Iranian scholar has advice for U.S. on Afghanistan
Reporting from Tehran -- Iranian scholar Changiz Pahlavan has spent more than 30 years immersed in the minutiae of Afghanistan, as a researcher for UNESCO during the 1970s, a confidant of the country's various warlords during the 1980s and '90s, and an expert on the huge Afghan refugee population in Iran.
In a recent interview with The Times, he said Iran could serve as a cultural bridge and more to Afghanistan, with which it shares a language and culture.
What is your advice to America?
The people of Afghanistan should get some benefits from the presence of the foreign military. They should be enjoying a better life. After World War II, the American troops came to Europe and were liked, but they were not liked in Vietnam and Iraq, because [the people there] did not get anything good out of it.
A group of Afghans who immigrated to the U.S. until very recently were giving advice to American administrations to favor certain parts of Afghanistan dominated by Pashtun tribal people. These advisors are loyal to neither the U.S. nor Afghanistan. They think Afghanistan should be ruled by Pashtun elements, whether royalists, republicans, Communists or the Taliban.
Pashtunism . . . is one of the main elements causing problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan, aside from Pakistani extremists. If you rely on these elements and this ideology, you lose the support of the majority of the people, who are not either Pashtuns or Pashtunists.
What should the U.S. do about Pakistan?
When I spoke many years ago of [Pakistani intelligence] involvement in Afghanistan, nobody was ready to accept it, not even the Iranian government. I saw Pakistani officers who were involved and pursued a scorched-earth policy by burning and ruining everything. It is because of the very complicated border areas between the two countries that Pakistani intelligence is highly involved.
Since its independence, there has been no central government in Pakistan. The unity of this country was guaranteed by the military. The present approach to strengthen democracy is very good.
Pakistan should restructure its intelligence activities in terms of personnel and ideology. They should have a secular constitution that does not allow certain regions to follow Islamic law while ignoring the rest of the country.
In a recent interview with The Times, he said Iran could serve as a cultural bridge and more to Afghanistan, with which it shares a language and culture.
What is your advice to America?
The people of Afghanistan should get some benefits from the presence of the foreign military. They should be enjoying a better life. After World War II, the American troops came to Europe and were liked, but they were not liked in Vietnam and Iraq, because [the people there] did not get anything good out of it.
A group of Afghans who immigrated to the U.S. until very recently were giving advice to American administrations to favor certain parts of Afghanistan dominated by Pashtun tribal people. These advisors are loyal to neither the U.S. nor Afghanistan. They think Afghanistan should be ruled by Pashtun elements, whether royalists, republicans, Communists or the Taliban.
Pashtunism . . . is one of the main elements causing problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan, aside from Pakistani extremists. If you rely on these elements and this ideology, you lose the support of the majority of the people, who are not either Pashtuns or Pashtunists.
What should the U.S. do about Pakistan?
When I spoke many years ago of [Pakistani intelligence] involvement in Afghanistan, nobody was ready to accept it, not even the Iranian government. I saw Pakistani officers who were involved and pursued a scorched-earth policy by burning and ruining everything. It is because of the very complicated border areas between the two countries that Pakistani intelligence is highly involved.
Since its independence, there has been no central government in Pakistan. The unity of this country was guaranteed by the military. The present approach to strengthen democracy is very good.
Pakistan should restructure its intelligence activities in terms of personnel and ideology. They should have a secular constitution that does not allow certain regions to follow Islamic law while ignoring the rest of the country.
posted by temporal at 4/17/2009
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