California : meeting to work on a peace plan for Afghanistan

In The Name Of Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful 
 

September 22, 2009

Mr. Kai Eide

Special Envoy to Afghanistan

United Nations

New York, New York 
 

RE: Jirga and Transition Government in Afghanistan  
 

To the Honorable Kai Eide: 
 

My name is Abdul Kadir Mohmand. I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. During the 1980s, I was the Representative of the Afghan Mujahideen in North America. Also, in the 1980s through 1988, I returned to Afghanistan on various occasions to do my duty and fight against the Soviet occupiers and Afghan Communists. Through an arrangement with a local hospital, Borgess, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I would bring back wounded Afghan children and freedom fighters for medical treatment and care for them in my home. 
 

The United States invaded Afghanistan to fight Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and terrorism. No in reality they are fighting Islam as evidenced by Bush’s reference to the operation as a “crusade”. The Afghans by God’s Law have the right to defend themselves and their country. Who is conducting terrorism in Afghanistan? The military operations of the West and NATO with their carpet bombs and uranium tipped weapons or the Afghan civilians, who are the “collateral damage”? I want peace and long term stability in Afghanistan, my homeland. Thus, since the Soviet invasion, I have dedicated my life to the attainment of an independent and free Afghanistan. However, stability and peace will not happen because there cannot be a democracy and true free elections when Afghanistan is occupied by foreign troops, who are waging war against its people and stealing its natural resources and treasures. During the past thirty years, the Afghan people have suffered too much for too long. Now, it has been almost eight years since the United States invaded Afghanistan and treated Afghans as scapegoats for the tragic events on 9/11/2001.So far the Afghans have only experienced destruction, genocide, corruption, and many false and unfulfilled promises under the West’s invasion and occupation. As observed in the recent “farcical” election, many Afghans did not get fooled and did not participate. This election was a mockery. Many Afghans realized that there is no democracy and free elections in their country when foreign armies control their country’s “sovereignty” and foreign soldiers bring terror to their daily lives. This recent election with its corrupt puppet government clearly shows why the foreign troops must leave Afghanistan. Without the removal of all foreign troops and the ending of foreign interference there can be no peace, no stability, no free elections, no prosperity and no democracy for the Afghan people. 
 

The recent “farcical” election cannot bring peace, justice for or stability to Afghanistan. There will be more bloodshed than ever before because the Afghans will not accept any government, consisting of puppets, warlords, communists, war criminals, or one installed by foreigners. They will not accept any government until there is justice. The Afghan resistance now fighting the NATO and US forces is not Taliban. Rather, it is simply villagers, who are tired of foreign occupiers committing crimes against their families and tribes and dropping carpet bombs on their villages. They remember what the Northern Alliance, under the US war campaign and protection, did to them at Dasht-e-Laila. Many of the resistant fighters are the relatives of and tribal members of the Pashtun Muslim men , who laid down their weapons as requested by the West in 2001 and were then placed in containers and murdered by the Northern Alliance along with the US and UN forces in violation of international law. If peace and stability are truly to be in Afghanistan, then the world’s leaders need to follow the example presently set forth in Rwanda. The top military leaders and government architects need to be prosecuted for war crimes committed from 1978 to the present, including those individuals responsible for the war crimes committed at Dasht-e-Laila. Justice has never been brought for the Afghan victims. Without justice through lawful prosecution, there can never be peace and stability in Afghanistan. Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Jewish people have all been provided with justice through lawful prosecutions in international courts. The Afghan victims of war crimes have never been given justice. Therefore, they will continue to fight. To achieve peace and long term stability, the war criminals must be prosecuted and a loya jirga must be held with participants consisting of Afghan intellectuals, who do not have Afghan blood on their hands. 
 

We, the Afghan intellectual people, are capable of rebuilding our country without foreign interference. We are capable of organizing and holding our own jirga. For centuries, we have done that on our own. In the jirga, we can look inward to our Islamic and Afghan roots and history and make the necessary changes to bring peace without puppets, war criminals, and foreigners. The current Afghan freedom fighters must be a part of this jirga in order for the process to work. 
 

When Senator Aminzay recently came to the United States, he contacted me and we spoke regarding the situation in Afghanistan and the jirga. He invited me to attend the jirga in Afghanistan. I told him my main goal is the independency of Afghanistan. In addition, I told him that war has three stages: (1) To defend your country, (2) To move to an offensive strategy, and (3) To enter into political resolutions. History has shown that Afghans are not as good at the third stage as they are at the first and second stages. So that history does not repeat itself, I asked Afghan intellectuals along with Senator Aminzay to handle the political stage without making the mistakes our ancestors did. True independency for the Afghan people is the most important thing along with not allowing foreigners to do divide and conquer tactics.  I found him to be of the utmost sincerity and he comes from a highly respected family. I believe he needs to play an important role in our jirga. 
 

In my opinion, escalating the war on terror in Afghanistan by sending more troops there is not the right strategy. Conducting war crimes prosecutions in lawful tribunals and the holding of a loya jirga by Afghan intellectuals, which includes current freedom fighters, are the right strategies.  These two processes would truly be the first steps towards peace and long term stability for the Afghan people. These steps have been skipped-probably intentionally- for various foreign policy reasons and foreign countries’ benefit. 
 

I have also included in my letter my talking points for Afghanistan.  
 

First, the Afghan people and the United States need change. The Obama Administration can bring that positive change with your help and the help of a team of respected Afghan intellectual leaders. The Afghan people have suffered too much for too long. It is inhumane and intolerable to allow their suffering to continue. The United States’ citizens are compassionate people and are concerned that their tax dollars are used to achieve reconstruction and long term stability in Afghanistan. There is still the opportunity to adopt and implement a new coherent strategy, which is capable of producing tangible results on the ground, helps the Afghan people achieve justice, and one that builds a functioning, legitimate state and coordinates the legitimate interests of the regional and global powers in Afghanistan with the interests of the Afghan people. To achieve peace and long term stability in Afghanistan there must be a new perspective, new policies, new approaches, new players, new Afghan leaders, and a new view on the prosecution of war criminals from 1978 to the present. Justice, peace, reconstruction, an Afghanistan that is not a training ground for foreign terrorists, and long term stability can be achieved, but not by continuing to pump more money and troops into an Afghanistan under a failed Karzai government and Zalmay Khalilzad’s failed Bonn government and policies. I along with many other educated Afghans are highly disappointed because President Obama has not taken the right steps yet, but there is still time. 
 

Second, the present Afghan government is ineffective and corrupt. It cannot govern and bring about that positive change. The Karzai government has no effective control over more than two thirds of Afghanistan. It is a failed state with no legitimacy. It is not viable. Domination of the Karzai government by war lords, human rights abusers, war criminals and communists from the 1980s, such as Rashid Doshtum, drug traffickers, and wide spread corruption within the institutional structure of the state have undermined any trust, respect or confidence the Afghan people have in the current government. Monies for reconstruction are flowing into personal bank accounts, private militias, and the illicit drug trade. The Afghan people and the United States’ citizens have not received what they expected from the Karzai government. Heavy reliance upon foreign occupiers, dominance of human rights abusers, drug traffickers, Northern Alliance, and communist war criminals from the 1980s in top government positions, all have eroded any moral underpinnings of the Karzai government’s legitimacy. 
 

Third, to achieve a positive change, the Pashtuns, the native population and the majority ethnic group, must not be sidelined. Under Zalmay Khalilzad and the Northern Alliance’s approach, the majority Pashtun have been sidelined from true participation in the Afghan government. They have created a climate of corruption and too much backlash against the majority Pashtun. Mr. Khalilzad was a key player and architect of the Bonn government and that jirga process, which has failed the Afghan people because of the dominance of the Afghan communist war criminals, Northern Alliance, and foreign nations, such as Iran, U.S. , and Pakistan’s, participation in and control over  the process. False information has been provided by the Northern Alliance and Khalilzad to the West to create the sidelining of Pashtuns and the backlash against them. Zalmay Khalilzad helped make a government of well known war lords, human rights abusers, communist war criminals from the 1980s and drug traffickers.Mr. Khalilzad and others do not have the respect for the Afghan people. They do not know and follow the Pashtunwali Code. The Pashtuns must not be sidelined from true participation in any future elections and governments. Currently, in the Helmand Valley, Jalalabad and other Pashtun areas, the Pashtun tribes and villages , who are resisting because of war crimes committed against them, are being attacked, bombed and murdered by NATO, the Afghan Forces dominated by the Northern Alliance, and US forces , during this critical time leading up to elections. Once again, the Pashtuns are being sidelined. They will not be able to and will not participate in the election. This strategy is the wrong strategy and it will not bring peace and long term stability to Afghanistan, the region, and the world. History has shown there can be no peace without justice. It is not just to scapegoat the Pashtuns ! 
 

Fourth, to effectuate positive change, it must be made known that the present resistance inside Afghanistan to the Karzai government and foreign occupation consist of ordinary Pashtun villagers. Treating the Taliban as al Qaeda is a mistake, and treating the Pashtun as the Taliban is another. One of the major causes for the instability and resistance is the fact that the Pashtun have been sidelined and scape goated. The Pashtun villagers are frustrated with the backlash brought about by the Northern Alliance, the corrupt ineffective Karzai government, and the foreign military occupation – its air strikes and bombardments of their villages, “collateral damage”, killing of Pashtun civilians, aggressive, arbitrary searches of homes and seizures of Pashtuns from their villages, and overall hostile tactics. The occupying foreign forces and the Northern Alliance are acting like the Soviet Union and Afghan Communists in the 1980s. As history has shown, the Pashtuns will resist if treatment continues as is. Peace and long term stability will not happen. There can be no peace and stability without justice.  
 

Fifth, there has been little reconstruction in Afghanistan under Bush and Obama, the Karzai government and the current approaches. Before the foreign invasions and occupations, Afghanistan was a beautiful garden. Now it is a toxic landfill. A few corrupt war lords in Kabul are building big buildings, but when one tours the majority of Kabul and the country side it is like a landfill. A dumping ground for super powers’ weaponry- present Western uranium tipped ones and the Communists’ mines and other weapons and chemicals with civilians as the targets. Afghan people live in garbage and drink polluted water. The Kabul River is a polluted disgrace. Where are the newly built sewers and water systems? Presently, there still is pollution, contamination and utter destruction of the infrastructure. There is widespread corruption with the aid funds and monies going into governmental leaders’ and their families’ and friends’ pockets and personal bank accounts. There are corrupt foreign contractors financially benefitting at the expense of the Afghan people’s continued misery. To win the Afghan people’s hearts and minds there needs to be economic success and true reconstruction. Then, there will be positive change. This success has not happened under the Karzai government and its failed policies and practices. I am sad to say it will not happen under Obama’s current approach.  
 

Sixth, for positive change, the Obama Administration must open a sincere channel with respected Afghan intellectual leaders. These Afghan leaders will pave the way for negotiation with the Afghan resistance, which must be included in a comprehensive settlement. These respected Afghan intellectual leaders, need to be part of the team that meets with you, the Obama Administration, and the current Afghan Freedom Fighters. These leaders must be respected and known to the Afghans as good people and have the trust of the resistance.  
 

Seventh, this respected intellectual Afghan team will negotiate with all parties to ensure: 
 

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  A transitional Afghan administration to replace the current Kabul government. This administration does not represent any coalition of parties involved in the Afghan conflict. It does not represent any faction, party, ethnic group, or foreign interest. After amending the current constitution, it will leave power for an elected government.



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  Justice for the Afghan people through lawful prosecution of war criminals from 1978 to the present through international tribunals.



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  A new transitional government must be restructured so it is not a current war lords’ dominated government based on ethnicity, race, gender, language or gun power. It should be based on qualification, professionalism, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.



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  A viable Afghan state needs to be non-aligned and neutral like Switzerland, having good relations with its neighbors and be a good partner with the international community. Furthermore, the neighbors of Afghanistan must pledge not to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. The UN Security Council must guarantee this assurance of non-interference. Afghanistan has an important strategic and economic location situated at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, China, Iran and the Gulf. A stable Afghanistan can play a positive role in the stability and prosperity of the region. Afghanistan can be stable only when non-aligned. Afghanistan has become a problem for its people and others when its neutrality has been disturbed. The interference of Great Britain in the 19^th century, the Soviet Union in the 20^th century, its neighbors and the US occupation in the 21^st century have placed Afghanistan and the region in chaos.



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  All foreign troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in a reasonable time frame. No permanent foreign troop bases in Afghanistan.



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  All non-Afghan armed individuals or groups leave Afghanistan.



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  Address the internal and external refugee problem. The return of the Pashtuns , who were displaced by the Northern Alliance and Western forces, to their properties and villages.



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  Give Afghans hope for the future instead of using the strategy of humiliation and scape goating, bombardment, and military force.



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  Having good relations and working with the international community.



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  Eliminating corruption.



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  Reconstruct and rebuild Afghanistan. Aid must be channeled through a single multi-donor trust fund. The fund must be administered under a 5-year comprehensive post-war reconstruction plan prepared by the Afghan government similar to the Marshal Plan. This type of structured economic reconstruction will help make Afghanistan stable. It will help tackle the narcotics problem, the widespread corruption, the human rights abuses, and the violence.

Please consider my ideas, share them with the appropriate UN and government officials. Please do what is right and just for the Afghan people, who have suffered so much during these past four decades. All I want is to see justice for the Afghan people and peace and stability in Afghanistan, my motherland, before I die. I want my children to be able to visit a peaceful, stable and free Afghanistan. Help rebuild my beautiful garden.  
 

At your convenience, I may be reached at (269) 353-7044 or at kmohmand@chartermi.net. Thank you for your time and consideration. 
 

Sincerely, 
 
 

Abdul Kadir Mohmand

6147 Old Log Trail

Kalamazoo, Michigan 49009  
 
 

cc:      Senator Aminzay