From: endevour@snoopy.umd.edu (endeavor)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.afghanistan
Subject: Afghanistan
Date: 22 Jul 92 05:52:19 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park

I found this article in the soc.culture.pakistan and decided to post it.
All flames should be directed towards the original author i.e Waseem 
Siddiqi. Let us hope we will have some AFGHANI discussion about this 
article. Hello , Hello any Afghans out there !  
  
       
The exact article number in soc.culture.pakistan is 24756.
The article was posted under the heading of   Afghanistan

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Afghanistan not Just a Foreign Policy issue: Gen Hamid

Afghanistan News, May 1992
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Rawalpindi - In his first ever public appearance after retirement Lt. Gen
(Retd) Hamid Gul, former ISI chief, said that the Afghan problem is not
purely a foreign policy issue for Pakistan. It has economic , social
cultural and religious dimensions emanating from centuries old relations
between the two lands.

  The retired general was speaking in the 'Meet the Press' programme of the
Rawalpindi Press Club. Though contravening service rules that prohibit going 
public before two years of retirement, Gen Gul was invited to the press
club to speak on the latest situation in Afghanistan with particular 
reference to his involvement in the issue. Gen Gul, who had been personally
involved in many key political developments particularly in the  late 80s,
avoided to speak on or respond to political questions. 'I am here to share
my feelings with you on the Afghan issue, please don't force me to speak on
other issues', said the general.

  Inspired by the idea of a strong Muslim Ummah, Gen Gul said, 'Good or bad,
the destiny of Pakistan lies with Afghanistan, therefore we should look 
at our relations with Afghanistan in much broader perspective.' When asked
whether this implied Pakistan intervention in the internal affairs
of Afghanistan, the General sad the definition of internal intervention
applies in this case in a different sense.

  ' We are with the Afghans and they are with us. A 14 year old Afghan boy
who was born in Pakistan, owns Imaran Khan, Zia-ul-Haq and Javed Miandad
as his heroes.'argued Gen Gul. He further stated that ' I do not
want Pakistan to play a big brother role in its relations with Afghanistan
I suggest relations be based on mutual benefit strengthened by the
historical past'

  According to him, 1,400 Pakistanis lost their lives for the sake of
Afghan jihad. Air raids on Pakistan territory, bomb blasts and the tragedy
of Ojhiery camp were all different forms of sacrifices Pakistanis had
rendered , maintained Gen Gul. Regarding Pakistan's efforts in the Afghan 
issue, he said, 'it was the biggest clandestine operation ever undertaken
by a country'

  At this crucial stage the unity among the rank and file of the 
Mujahideen groups is key to a peaceful settlement of the Afghan problem, 
the general said. The general held the view that at this delicate stage
the Western powers are trying hard to sow the seeds of disunity among the
Afghans because they do not want that the Afghan military machine captured
by the Mujahideen should remain intact.

  The Americans do not want a powerful Afghanistan with such a big military
might which would ultimately add to the strength of the Muslim ummah, Gen 
Hamid Gul said.

  He blamed the western media for projecting strife among various Afghan
groups. They do not want that the Mujahideen should get the credit of
winning the war against a superpower as such a fact is bound to help
renaissance of Islam. Gen Hamid Gul was hopeful that the Mujahideen 
would develop a consensus to establish an orderly , peaceful and
harmonious Afghanistan. A nation which has lost  one-tenth of its people
in the war, one fourth of its people exiled, will take some time to repair
it's war torn land. 
-- 
Waseem A. Siddiqi                                 Tel:    (416) 922 1937 
SCO Canada                                        email: waseems@sco.com 
Toronto, Canada                                        uunet!sco!waseems
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