Viewed during the years following the US led overthrow
of the Taliban, Afghanistan had suffered a tremendous among of physical damage,
inflicted by twenty-five years of war on an already minimal infrastructure.
Much of wrecked, high way bridges on the major routes our of town were
destroyed, public services were minimal to non-existent, and the population was
generally exhausted. This was the result of five period of war-fare with almost
no intervening periods of peace. The first was the soviet invasion, when
urpring against the government, notably in Heart
province in Western Afghanistan
and Koner province in the East, were followed by the deployment of the soviet
40th Army in December, 1979.
This war lasted ten years reaching its height in 1985,
when the soviets made a final major push with the war-while also devastating
the country side in a counter insurgency strategy based on forced depopulation.
D the result of this strategy can be seen to this day,
not only in the Afghanistan refuges still living in Pakistan and Iran, but the
destroyed irrigation system, numerous Minefield and ruined villages.
The second period of war fare pitted the commune
regime of president Naijibullah against the Mujahen groups formed to fight the
soviets, ending in 1999 with the collapse of this regime. Following this, was
what many afghan remember as a period worse mujahedeen factors. This civil war
resulted in the destruction of much of Kabul, particularly west Kabul, areas of
which remain in ruins party in reaction to the resulting anarchy, a fourth
period of fighting ensued, with the Pakistan backed Taliban beginning operation
in Kandahar province in November, 1994, advancing from there to capture Heart
and eventually Kabul. Finally the fight, mercifully quick, period of war began
with the US-sponsored defeat of the Taliban and al-Quada in late 2001.
Although the physical
damaged resulted from these wars was what immediately struck any out
sider, conversation between the author and Afghans from various social classes
during the 2003-2008 period made it clear that the damage to society was more
extensive. First was the sheer number of people Killed, with more than one
million Afghan Civilians losing their lives in the war against the soviets (2)
out of estimated population of sixteen million in 1979. (3) Equally stiking
were the masses of refuges, with more than five million displaces (4) Mostly to
Iran and Pakistan, but also to Europe, North America and Australia.
More subtle damages are the cleverages within society
primarily along ethnic lines between pastituns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and
Kuchis (pashtun normads). The ethnic devisions are evident today in central
provinces such as Ghazni, Kabul, Baghtam, $ Oruzgan which have populations from
various ethnic groups. In other areas, such as Khost province in the East, deep
division exist between those who sided with the communist regime and those
fought with the Mujahedeen. The Taliban years have also left social scars
between those who fought the Taliban and those (particularly in Tajik and
Hazara areas) who opposed the.
Adding to this is the fundamental disturbance of the
tribal system, particularly in the pashtun areas where it had acted both as a
local government and a source of stability. On a larger scale, twenty-five
years of Pakistan involvement in Afghanistan affairs had caused considerable
resentment and suspicion on the part of Afghanistan which persist to this day.