The history of imperialist agression in Afghanistan, 1837-now!

The Game for Afghanistan

By Farhad Azad

(farhad@afghanmagazine.com)

Recently, Afghanistan has come to the attention of the world. The name "Afghanistan" is heard everywhere, yet very little is known about the nation that rests in the heart of Asia.

I was born in Afghanistan and was fortunate to enjoy a few years of its peace in the mid 1970s. What do I remember of Afghanistan? I remember our home in Kabul, the capital. I remember a modern society with roads, schools and all that a modern civilization has to offer. I remember rich arts and the wonderful music playing on the radio. Happiness. Joy. Love.

All that changed quickly.

I also remember the first Soviet tanks rolling into Kabul on a cold December morning in 1979. I remember the gray-eyed teenage Soviet soldiers in the streets with fear.

We were all scared. It was an uneasy time. War. Destruction. Death.

Due to the turmoil and bloodshed, my family and I decided to leave Afghanistan. We trekked for five days and five nights and made our way out of the country. As a child, you have confidence in your parents and those older than you. You never expect them to be scared. But I saw awful fright in the eyes of my parents and older sisters. Their fearful eyes during our journey still haunt me today.

In the 1980s America was accepting thousands of Afghan refugees. We were happy to make it to America where two of my uncles lived and worked; they had come to the study in the early 1970s, but could not return because of the war. Little did we know that our family along with the thousands of other Afghan families in the US and around the world was mere statistics of the Cold War