(Japanese Version)
(Arabic Version)
Chapter 4: War and Peace in The Middle East
4-5(33) The war in Afghanistan: Bitter enemies in the same boat
After brief peace and prosperity in the early 1970s,
the Middle East was suddenly rolled in by gun smoke in the latter half of 1970s.
In 1978, the Communist regime was born in Afghanistan where was located between
Iran and Pakistan. Afghanistan has long been a crossroad of trade in the 19th
century. Russian Empire traditionally had a policy of southward expansion aimed
for the Indian Ocean from Central Asia. Meanwhile East India Company of British
Empire which monopolized trade with Asian countries tried to secure a trade
route from Oman to India. Two empires crashed. It was called "Great
Game". The conflicts took place frequently in Afghanistan. In the early
1970s Afghan monarchy was falling down and the Communist party gripped the
power with the support of USSR.
USSR got a big opportunity to control the region.
There was no stability in Afghanistan. Afghanistan
was a traditional tribal society and Islamic religion has been prevailing. Anti-government
movement had a strong momentum. Weak central government called for
reinforcements to the USSR. USSR began military intervention against
international society in 1979. USSR stuck in the mud. Civil war in Afghanistan
had been continued for ten years until USSR withdrew its troops from Afghanistan
in 1988.
It was the "Mujahidin" that battled in the center stage of civil war against central government. Mujahidin means jihad (holy war) warrior of Islam in local language. Mujahidin of Islam jihad regarded the communism that advocated atheism as the incarnation of evil. They could not accept communism much more than Christianity or Judaism.
Islam is one of the three major monotheism. Muslims believe that God of Christianity and Yahweh of Judaism are the same supreme existence with Allah of Islam. Allah, God and Yahweh are the different name of the supreme existence who is the only one Creator. Muslims believe that prophets written in the Old Testament was the first batch of the prophets. Jesus Christ was a prophet of the second from the last prophet. And Muhammad was the last prophet. Although the Christian believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Muslims understand that God had no child. They believe that Jesus Christ was one of the prophets. Monotheists like Muslim do not admit polytheism which believes plural supreme. Therefore, they consider the polytheism of ancient Greek is a wrong religion. They might also think that Japanese traditional faith that there are eight million deities in natural world is a religion of barbarian. But monotheists can accept polytheists because polytheists themselves believe the supreme existence. They cannot accept atheism of communist society at all.
Muslims think that atheism is not only unable to understand but also the thought of devil. Mujahidin did fight against the communist government on behalf of Allah. Muslims in the Arab countries sympathized for the Mujahidin. Muslims in the oil-rich Gulf countries prayed at mosque for Afghanistan jihad fighters and then put their money into the Zakat box when leaving mosque. Zakat means the donation and is a religious duty of Muslims. They were willing to donate money. The money to help rebel fighters in the Afghan civil war could not be sent officially. Money laundering was taken place through several banks. But some portion of money transferred into a fund for Islamic extremists in the latter stage of the war. Governments of Middle East and Western countries overlooked or encouraged the money laundering.
In the Afghan war the Arab countries supplied
soldiers and money. While the United States supplied modern weapons and
intelligent information via Pakistan. The information about missile and army deployment of USSR was sent from US military
satellites. Arab countries and the US collaborated each other and annoyed the
socialist regime of USSR. Historically, Islam had hostile relations with Christianity.
So, the cooperation between Islam and Christianity was the old allegory; "Bitter
enemies in the same boat".
The principles of both sides which aimed to overthrow
the USSR was completely different from each other. The Arab side had intense antipathy
to communist atheism. The USSR was the Devil or Satan. Therefore, it was jihad
(holy war) to defeat communism ideology. Arabs are implanted ethnicity and
Islam religion. Arabs have no room for ideology. In contrast, the purpose of
the United States to defeat the USSR was simple. US aimed to hold the hegemony
of the world order. The war was the battle of ideology, so-called Liberalism vs
Socialism and Capitalism vs Communism. The United States got initiative in the
Western hemisphere through the advanced country Summit (G7) in 1975. It was the
same year when the muddy Vietnamese War was ended. For the United States, the USSR
was the last enemy. The Afghan war was its forefront.
In the Afghan War, a large number of volunteer
soldiers participated from Arab countries. Among them the biggest name was Usama
bin Ladin of Saudi Arabia. There is no person who doesn’t know his name. Let
review briefly his career how he became the terrorist.
Bin Ladin was born in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in 1957.
His father was origin of Yemen and in youngster he moved to Jeddah just near
Holy City Makkah. He stepped up from peddler on the street, and then got the
favor of Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, first king of Saudi Arabia. When Usama bin Ladin
was born in 1957, his father was already the owner of the biggest construction
conglomerate in the Kingdom. He got married with many women and Bin Ladin was his
17th son. At the age of 11 Usama lost his father by plane crash, and he inherited
300 million US dollars. He then entered Islamic Seminary (Madrasa) and devoted
himself to extreme Islamic fundamentalism. When he was 22 years he went to Afghanistan
as a volunteer soldier. Many Islamic seminaries were built in Afghanistan with
financial aid by Saudi Arabia, and Mujahideen (jihad fighters) were brainwashed
by the Islamic fundamentalist ideology. Usama became to the top of foreign volunteer
soldiers swiftly.
The USSR were gradually driven into a corner and
finally withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988. The Arab-Muslim countries won the
religious war against atheism and the United States won the ideological war against
socialism. The Afghan war brought about the collapse of the USSR. In the United
States, religious sociologist Professor Francis Fukuyama wrote "The end of
History and the Last Man". The era of America First emerged and the
illusion has been created as if an eternal world peace would be realized.
However, Afghan War also had a negative aspect. Many
problems hidden underwater appeared to the surface. The United States forced Middle
East countries to liberalize and democratize politics. It was an enforcement of
Western ideology. Evangelicalism of Christianity and Neo-Conservatism have consisted
in the background of US politics.
In other Islamic countries, the Iranian revolution
has broken out in 1979. Theocracy by Shiite leader Ayatollah Khomeini generated
a conflict with the Sunni Arab countries resulting in the Iran-Iraq war. In
addition to sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni, secularism and
fundamentalism crashed inside the Sunni Arab countries. Fundamentalism became
the mother of terrorism by extremist. Chaotic confusion had spread in Middle
East.
(To be continued ----)
By
Areha Kazuya
E-mail:
Arehakazuya1@gmail.com
Home Page: OCIN INITIATIVE
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