Former Afghan general on situation in Afghanistan - RT 2309

http://www.russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-08-23/afghan-general-interview.html
Former Afghan General Abdul Kadyr in an exclusive interview.
General Abdul Kadyr saw the fall of the Afghan monarchy and took part in two revolutions. Twice he was held the post of Defense Minister and later headed the Afghan Air Force.

Abdul Kadyr: To be frank, the vote in Afghanistan is more symbolic, because Afghani people have never voted. They do not know how and who to choose. This is a new practice for the people. And I think that the Afghani people are being assessed from a political viewpoint. The worlds powers see that Afghanistan is a small poor socialist country. People here are not very educated in terms of politics. And somebody is using it. It is almost like a game. It seems like the people are given the opportunity to vote for someone, but in reality the President is appointed. Also there are huge divisions in political forces in Afghanistan. All the superpowers have their own interests in Afghanistan, and everyone will try to figure out now exactly how much power they have.

A.K.: A very small percentage of the population actually voted. From the TV and radio reports we can see that the population is apathetic. A town with 4,000 to 5,000 citizens has very low results with just over 1000 people voting. We think it tells us that people disagree with this vote, because there are some individuals involved who people do not want to see. That's why people do not participate in the election. If candidates were wanted by the people, then the turn out would be high. I think even 40-50% would have come to vote for the new leader. It is only people related to these small groups who voted.

From the start Karzai was not the people's choice, he was appointed. With the game he is playing right now, he won't be able to do anything.

Karzai is playing a game with his opponents and enemies, as well as with his allies and friends.

There are people who would have been a better leader. But they are not among the candidates. There are people who are candidates, but they are worse than Karzai. And there are reasons for that. Karzai is the best of the candidates, because he has learned a lot, and knows how to speak to different people. But he is mostly playing games that don't benefit the people. His political games bring no benefit for the country.

A.K.: This will never end with the kind of game they are playing right now. They are not fighting, they are playing.

When our party was in power, American and Europe helped fundamentalists in their fight against us. Even China was against us. So are we to think that there was some sort of cooperation or alliance? Then we agreed to divide the power. There were those who were for it and finally they benefited from it. But those who were against, got no benefit at all. Americans were helping fundamentalists for a long time, but then fundamentalists turned against each other. The war started again! So what was it? A game? Was this the plan?

Indeed this was the plan to turn fundamentalists against each other, continue the war, so that they are weakened and therefore obedient to America and fulfill their orders. So when the Taliban got too strong they had to start a war against the Taliban. Islam all around the world became more strong and popular. That was Americas big mistake.
So they needed a candidate from their group and put him in power. And Karzai came into the picture.
You may know that Karzais family is a very old one. At the very beginning of the countrys history, his familys tribe was in power here in Afghanistan this is one thing. And secondly, Karzai was prepared and trained for this. So when the Taliban could not fight anymore, they agreed to the Karzai proposal. It was not actually their wish; they were made to choose it. They were told that if they did not agree, then there may be a very bad option for them.

Thats how Karzai came to power. There was one period of his leadership, then another. The first vote was for Karzai, and now the vote will be in his favour too. Or maybe a person better than him will appear on the scene with a promise to do more than Karzai.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Afghanistan
• US
• election
• Taliban

[pamir9900]

This General's dad was a Russian man, he speaks Russian not, pashto or Dari.They shouldn't interviewed him.He has no idea of what he is talking about.What he says, is everyone knows, even all the kids on every streets of AFG.This General is/was member of communist party that destroyed Afg.

[grailer123]

1957 WTF??

[terrorstorm99]

@MaIcoImZieI Afghans are human beings first, sadly very few western politicians and military appreciate that. They are obsesssed with their own importance!

[MaIcoImZieI]

Actually most Afghans are Hindu. Only in the west of the country are Muslims.

[Ebdan88]

Divide and ROLL is the Old game, and Human's are so stupet today, that they still fall for it. Divide and roll is like a Dragon with 1000 heads. One have to use his / her Brains to not to be fulled again.....Afgani people must be educated by afgani's not to fall again and again for lays, and for Divide and Roll......

[ocean3da]

When he speaks about 1925 -1937

In today's world of alliances, it is all about energy resources. And Afghanistan is a base for America, as you have Iraq nearby and the Caspian sea. Russia and China are next door, so there is his example.

[afgibnasina]

of course, the great game continues which is not new and there many books such as the great game and highway of conquest.

[afgibnasina]

Kadyer is a war criminal like Dostum. He killed people and slaughtered people. So Russia should be ashamed of putting him on the TV. He is not different from the toruturers from Nato nor America. Russia killed Afghans and so does US. What is the rule? Niccolo Machaveli The PRince- power.