I am working recently on Wikipedia Afghanistan country
portal to dust of some edges and smoothen some rough patches. It’s important to
me because Wikipedia is one of the main sources where people look for general
information and topics of interest. It has several fold more readership than
CIA factbook and BBC country profile combined and fortunately anyone can edit
it.
Unfortunately my edits are quickly returned to a
version that is more inline with the general media discourse and the views
westerners hold about Afghanistan. The
version maintained is also in accordance with the current US policy in
Afghanistan, portraying some people in favourable light and emphasizing some
groups as evil. The stubbornness of the editor to maintain the current version,
points to the possibility of a dedicated editor(s), which raise some curious
questions.
Lets have a look at what’s out there, for instance the
current summary on 1992-1996 phase of Afghan civil war has the following
summary:
The 1992 to 1996 phase
of the conflict in
Afghanistan (1978–present) began after the resignation of the communist PresidentMohammad Najibullah. The post-communist Islamic State of Afghanistan was established by the Peshawar
Accord, a peace and
power-sharing agreement under which all the Afghan parties were united in April
1992, except for the Hezb-e
Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar started a bombardment
campaign against the capital city Kabul which marked the beginning of this new
phase in the war. In direct contrast to the Soviet era, the countryside
witnessed relative calm during that period while major cities such as Kabul,
Mazar-e Sharif and Kandahar witnessed violent fighting.
I don’t think that is accurate so I changed to the
following:
The 1992 to 1996 phase
of the conflict in
Afghanistan (1978–present) began after the resignation of last president of Democratic
Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah. The Islamic State of Afghanistan that succeeded the Republic of
Afghanistan was established by the Peshawar
Accord, a peace and
power-sharing agreement under which most Mujahedeen Parties attempted to unite.
While Negotiations under the auspices of Pakistan was still underway Hekmatyar's troops from the south, Massood
from the North, Hezb-e-Wahdat from the West and Junbish Millie of General
Dostum through International Airport infiltrated Kabul, followed by looting of
Afghan Army equipment and government infrastructure.[1]
The war broke out immediately for control of buildings and districts in major
cities while negotiations were still underway in Peshawar.[2] Throughout the period
the fictions formed kaleidoscopic variety of coalition to gain full control of
Kabul city. [3]
The
best way to writing an accurate summary of historical event is by doing
sufficient research, fact checking and vetting the credentials and sniffing out
conflicts of interest that might colour sources. Editors must avoid fuzzy
statements, contradictions, or sweeping conclusions beyond what’s supported by
evidence. Multiple and diverse sources should be provided for summary
statements, quality of the statement depends on the quality of sources.
The summary statement should be related to
the wider historical context. Most importantly, and I cannot overemphasize
this, it should be accurate from an Afghan political and social perspective.
The historical narrative available on Wikipedia that seems not to be revisable
is a good representation of what the Americans think about Afghanistan.
What is the historical context from Afghan
perspective that can lend meaning to the summary?
Following
the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, Afghanistan deteriorated into a brutal civil war
between rival mujahideen groups, many of which had spent much of their energy
fighting each other even during the height of the anti-Soviet jihad. This civil
war claimed thousands of lives and decimated the country’s infrastructure. The
civil war intensified after a mujahideen group took Kabul in April 1992.
Shortly afterwards, Beirut-style street fighting erupted in the city, fictions
along ethnic and sectarian lines. This civil war, fought with the vast surplus
ordnance of the covert anti-Soviet military aid program and huge stockpiles of
abandoned Soviet weapons, eventually wreaked as much if not more damage and
destruction on the country than the Soviet invasion and occupation. Kabul,
which was left virtually untouched under Soviet occupation, was savagely
bombarded with rockets, mortars, and artillery. In Kandahar, fighting between
Islamists and traditionalist mujahideen parties resulted in the destruction of
much of the traditional power structures. In the rural areas, warlords, drug
lords, and bandits ran amok in a state of anarchy created by the unraveling of
the traditional tribal leadership system.
There
is no good or evil here but rather a very important lesson that sectarian and
fictional politics will give rise to militancy and violent religious extremism.
This is not the creation of one evil man or group but brought about as a result
of uncertainty and chaos of war.
sources:
