Causes of the Afghan Civil War

Causes of the Afghan Civil War Mohammad Haseeb Daudzai Who destroyed Kabul? The Afghan Civil War which started in 1989 and ended in 1992 was one of the bloodiest and most destructive wars in Afghan history. This war had two phases. The first phase was fought between the Afghan government and the Mujahedeen, and the second phase was fought between different parties of the Mujahedeen. The Afghan Civil War which resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and the destruction of Kabul was caused by various factors some of which were: Afghan people, Afghanistan’s economy, Afghan politicians and foreign involvement. First of all, Afghanistan is a multicultural country with more than ten ethnic groups and more than thirty languages. Afghans have some differences in their culture, too. The majority of Afghans follow either of the two schools of fiqh (schools of Islamic law) namely Jafari and Hanafi. The literacy rate is also very low in Afghanistan. These cultural differences, religious issues and low literacy rate make racism a common phenomenon amongst the people and it’s very easy for anyone to provoke a war in Afghanistan. In 1992, racists from different ethnic groups started inviting their ethnic groups to fight against other ethnic groups, so they could gain power in Afghanistan. The economy of Afghanistan was very weak in 1989 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was leaving Afghanistan. Unemployment reached its peak. Although Dr. Najibullah planned different strategies for making a stable economy in Afghanistan, but because gas wells were under the control of the Mujahedeen, the government was completely dependent on the USSR aid, hence most of those strategies failed. As a result of unemployment, people started starving in some parts of Kabul, so they started protesting against the government in Kabul. These protests gave the Mujahedeen a good excuse for attacking Kabul which marked the first phase of the Afghan Civil War. Back in 1980s when the USSR had full control of Afghanistan, eight parties were formed in opposition to the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) which was directly supported and under the influence of the Soviet Union. All these eight parties called themselves Mujahedeen (Holy warriors). These parties fought against the USSR for nine years. After nine years of fighting in Afghanistan, the USSR lost the war to the Mujahedeen and were forced to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan. In 1989, before leaving Afghanistan, the USSR selected Dr. Najibullah to be the president of Afghanistan after they left. Dr. Najibullah was a member of the PDPA, hence his government was not acceptable to the Mujahedeen and they continued to fight, which provoked a civil war between Afghan army and the Afghan Mujahedeen. More than 20,000 Afghans were killed in this first phase of the Afghan Civil War. In 1992 Dr. Najibullah resigned from his position. Afghan warlords knew Dr. Najib would finally resign and every one of them wanted to take his place so they organized a gathering in Peshawar, Pakistan. This gathering resulted in forming a new government and a cabinet which was supposed to take power after Dr. Najibullah resigned. Additionally, Ahmad Shah Masood formed a supervising council known as Shura e Nazar, which was composed of 120 military generals from different parts of northern Afghanistan, to supervise the activities of the upcoming government. In 1992, the new government gained full control of Kabul and major parts of Afghanistan. Sibghatullah Mujadeedi was appointed as the new president of Afghanistan, but due to his poor leadership skills he was soon replaced by Burhanuddin Rabbani. Rabbani was a member of Shura e Nazar and except Tajik warlords no one wanted him to be the President of Afghanistan. After a month, the second and bloodiest phase of the Afghan Civil War began. More than 50,000 civilians were killed only in Kabul and it was divided into di fferent parts, each part controlled by a different party. As an example Kart e Parwan district was controlled by Ahmad Shah Masood’s forces and only Tajik people lived there, Taimani district was controlled by Abdul Ali Mazari’s forces and only Hazara people lived there and if anyone from Kart e Parwan dared to go to Taimani or vice versa, the opposite party would kill him. After two months of Rabbani’s government the Mujahedeen started firing rockets across the streets of Kabul as result no one was safe anywhere in Kabul. Meanwhile Gulbudin Hekmatyar, who was supported by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, wanted to be the president of Afghanistan, hence he started fighting the government and Abdul Ali Mazari joined him. The Civil War in Afghanistan was part of the Cold War. According to George Crile, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched Operation Cyclone to fund the Mujahedeen against the USSR. In 1980 the amount of these funds reached $30 million per year and in 1987 this amount rose to $630 million per year. The CIA also provided weapons including Type-56 rifles and FIM-92 stingers to the Mujahedeen. The first stinger which proved to be a very effective weapon, was launched in 1986 near Jalalabad by the Mujahedeen, hence 500 additional stingers were provided to the Mujahedeen by the CIA. Pakistan also started supporting the Mujahedeen which resulted in the USSR providing additional AK 47s to the Afghan army. The USSR also provided more than 2500 SCUD missiles to the Afghan government. Dr. Najibullah used the SCUDs against Pakistan and gave the AK 47s to the Afghan army. Hundreds of missiles were fired on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a response to Pakistan’s suppo rt of the Mujahedeen and the US weapons supplies to the Mujahedeen that came through Pakistan. In 1992, Dr. Najibullah resigned. Dr. Najib’s resignation marked the end of the first phase of the Afghan Civil War. Pakistan continued supporting Gulbudin Hekmatyar against the Afghan government and asked him to keep fighting against the government till he gained full power in Kabul and replaced Rabbani. Saudi Arabia also started supporting Hekmatyar. The second phase of the War began after Hekmatyar started shelling Kabul. Relations between Shura e Nazar and General Abdul Rasheed Dostom who now had the full support of Uzbekistan, had soured and Dostom had to leave Kabul. After leaving Kabul, Dostom started shelling Kabul from the gates of Kabul. More than 50,000 civilian were killed in Kabul in blind shelling (1) (also called rockety koor ([blind rockets]). To conclude, during these two phases of the Afghan civil war, which lasted from 1989 to 1992, more than 100,000 Afghans were killed, thousands of Kabul citizens were injured and lost their homes and nothing was seen in Kabul except bombarded buildings and signs of different weapons used during the war. The Afghan Civil war was caused by four major factors, the Afghan people, Afghan economy, Afghan politicians and foreign powers.

A Critique of the Juliette Beck Speech -- Argumentative Persuasive Pol

A Critique of the Juliette Beck Speech Juliette Beck's speech, "Reclaiming Just and Sustainable Communities in the Age of Corporate Globalization" neither adequately described the problems of globalization as it is currently structured, nor did it provide any answers to the problems with it, either the real problems that actually exist (labor and environmental exploitation) or the problems that Beck purported (large corporations). Primarily, Beck's speech was flawed in that it was incoherent and empirical incorrect. For instance 1) it purported the idea that globalization was "not inevitable", 2) it called upon the myth of "small is beautiful", confusing the real problem with globalization (Capitalist structure) with a false problem (the scale of the Corporate in a globalized world), and 3) it was often merely incorrect in some of the ideas and statistics that it stated. Also, the speech was not true to its title (well, maybe it was in that both were basically ridden with non-sense), in that it did not give real economic or political alternatives to Corporate Globalization. First, globalization already exists. The world's economic structure is already on a global scale. Although change is possible, the idea that we can regress back into history, destroying a globalized world and making Localism over all is not only a bad idea, but a useless, silly one. Capitalism, by its nature, is acquisitive, as is also imperialism. As long as either exist (usually joint hand and hand, at least in this point of pre-history), they will seek out, with the world's wonderful technology and knowledge, the few unmolested areas left in the world. These forces, by the sheer scale that they exist on, are impossible to overthrow at local levels, a... ...cally flawed, and did not even give many localist alternatives to corporate globalization, in addition to not giving any real alternative to it. However, in spite of this, some people on campus were so inadequately informed about the reality of how globalization is being carried out that it did do some level of good. Under a constant barrage of statistics and moralistic proclamations aimed at revealing the debased practices of institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, some students did leave with a better perspective on how corporate globalization (i.e. Capitalism, if they come to identify it as such on there own) is operating and with more interest with, at the least, becoming much better informed on the issue and, at the best, even becoming involved with political and civil organizations aimed at humanizing and democratizing the process known as globalization.

Genetically modified foods: 6 thinking hats Essay

1. Genetically modified foods or GM foods is to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption/ intake. GM foods are foods produced from organisms inserted into their DNA altering, and allowing genetic changes to be made, affecting their natural balance to give the desired affect –enhancing desired traits an e. g. being to increase the resistance to herbicides or to increase or improve nutritional content-. With the use of modern technology it is also possible to allow selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism to another, it also works between non- related species. Modern biotechnology† or â€Å"gene technology†, sometimes also â€Å"recombinant DNA technology† or â€Å"genetic engineering† allows all this to happen an e. g. of being the growth and harvest of crop plants. 2. GM foods are everywhere in shops, supermarkets etc. In Australia, currently only two GM foods are produced with it being canola and cotton, but many GM foods such as soybeans, corn, rice, peas, sugarbeet, rice, sugarcane and dairy productsare imported from different countries all around the world. The label for the products are on the label at the back of it, showing all the ingredients including the GM substance an example being shown below but not all foods have the GM food labelling on them. 3. GM foods such as food made at bakeries, restaurants and takeaways, potatoes and tomatoes have no GM labelling on it, this due to the fact that if labelled it is to imply a warning about health effects causing the consumers to not want to buy the product and with some arguments of consumers deserving to know what’s in their foods the process is not as easy as it sounds having it to require many of several complex technical issues –the cost of paper and ink to print the label, having to go through a long process of having the approval from authorities and such- . Another reason is that The GM foods are not that significant and won’t really affect the person’s health so it is seen that it is not needed to label them for there would be a very large decrease of income if it were labelled. Nancy Ho 91 1 Genetically modified corn NEXT TO A NORMAL ONE ->

Women Stereotyping - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1666 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/04/12 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Stereotypes Essay Did you like this example? The media misleads reality by forming and reinforcing gender stereotypes. Women are subjugated by being portrayed into categories like sex objects, victims and or dependents of society. We live in a world full of discrimination. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Women Stereotyping" essay for you Create order People (men and women) are categorized and judged based on who they are. Both genders are victims of this act but men are often favorited more than women are. Men are praised for many things that women would be criticized for doing. Women are often underestimated in many things that men are praised for and also classified as the weak sex. Men are implied as the cultural standard. Women are looked as unimportant or invisible. Regardless of age or tenure, females face these scenarios almost every day. This is called sexism. Lets talk gender roles in magazines and ads. After doing some research, 78% of the covers of magazines are regarding women bodily appearance, weight loss, dietary habits etc. The point of these weight-related messages are to tell the women who are discriminated as big or fat that being skinny or slim is the key to having a better life. Womens magazines focus on improving ones life by changing their appearance. Instead of being supportive, why do we have to discriminate? Some men also made negative comments towards heavier women. One big thing is the target audience for all this discrimination towards women which is called social media, also known as the big stage. Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Music.ly, Facebook etc. are some examples. People use these apps/websites to say whatever they want behind a profile. People that make judgements or say things can put an influence on others viewing and they would think its acceptable to bash others. What about the magazines with men on the covers? I asked myself. After surfing the web some more, I saw magazine covers with men that targeted their hair, perfume launches, clothing lines etc. Mens magazines focus on hobbies, expanding knowledge and other activities. I recently read an article called Young Women Learn Harmful Gender Stereotypes from Reality Tv. They mentioned the famous tv show called The Bachelor. This is based on a woman who chooses a man among multiple men. The man must match her needs and wants she expect. When the woman chooses the man, its now his turn to say whether he wants this woman or not. I think its unfair because its basically a choice being made based on how the woman looks. This world is a male-dominated culture. Some people assume that doctors and pilots can be a man job. Men are featured nearly as twice as women are on television. Women are more featured in music videos and more sexually-related programs. Some people assume that doctors and pilots c an be a man job. The development of identity towards women and female adolescents in magazines, reality tv shows or even tv commercials portray the female gender unfairly. They show unrealistic beauty norms. Most of these people are photo shopped onto images and the media and are claimed to be flawless. The word flawless is used to paint a picture about women and it tells that they are only beautiful if they look a certain way. Perfect. Other women may feel insecure when they see things like that, causing them to have a low self-esteem. Having a low self-esteem can do a lot of damaging to ones life. People harm their selves or even end up killing themselves. Instead of helping to prevent problems like this, the media is creating it. There needs to a stop to grouping women and teen girls based on how they look, how rich they are and or what they wear. Why do we have to categorize? In some countries around the world, women are not respected as much. For instance, Japan. Women in Japan are not treated equally and do not have the opportunity as other women do around the world. In Japan men have essential roles just because of who they are, males. Women arent allowed to have a job if they have a family (husband and kids) and are expected to stay at home and maintain the household and the children. Why cant a woman have a job? Why cant women do what a man does in Japan? We need answers to these questions and unfair treatments. There are other women who are also unfairly treated in other countries. They want to speak out but why cant they have a voice and rights? Where are women rights in other countries? Women are judged too much and need to have choices and rights like men do. Men are favored more than women are. Lets talk culture and status. We have yet to elect a female president. Why? Is women not empowered enough to run a country? Women are paid less than men are for similar jobs. In video games, women are weaker and significantly more helpless. Women characters are sexually provocative than male characters and are less aggressive. Typical video games do not include a female character. Women are always given a weaker position. What are we teaching our fellow younger ones looking on? What examples are we teaching them? What problems are we causing? What are we supporting? These are all questions I think needs to be answered by the media. The things they portray is no help to the society. Its selfish. If a younger woman marries/dates an older man she is often classified as a gold-digger. Some may caricature women as a nag or even Jezebels. Women are looked at as prostitutes when they wear certain clothes or look a certain way. There are so many labels that are placed against a woman for being whom she is, how she looks, her skin color, the way she dresses etc. These types of judgments made to a woman can negatively affect her. For example women can become very emotional. Much research has shown that women experience more stress and anxiety than men due to stereotyping. We need to prevent it. In my opinion, protests now-a-days barely solve any problem(s) caused. I look at it as a legal opportunity to speak your mind with a group of people who agree with you, while holding posters or signs. I do not see it stopping the media from influencing the wrong activities that they paint on society because of money or fame. So many people who work for these companies that delineate stereotyping against women are brainwashed by the money that they are offered. The negative stereotypes against females affect their ability to attain their potential by limiting choices and opportunities on their behalf. We need to recognize how important this issue is and that it matters. The good news is that there are multiple ways to address to society, the problems occurring and what the media is causing. We need to put our thoughts into action and make it come to an end. It is a disgrace that women are treated unfairly and have to experience the feeling of being insecure because the person who they are is not accepted rightfully. So many natural talents and abilities are limited; educational and professional experiences and opportunities in life. I can go on and on about the impacts on womens lives dues the stereotyping but how can we prevent women from feeling discouraged in situations like these in the work place, school or even in public. How can we try to limit women stereotypes around the world? Well of course, not everyone agrees but, women also deserve rights in every country around the world. Creating groups to speak in the public, community centers and on social media can be a start. Anything is possible so why not have a protest so others who also agree can be aware and start something too. Writing letters to congress and to the media explaining how bad discrimination is and to give women their own rights is also a great idea. Women also need to stand strong and know their grounds. Every woman is not the same and may not take being stereotyped lightly. Some may become emotional about it, furious about it while some may not care. Ladies! Separate yourself from the stigma by reminding yourself who you are, what your abilities are, how strong you are and reflect on your achievements every time you are encounter a position like this. Finding humor in difficult situations like these is also a good idea. It is good t o maintain a positive attitude even when things are not right. Talk to yourself and have positive thoughts every day. This trains your mind and who you are to believe that you are strong and nobody or nothing can change your mind. Point out what you think is not right. Whether it is happening at school, a meeting, your workplace or in public, speak for those who do not have a voice. Help one another; after all we are one team. It is important to bring to attention the poor habits contributing to women stereotyping when you witness it, you may start a change in behaviors. Keeping a communication going on can help others realize the impacts of gender biases. We need to get women on board to participate in activities that men usually are a part of. Include women in more jobs. I think that training employees to avoid discrimination can be a big start in the environment. Women stereotyping may not come to a complete end because it is always going to be an ongoing problem due to someone feeling as though women should always be treated as though they do not have a say in anything. The way the media portrays this biasness it reflects on children which causes them to view their gender a certain way. There may not be a definite way to end the discrimination against women but there are ways that can convince the world to have equal treatment step by step.