Shaukat Qadir, retired Pakistani Army brigadier and university instructor, discusses his CounterPunch article, “How Anarchy Beats Out Tradition: Two or Three Things You Need to Know About Afghanistan;” how Afghanistan’s traditional tribal system has been gradually destroyed over the last 30 years; the brief egalitarian period of Taliban rule before Osama bin Laden’s influence wrought a draconian enforcement of social and religious customs; the strange bedfellows in Afghanistan’s incredibly profitable heroin trade; Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed’s alleged donation to the 9/11 hijackers and his jockeying for Pervez Musharraf’s job; how US forces could have really liberated a ready-and-willing Afghanistan, if not for their overweening arrogance; why Pakistan is not too worried about Indian influence in Afghanistan, contra Eric Margolis; President Obama’s lack of fortitude on demanding that the military end the war; and why “they” hate us: not for our freedom (which has all but evaporated), but for taking away their freedom.
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