The second Afghan War of Liberation

The first Afghan war of Liberation was won in 1989. The Afghans paid a very heavy price of over a million and a half martyrs. The second war of liberation now has reached a decisive moment and the day of freedom appears to be drawing closer. The invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets in 1979 was challenged by the Americans, joined by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others. After eight long years of war, the Soviets were forced to retreat. The CIA intelligence report of 2004, mentioned that, after the Soviets retreat from Afghanistan, there were over 60,000 diehard trained Muslim fighters from seventy countries of the world. Additionally there were 40,000 such fighters from Pakistan alone who took part in the jihad against the occupation forces. So, by its very nature, the resistance had a global reach. It was not confined to Afghanistan alone. The mujahideen acted on the guidance of Allah, as ordained in Quran: "Let there be no restraint on you to fight in the way of Allah, and in support of the helpless men, women and children who are being brutalised and who pray, O Lord! protect us from the oppressors and appoint your protectors and helpers." This is the message for the believers, but every believer may not get it. May be, one in thousands gets it and leaves his hearth and home and make a bee line for the battlefield, where he gets on job training. Face to face with the enemy, he proves too superior on account of his spiritual strength. He has no other mundane interest except to defeat the oppressor. When the job is done, he returns to his home.
Thus after the retreat of the Soviets from Afghanistan, the mujahideen returned to their homelands, except those who were not allowed, such as Osama and his 1500 followers. They became the non-citizens of the world, betrayed by their own country and the Americans, thus creating the cult of Al-Qaeda, seeking revenge against America and its allies. They are altogether a different entity and cannot be equated with the mujahideen. In their struggle for freedom, the Muslims are fighting in Chechnya against the Russian Communists, in Kashmir against the Hindus, in Thailand against the Buddhists, in Philippines against the Catholics, in Iraq against the Anglo-Saxons, in Afghanistan against the Christians and in Palestine and Lebanon against the Jews, as if they are at war with all ideologies and religions, which is not so. There is no 'clash of civilisation' or 'clash of ideologies'. It is purely and simply a struggle for freedom, for autonomy and self-determination. Reality continues to be distorted by calling it terrorism.
No doubt it is the miracle of the century, what the resistance movement has achieved in the last thirty years? The rag-tag mujahideen, with torn shoes in their feet and a Kalashinkov or a rocket launcher in their hands, have defeated the Soviets, Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan; Israel in Lebanon and Palestine. The mightiest of the mighty remain humbled and defeated. By calling them terrorists, has served no purpose. Losing the War On Terror, all the way, demands a new look at the Islamic Resistance, as the genuine struggle for freedom, as their inalienable right. After the demise of the Cold War, the US declared that "21st century was the American century, under their global primacy and preeminence," yet it was the Islamic Resistance, which denied to the Americans, the privilege of global primacy and preeminence. Not only that, they have also destroyed the myth of Israeli armed forces' invincibility.
Every power or movement has its own centre of gravity, so has the Islamic Resistance, along the Durand Line from where it emerged against the Soviet Union occupation of Afghanistan. The population on both sides of the border supported the movement inside Afghanistan for eight long years, thus creating a strong support base - which the occupation forces now want to neutralise and destroy. The declared policy of Obama, the new president of USA, is "to re-establish control over the Afghan territory and eliminate terrorists from the FATA region in Pakistan." It is a flawed policy, because it is against the current of history - history of the people of Afghanistan, who have never failed to repel and defeat foreign aggression. Afghan resistance no doubt is at the centre of the Islamic Resistance which has remained undefeated during the last thirty years, and in the process, it has determined the new contours of the emerging Global Order.