9/11Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Legacy of 9/11
Al-Qaeda’s terrorist attacks on the US were unprecedented. So too was America’s intervention in Afghanistan. The US action, backed by NATO and non-NATO allies, as the first salvo in what was declared a ‘war on terror’, was aimed at transforming a highly traditional and conflict-ravaged Afghanistan into a stable and secure state with a functioning democratic system of governance. The U.S. action which eventually failed, enabling the extremist Taliban to regain power after two decades of fighting.
Once again, the anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks reminds us of not only that tragic event, but also two other momentous developments in the history of Afghanistan and the United States: the assassination of the famed Afghan nationalist and progressive Islamist commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, and America’s retaliatory intervention in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda and its Taliban harborers, which eventually failed, enabling the extremist Taliban to regain power after two decades of fighting. These events entailed massive implications for Afghanistan, the US, the region and beyond.
Al-Qaeda’s terrorist attacks on the US were unprecedented. So too was America’s intervention in Afghanistan. The US action, backed by NATO and non-NATO allies, as the first salvo in what was declared a ‘war on terror’, was aimed at transforming a highly traditional and conflict-ravaged Afghanistan into a stable and secure state with a functioning democratic system of governance.
As a leading commander of the Islamic resistance forces or the mujahideen, Massoud fought the Soviet occupiers and their surrogate communist government in Kabul. Following the defeat of the Soviets and the collapse of their installed administration in 1992, Massoud led his forces in taking power. He did it not for himself but because he wanted the mujahideen groups to establish a viable, progressive Islamist government to ensure Afghanistan’s transformation into a sovereign, independent, self-sustaining and prosperous state.
For his successes, the conservative Wall Street Journal described him, following 9/11, as the figure on whose back the West won the Cold War. More recently, in a detailed study of Massoud’s vision and actions, the renowned British journalist Sandy Gall called him ‘Afghan Napoleon’ in his book under the same title, hailing him as an ardent nationalist and reformist.
Massoud was fully cognizant of the mosaic composition of Afghanistan and the prevalence of ethno-tribal and sectarian traditionalism. Moderate Islam had historically influenced the landscape but had not bridged its social and cultural cleavages. Massoud was committed to instituting a publicly mandated, all-inclusive and united system of governance and shunned any form of supremacy of one ethnic, tribal or sectarian group over another.
