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Afghan Author Offers View of War
Says U.S. needs to stay engaged in region
By Olivia Winslow
STAFF WRITER
NEWSDAY.COM
November 7, 2001
Having spent his youth as part of the Afghan
mujahideen resistance, which fought Soviet invaders in
the 1980s, Neamatollah Nojumi said slowly, sadly, "I
know what it means to be bombed."
And so it's painful for him to watch his country being
bombed once again - this time witnessing it not from
within Afghanistan but from his new home in the United
States, where he has lived and studied since 1991 and
written a book about the Taliban's rise to power. (He
earned a master's degree this year from Tufts
University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.)
Nojumi is concerned about civilian casualties in the
country where a sister and her family still live, relatives
he has not heard from since the Taliban seized control
in 1996 and imposed what he called "inhuman"
treatment on the people.
"What happened here Sept. 11 was a tragedy. ... The
U.S. had an obligation to do something," said Nojumi,
36, also known as Neamat. But in an interview and
later in an address yesterday before about 100 people
at Nassau Community College as part of its "After the Attack" culture series,
Nojumi said the U.S.-led military campaign to root out Osama bin Laden and his
terror network, al-Qaida, from Afghanistan must be accompanied by a
comprehensive effort to rebuild Afghanistan, both politically and economically.
"Stabilizing Afghanistan means stabilizing the whole region," said Nojumi, who is
the author of a book due out next month, "The Rise of the Taliban: Mass
Mobilization, Civil War and the Future of the Region."
Praising the United States for supporting the mujahideen when they fought the
Soviets, Nojumi, however, pointed to what he called policy mistakes by the
United States and others that led to disastrous results when the Soviets withdrew
from Afghanistan in 1989. At that point, the United States essentially turned its
attentions away from Afghanistan, leaving Pakistan and its intelligence service in
charge. The "power vacuum" that resulted, Nojumi said, gave rise to the Taliban,
a regime he faulted for "violating not only international human rights but Islamic
law."
Nojumi also voiced optimism. He said he believed the United States had learned
a valuable lesson from its disengagement with Afghanistan after the Soviet
withdrawal and the problems that resulted. He was hopeful about U.S. overtures
to the Northern Alliance and other groups opposed to the Taliban and efforts to
form a coalition government in Afghanistan that could step in once the war ends,
efforts with which he said he has been involved. He described himself as a
consultant to human rights agencies and other groups.
"The strategy should be looking for a viable political solution to stabilize the
region," he said. "The country needs help to get on their feet."
He said the "catastrophic events" of Sept. 11 exemplify how the world is
connected globally. "We have to think a little deeper and not forget the misery
and suffering of others outside of the U.S."
Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc.
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