Voice of Russia
June 23, 2013
U.S. courts Taliban to keep nine bases in Afghanistan – Zalmay Gulzad
AUDIO
The situation in Afghanistan after more than 12 years of U.S. occupation is getting worse by the day. The United States continues to support and make deals with the Taliban in order to guarantee that their designs for the country are fulfilled, most importantly keeping 9 military bases in the country after the official withdrawal of troops in 2014. President Karzai and the Afghan people are tired of the U.S. double-dealing and have decided to stop all negotiations.
Hello! This is John Robles, I’m talking with Dr. Zalmay Gulzad. He is a Professor at Harold Washington College in Chicago in the Political Science Department.
Robles: Hello Sir! How are you this evening?
Gulzad: Very good, thank you very much.
Robles: First question: can you give our listeners a little bit of an update? And we’d really like to hear what you think about this situation currently in Afghanistan, especially with this kind switch of events that are happening right now, as far as Russia supporting Karzai etc?
Gulzad: The situation is that the area is totally in chaos. Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Turkey and all these areas are in trouble.
What Afghanistan really wanted to have is: the Afghans must lead the peace talk, that was the goal. What happened was that the United States as usual, we have seen the history, the United States has this very strong alliance with the Pakistani military, and also with the Pakistani secret police, the ISI. Everybody in the world knows that Talibans are supported by the Pakistani military and by the ISI secret police of Pakistan.
So, Americans made a deal with them like: “Okay, we want to have nine bases in Afghanistan. This negotiation is going on and while it is going on, we want you to create a situation for us, to tell the Taliban to come to Qatar and sit down with us and talk, we could create something that they would not attack the American bases in Afghanistan and also would not attack the United States from Afghanistan.”
So, if that is happening, America and Taliban are going to talk, the Pakistani military and the ISI, because they are good allies and the United States is giving $2 billion a year to the Pakistani military, they said “Fine!”, they created this.
Robles: Karzai, wasn’t he agreeing to the same thing, to allow bases to remain in Afghanistan? So what happened there?
Gulzad: Karzai has agreed mostly that nine bases should be given to Afghanistan. One condition isd there that most Afghans are asking the United States, that the United States should push the Pakistani military not to support any more, while the Americans and the NATO are leaving, they should not support the Taliban, so that Afghanistan has peace. But the United States is largely saying to Afghans that we cannot do that. So, the objective is this: America wants to make a secret deal, to sell Afghanistan to Pakistan and to the Taliban and the Afghans are not going to accept it.
The other thing is the building which was dedicated to the Afghan Taliban, they’ve put the name on it: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and they were flying the Taliban flag. Immediately the Afghan Government and the Afghan officials, they objected to that, that is why Karzai got mad.
Okay, this is supposed to be: you are recognizing Taliban as an entity. And Taliban also used that office to send their delegation to Iran. They were trying to use it. So, that’s why today’s situation got very bad.
Karzai says that we are not going to talk to you anymore about the American troops staying in Afghanistan until things change. So then Kerry, called Karzai in Kabul and he said that the Taliban will not fly the American, I mean the Taliban flag over the building and also they will not call it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
So, the problem is this: the mistrust between the Afghan Government, the Afghan people and the United States, is because the United States always supported the Taliban, (Al Qaeda is supported by the Taliban), and the United States is having this secret alliance with the Pakistani military, even though there was some sort of election in Pakistan after which the Muslim League, which is a very religious party, won the election. But still, the military is in control.
Nawaz Sharif will become the Prime Minister, he was overthrown by Gen Musharraf in 1991. He was in jail, he was in exile in London and Saudi Arabia but he’s back now, he is the Prime Minister, but he is afraid of the military. The military is calling all the shots in Pakistan.
Robles: What are the chances right now of things being worked out, I mean where do you see the Taliban going? What is the future looking like right now?
Gulzad: The future looks like this: United States wanted to make a deal with Pakistan and with Taliban in order to get their bases, because the United States always looks for their own interests, short term.
As I said before, the nine bases are very important because they are in the north of Afghanistan, west Afghanistan, central Afghanistan, out of Afghanistan and east Afghanistan.
East Afghanistan, northeast Afghanistan is for China, north Afghanistan is for Russia, the west of Afghanistan is for Iran and the south Afghanistan is for the Persian Gulf, because it is 150 miles and they could keep an eye on the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and all this.
The other thing is that if you look throughout the history at what the United States has done, they made quick deals with the Taliban. If you look at the Clinton Administration, when the Taliban was in power I had the pleasure to go to the White House and talk with Clinton and his wife and I told them: “What you are doing in Afghanistan, with Taliban is killing these people?”
Because the Unocal Company, which is a California-based company, contributed money to his election. Clinton made a deal with them, they said: “Okay, as long as Taliban could bring stability in Afghanistan, then there will be this pipeline which is coming from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to the Indian Ocean.
So, Clinton didn’t give a damn about what Taliban was doing to the Afghan people and Afghan women, and all this. All he was concerned about was how this pipeline should go. He didn’t care about Democracy, he didn’t care about anything. The only thing he cared about was that this pipeline could go so that he could pay back the Unocal who gave him a lot of money in his election.
Right now, this Obama regime is doing exactly the same thing. They want to make a deal with the Devil and they are selling the Afghan people. And then…
Naturally I don’t blame Russia, I don’t blame China, I don’t blame India and all these big powers, they are very nervous because if they leave a lot of these countries such as Pakistan, everybody will arm their own ally, there will be a war. And this war is going to spread, it has already spread to Pakistan and it’s going to spread to the former Soviet Republics, Islamic Republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, and that will have a major impact on the future of Russia.
Robles: And what role do you see for Russia right now, in the short term and in the long term?
Gulzad: Russia has a major role. I don’t care what people say that Russia is finished and all this kind of stuff. The people in Afghanistan and in the area are looking forward to see Russia play a major role in the politics of that area. The people of Afghanistan always had good relations with Russia.
You were listening to an interview with Dr. Zalmay Gulzad. He is a Professor at Harold Washington College in Chicago. You can find part two on our website at english.ruvr.ru
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