at home.
>
>
> We disarmed the people, and we established law and order, and now
> women are working. True, that women are not working in the ministry
of
> defense, like here. We don't want our women to be fighter pilots, or
> to be used as objects of decoration for advertisements. But they do
> work. They work in the Ministry of Health, Interior, Ministry of
> Education, Ministry of Social Affairs, and so on.
>
>
> Similarly we don't have any problem with women's education. We have
> said that we want education, and we will have education whether or
not
> we are under anybody's pressure, because that is part of our belief.
> We are ordered to do that. When we say that there should be
segregated
> schools, it does not mean that we don't want our women to be
educated.
> It is true that we are against co-education; but it is not true that
> we are against women's education.
>
>
> We do have schools even now, but the problem is the resources. We
> cannot expand these programs. Before, our government numerous
> curriculums were going on. There were curriculums that preached for
> the kings, curriculums that preached for the communists, and
> curriculums from all the seven parties. So, the students were
confused
> as to what to study. We have started to unify the curriculum and
that
> is going on.
>
>
> Recently we reopened the faculty of medical science in all major
> cities of Afghanistan and in Kandahar. There are more girls students
> studying in the faculty of medical sciences than boys are. But they
> are segregated. And the Swedish committees have also established
> schools for girls. I know they are not enough, but that is what we
> have been able to do.
>
>
>
>
>
> Osama bin Laden
>
>
> We are also accused of sponsoring terrorism. And for Americans
> terrorism or terrorist means only bin Laden. Now you will not know
> that Afghanistan, or bin Laden was in Afghanistan for 17 years
before
> we even existed. Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, fought the Soviet
> Union, and Mr. Ronald Reagan, the president of America at that time,
> and Mr. Dick Cheney called such people freedom fighters or the
Heroes
> of Independence, because they were fighting for their cause. And now
> when the Soviet Union is fragmented, such people were not needed
> anymore, and they were transformed into terrorists. From heroes to
> terrorists. This is exactly like Mr. Yasser Arafat who was
transformed
> from a terrorist to a hero.
>
>
> What is the difference between those acts that bin Laden is blamed
for
> and the 1998 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan. Neither of the
two
> were declared and both of them killed civilians. If it means killing
> civilians blindly, both of them killed civilians blindly.
>
>
> The United States government tried to kill a man without even giving
> him a fair trial. In 1998, they just sent cruise missiles into
> Afghanistan and they announced that they were trying to kill Osama
bin
> Laden. We didn't know Osama bin Laden then. I didn't know him; he
was
> just a simple man. So we were all shocked. I was one of those men
who
> was sitting at home at night, I was called for an immediate council
> meeting and we all were told the United States had attacked
> Afghanistan. With 75 cruise missiles they tried to kill one man. And
> they missed that man; killed 19 other students and never apologized
> for those killings.
>
>
> What would you do if you were in our situation. If we were to go and
> send 75 cruise missiles into the United States and say that we were
> going to kill a man that we thought was responsible for our embassy,
> and we missed that man, and we killed 19 other Americans what would
> the United States do? An instant declaration of war. But we are
> polite. We did not declare war.
>
>
> Our Proposals
>
>
> Rather we have been very open-minded on this issue. We have said,
that
> if really this man is involved in the Kenya/Tanzania acts, if
anybody
> can give us proof or evidence about his involvement in these
horrific
> acts, we will punish him. Nobody gave us evidence. We put him on
trial
> for 45 days and nobody gave us any kind of evidence. The United
States
> told us they did not believe in our judicial system. We were
surprised
> as to what kind of judicial system they have? They just tried to
kill
> a man without even giving him a fair trial. Even if one of us is a
> criminal here, the police are not going to blow his house; he must
go
> to a court first.
>
>
> So our first proposal was rejected. They said they do not believe in
> our judicial system, and we must extradite him to New York. After
the
> rejection of this first proposal was we said we were ready to accept
> an international monitoring group to come into Afghanistan and
monitor
> this man's activities in Afghanistan. So that he does nothing. Even
> that he has no telecommunications. That proposal was also rejected.
>
>
> The third proposal we gave, six months ago, was that we were ready
to
> try or accept the trial of Osama bin Laden in a third Islamic
country,
> with the consent of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. That was also
> rejected.
>
>
> We are still very open minded. And for the fourth time, I m here,
with
> a letter from my leadership that I m going to submit to the state
> department hoping that they will resolve the problem. But I don't
> think that they will. Because we think, and I personally think now
> that maybe the United States is looking for a boogey man always.
> Remember what Gorbachev said? He said, that he's going to do the
worst
> thing ever to the United States. And everybody thought that he's
going
> to blow the United States with nuclear weapons. But he said, I m
going
> to remove their enemy. And then he fragmented Soviet Union. And he
was
> right. After he fragmented Soviet Union, a lot of people lost their
> jobs in the Pentagon, in the CIA, and the FBI, because they were not
> needed anymore. So we think that maybe these guys are looking for a
> boogey man now. Maybe they want to justify their annual budget,
maybe
> they want to make their citizens feel that they are still needed to
> defend them.
>
>
> Afghanistan is not a terrorist state; we cannot even make a needle.
> How are we going to be a terrorist state? How are we going to be a
> threat to the world? If the world terrorism is really derived from
the
> word terror, then there are countries making weapons of mass
> destruction, countries making nuclear weapons, they are terrorist
> states; we are not.
>
>
> Sanctions
>
>
> Now, we are under sanctions. And the sanctions have caused a lot of
> problems. Despite that we already had been going through so many
> problems--- the 23 years of continuous war, the total destruction of
> our infrastructure, and the problem of refugees, and the problem of
> land mines in our agricultural lands --- all of a sudden the United
> Nations, with the provocation of Russia, is imposing sanctions on
> Afghanistan. And the sanctions have been approved; we are under
> sanctions. Several hundred children died a month ago. Seven hundred
> children died because of malnutrition and the severe cold weather.
> Nobody even talked about that. Everybody knows about the statues.
>
>
> Renovating Statues as People Die
>
>
> When the world is destroying our future with economic sanctions,
then
> they have no right to worry about our past. I called my
headquarters,
> I asked them, why are they going to blow the statues, and I talked
to
> the head of the council of scholars of people, who had actually
> decided this, he told me that UNESCO and an NGO from Sweden, or from
> one of these Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden, one of these
they
> had actually come, with a project of rebuilding the face of these
> statues, which have worn by rain. The council of people told them to
> spend that money in saving the lives of these children, instead of
> spending it to restore these statues. And these guys said, "No, this
> money is only for the statues." And the people were really pissed
off.
> They said that, If you don t care about our children, we are going
to
> blow those statues.
>
>
> If you were in such a situation what would you do? If your children
> are dying in front of your eyes, and you are under sanctions, and
then
> the same people who have imposed sanctions and are coming and
building
> statues here? What would you do?
>
>
> Kofi Annan
>
>
> And there is Kofi Annan. You know Kofi Annan, the Secretary General
of
> United Nations? He went to Pakistan, and he said he is going to meet
> our representative there. This man never bothered to come, to talk
> about these children, he never bothered himself to talk about six
> million refugees, and he never talked about the poverty of
> Afghanistan. He only goes to that region because of these statues.
>
>
> It is really, really ridiculous. These people do not care about
> children, about people who are dying there, about the foreign
> interference that still exists; they only care about the statues.
And
> I am sure they don't care about our heritage. They only care about
> their picnic site one time. Maybe they'll have a good picnic site
> there, seeing those statues.
>
> And I'm sure these sanctions which are imposed on our government will
never
> change us, because for us, our ideology is everything. To try to change
our
> ideology with economic sanctions will never work. It may work in the
United
> States, where the economy is everything, but for us, our ideology is
> everything. And we believe that it is better to die for something than to
> live for nothing."
* - * - *
> " I was just coming from a meeting with a group of scholars, and the
> first thing we started talking about there was the statues. And the
> first thing we started talking about here was also the statues. It
is
> very unfortunate how little we see and how little we know. Nobody
has
> seen the problems of Afghanistan; nobody saw their problems before.
> And the only thing that represents Afghanistan today are the
statues.
>
>
> Afghanistan is called the Crossroads of Asia. So, we are suffering
> because of our geo-strategic location. We have suffered in the 18th
> century, 19th century, and we are still suffering in this century.
We
> have not attacked the British. We have not attacked the Russians. It
> was them who attacked us. So the problems in Afghanistan you see are
> not our creation.
>
>
> The Soviet Invasion
>
>
> The recent problems in Afghanistan started in 1979. Afghanistan was
a
> peaceful country. The Russians, along with their 140,000 troops
> attacked Afghanistan in the December of 1979, just 21 years ago,
> stayed there for a decade, killed one and a half million people,
> maimed one million more people, and six million out of the eighteen
> million people migrated because of the Russian brutalities. Even
> today, our children are dying because of the landmines that they
> planted for us. And nobody knows about this.
>
>
> After the Russians left during the Russian occupation, on the other
> side, the American government, the British government, the French,
the
> Chinese, and all of the rest, supported the counter-revolutionaries
> called the Mujahideen; There were seven parties only in Pakistan and
> eight parties in Iran who fought the Russian occupation. And after
the
> Russians left, these parties went into Afghanistan. All of them had
> different ideologies, and a lot of weapons. And instead of having a
> single administration, they fought in Afghanistan. The destruction
> that they brought was worse than the destruction the Russians
brought.
> 63,000 people were only killed in the capitol, Kabul. Another
million
> people migrated because of this lawlessness.
>
>
> The Beginning of Taliban
>
>
> Seeing this destruction and lawlessness, a group of students called
> the Taliban, i.e. a group of students (Taliban is the plural of
> student in our language; it may be two students in Arabic, but in
our
> language it means students) started a movement called the Movement
of
> Students. It first started in a village in the southern province of
> Afghanistan, called Kandahar. It happened when a war-lord, or a
> commander abducted two minor girls and violated them. The parents of
> those girls went to a school and asked the teacher of the school to
> help them. The teacher of that school, along with his 53 students,
> finding only 16 guns, went and attacked the base of that commander.
> After releasing those two girls, they hanged that commander, and so
> many of his people were also hanged. This story was told everywhere.
> BBC also quoted this story. Hearing this story, many other students
> joined this movement and started disarming the rest of the warlords.
> This same students movement now controls 95% of the country
including
> its capital. Only a bunch of those warlords are remaining in the
> northern corridor of Afghanistan.
>
>
> Our Achievements
>
>
> We have been in government for only five years, and the following
> things that we have done, and many of you may not know:
>
>
> 1.) The first thing we have done is reunifying the fragmented
country.
> Afghanistan was formerly fragmented into five parts. We unified it
> when nobody else could do it.
>
>
> 2.) Second thing we have done, which everybody failed to do, was
> disarming the population. After the war every Afghan got a
> Kalashnikov, and even sophisticated weapons such as stinger
missiles,
> and they even got fighter planes and fighter helicopters. Disarming
> these people seemed to be impossible. The United Nations in 1992
made
> an appeal asking for 3 billion dollars to re-purchase those arms.
And
> because of its impracticality, that plan never materialized, and
> everybody forgot about Afghanistan. So the second thing we have done
> is to disarm 95% of that country.
>
>
> 3.) The third thing that we have done is to establish a single
> administration in Afghanistan, which did not exist for 10 years.
>
>
> 4.) The fourth achievement that we have that is surprising to
> everybody is that we have eradicated 75% of world's opium
cultivation.
> Afghanistan produced 75% of worlds opium. And last year we issued an
> edict asking the people to stop growing opium, and this year, the
> United Nations Drug Control Program, UNDCP, and their head, Mr.
> Barnard F. proudly announced that there was 0% of opium cultivation.
> Zero, zilch, none at all.
>
>
> Incidentally this was not good news for UN itself because many of
them
> lost their jobs. In the UNDCP, 700 so called experts were working
> there and they got their salaries and they never went into
> Afghanistan. So when we issued this edict, I know that they were not
> happy. And this year they lost their jobs.
>
>
> 5.) The fifth achievement that we have, is the restoration of Human
> rights. Now, you may think that we are involved in violation of
Human
> Rights. The reality is exactly the opposite. Among the fundamental
> rights of a human being is the right to live. Before us, nobody
could
> live peacefully in Afghanistan.
>
>
> The first thing we have done, is to give to the people a secure and
> peaceful life. The second major thing that we have restored is to
give
> them free and fair justice; you don't have to buy justice, unlike
> here. In Afghanistan justice is free and readily available.
>
>
> Women's Rights
>
>
> We have been criticized for violating women's rights. Do you know
what
> happened before us? I can see some Afghans living here, and they
will
> agree with me, that in the rural areas of Afghanistan, women were
used
> as animals. They were sold actually. We stopped this abominable
> practice.
>
>
> They didn't use to have any say in the selection of their husbands.
> First thing we have done is to let them choose their future.
>
>
> Another thing that used to happen in Afghanistan was women were
> exchanged as gifts. Of course, this was not something religious;
this
> was something cultural. When two fighting tribes wanted
> reconciliation, they would exchange women. And this has been
stopped.
>
>
> Unlike what is generally said, women do work in Afghanistan. True
that
> until 1996 when we captured the capital Kabul, we did ask women to
> stay home. It didn't mean that we wanted them to stay at home
forever.
> We said that there is no law, and there is no order, and you have to
> stay at home.
>
>
> We disarmed the people, and we established law and order, and now
> women are working. True, that women are not working in the ministry
of
> defense, like here. We don't want our women to be fighter pilots, or
> to be used as objects of decoration for advertisements. But they do
> work. They work in the Ministry of Health, Interior, Ministry of
> Education, Ministry of Social Affairs, and so on.
>
>
> Similarly we don't have any problem with women's education. We have
> said that we want education, and we will have education whether or
not
> we are under anybody's pressure, because that is part of our belief.
> We are ordered to do that. When we say that there should be
segregated
> schools, it does not mean that we don't want our women to be
educated.
> It is true that we are against co-education; but it is not true that
> we are against women's education.
>
>
> We do have schools even now, but the problem is the resources. We
> cannot expand these programs. Before, our government numerous
> curriculums were going on. There were curriculums that preached for
> the kings, curriculums that preached for the communists, and
> curriculums from all the seven parties. So, the students were
confused
> as to what to study. We have started to unify the curriculum and
that
> is going on.
>
>
> Recently we reopened the faculty of medical science in all major
> cities of Afghanistan and in Kandahar. There are more girls students
> studying in the faculty of medical sciences than boys are. But they
> are segregated. And the Swedish committees have also established
> schools for girls. I know they are not enough, but that is what we
> have been able to do.
>
>
>
>
>
> Osama bin Laden
>
>
> We are also accused of sponsoring terrorism. And for Americans
> terrorism or terrorist means only bin Laden. Now you will not know
> that Afghanistan, or bin Laden was in Afghanistan for 17 years
before
> we even existed. Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, fought the Soviet
> Union, and Mr. Ronald Reagan, the president of America at that time,
> and Mr. Dick Cheney called such people freedom fighters or the
Heroes
> of Independence, because they were fighting for their cause. And now
> when the Soviet Union is fragmented, such people were not needed
> anymore, and they were transformed into terrorists. From heroes to
> terrorists. This is exactly like Mr. Yasser Arafat who was
transformed
> from a terrorist to a hero.
>
>
> What is the difference between those acts that bin Laden is blamed
for
> and the 1998 cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan. Neither of the
two
> were declared and both of them killed civilians. If it means killing
> civilians blindly, both of them killed civilians blindly.
>
>
> The United States government tried to kill a man without even giving
> him a fair trial. In 1998, they just sent cruise missiles into
> Afghanistan and they announced that they were trying to kill Osama
bin
> Laden. We didn't know Osama bin Laden then. I didn't know him; he
was
> just a simple man. So we were all shocked. I was one of those men
who
> was sitting at home at night, I was called for an immediate council
> meeting and we all were told the United States had attacked
> Afghanistan. With 75 cruise missiles they tried to kill one man. And
> they missed that man; killed 19 other students and never apologized
> for those killings.
>
>
> What would you do if you were in our situation. If we were to go and
> send 75 cruise missiles into the United States and say that we were
> going to kill a man that we thought was responsible for our embassy,
> and we missed that man, and we killed 19 other Americans what would
> the United States do? An instant declaration of war. But we are
> polite. We did not declare war.
>
>
> Our Proposals
>
>
> Rather we have been very open-minded on this issue. We have said,
that
> if really this man is involved in the Kenya/Tanzania acts, if
anybody
> can give us proof or evidence about his involvement in these
horrific
> acts, we will punish him. Nobody gave us evidence. We put him on
trial
> for 45 days and nobody gave us any kind of evidence. The United
States
> told us they did not believe in our judicial system. We were
surprised
> as to what kind of judicial system they have? They just tried to
kill
> a man without even giving him a fair trial. Even if one of us is a
> criminal here, the police are not going to blow his house; he must
go
> to a court first.
>
>
> So our first proposal was rejected. They said they do not believe in
> our judicial system, and we must extradite him to New York. After
the
> rejection of this first proposal was we said we were ready to accept
> an international monitoring group to come into Afghanistan and
monitor
> this man's activities in Afghanistan. So that he does nothing. Even
> that he has no telecommunications. That proposal was also rejected.
>
>
> The third proposal we gave, six months ago, was that we were ready
to
> try or accept the trial of Osama bin Laden in a third Islamic
country,
> with the consent of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. That was also
> rejected.
>
>
> We are still very open minded. And for the fourth time, I m here,
with
> a letter from my leadership that I m going to submit to the state
> department hoping that they will resolve the problem. But I don't
> think that they will. Because we think, and I personally think now
> that maybe the United States is looking for a boogey man always.
> Remember what Gorbachev said? He said, that he's going to do the
worst
> thing ever to the United States. And everybody thought that he's
going
> to blow the United States with nuclear weapons. But he said, I m
going
> to remove their enemy. And then he fragmented Soviet Union. And he
was
> right. After he fragmented Soviet Union, a lot of people lost their
> jobs in the Pentagon, in the CIA, and the FBI, because they were not
> needed anymore. So we think that maybe these guys are looking for a
> boogey man now. Maybe they want to justify their annual budget,
maybe
> they want to make their citizens feel that they are still needed to
> defend them.
>
>
> Afghanistan is not a terrorist state; we cannot even make a needle.
> How are we going to be a terrorist state? How are we going to be a
> threat to the world? If the world terrorism is really derived from
the
> word terror, then there are countries making weapons of mass
> destruction, countries making nuclear weapons, they are terrorist
> states; we are not.
>
>
> Sanctions
>
>
> Now, we are under sanctions. And the sanctions have caused a lot of
> problems. Despite that we already had been going through so many
> problems--- the 23 years of continuous war, the total destruction of
> our infrastructure, and the problem of refugees, and the problem of
> land mines in our agricultural lands --- all of a sudden the United
> Nations, with the provocation of Russia, is imposing sanctions on
> Afghanistan. And the sanctions have been approved; we are under
> sanctions. Several hundred children died a month ago. Seven hundred
> children died because of malnutrition and the severe cold weather.
> Nobody even talked about that. Everybody knows about the statues.
>
>
> Renovating Statues as People Die
>
>
> When the world is destroying our future with economic sanctions,
then
> they have no right to worry about our past. I called my
headquarters,
> I asked them, why are they going to blow the statues, and I talked
to
> the head of the council of scholars of people, who had actually
> decided this, he told me that UNESCO and an NGO from Sweden, or from
> one of these Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden, one of these
they
> had actually come, with a project of rebuilding the face of these
> statues, which have worn by rain. The council of people told them to
> spend that money in saving the lives of these children, instead of
> spending it to restore these statues. And these guys said, "No, this
> money is only for the statues." And the people were really pissed
off.
> They said that, If you don t care about our children, we are going
to
> blow those statues.
>
>
> If you were in such a situation what would you do? If your children
> are dying in front of your eyes, and you are under sanctions, and
then
> the same people who have imposed sanctions and are coming and
building
> statues here? What would you do?
>
>
> Kofi Annan
>
>
> And there is Kofi Annan. You know Kofi Annan, the Secretary General
of
> United Nations? He went to Pakistan, and he said he is going to meet
> our representative there. This man never bothered to come, to talk
> about these children, he never bothered himself to talk about six
> million refugees, and he never talked about the poverty of
> Afghanistan. He only goes to that region because of these statues.
>
>
> It is really, really ridiculous. These people do not care about
> children, about people who are dying there, about the foreign
> interference that still exists; they only care about the statues.
And
> I am sure they don't care about our heritage. They only care about
> their picnic site one time. Maybe they'll have a good picnic site
> there, seeing those statues.
>
> And I'm sure these sanctions which are imposed on our government will
never
> change us, because for us, our ideology is everything. To try to change
our
> ideology with economic sanctions will never work. It may work in the
United
> States, where the economy is everything, but for us, our ideology is
> everything. And we believe that it is better to die for something than to
> live for nothing."
