Author: SHRUTI

A Physician working in the United States.

Bordertown of San Diego-Best of both the worlds

Being a California resident , we had been to San Diego for vacations many times in the past .

San Diego is a boutique city ,where everything is in moderation as compared to other big cities .Its high rises and sky scrapers ,its malls ,its congestion . It is famed for its numerous beautiful beaches ,crisp clear air and yearlong sunshine and hence a very popular tourist destination

It also shares its border with Mexico ,with the closest big city being Tijuana on Mexican side .On the US side ,San Ysidro is the last post and this time , it was my short term work location ,

San Ysidro is not exactly a sister city of Tijuana but the free flow of residents on both sides of the border seem to make the boundaries invisible .

San Ysidro boasts of being the fourth busiest land border crossing in the world and most of my coworkers lived in Tijuana and crossed the border every day for work . They all have to start really early from home to beat the congestion at the border which might last more than 2 hours at a time but , job opportunity and economic incentive , is worth the effort .Electronic items and branded goods are reliable and cheaper on the US side ,as well.

It is not a one way street and there is a reverse traffic too for medical tourism and other services .Prohibitive medical costs in the US have them flock to Tijuana specially for aesthetic surgeries and medication refills .Most of them have SIMNSA ,Sistemas Medicos Nacionales , a health care plan ,that works for them , on both sides of the border .

Spanish is the default spoken language everywhere in San Ysidro . General ambience is of warmth and even strangers would wish you Buen Provecho ” , meaning enjoy in spanish when they meet you at the diners .

Food trucks with fresh hot delicacies are omnipresent in the parking lots of Grocery stores or gas stations ,with a little sit in area for people to enjoy the food .Most of these trucks are being driven across the border everyday.

The quiet mornings with sea gulls gliding over head ,blinding sun shine ,joggers on the beaches beguiles you .But as the day progresses impromptu traffic jams ,heterogenous traffic of heavy duty vehicles with cyclists or skate boarders or pedestrians could make navigation difficult in the area .Space is always a premium and the same street could have a rail road crossing , a tram station and a high school .Parking spaces are difficult to find and road side parking on both sides is a common site .

.We had our share of wild fires too .Long period of dryness make these areas very fire prone .They were not as impressive or long lasting as LA fires , but the work place had to issue a “possible evacuation “order .Helicopters were doing sorties round the clock and within a couple of weeks fire was under control without any loss of life or property damage .Across the border ,Mexico was experiencing similar fires .

The border town of San Ysidro turned out to be an interesting melting pot where both sides of the border were accepting the best and discarding the worst and getting to keep what’s amiss in their lives .

Hoping to talk to you soon

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Festival of Colors with Strangers

After a long time , I could be in india ,New Delhi , for the spring festival of Holi . Festivals are jubilant times and the fun element is the most important aspect of it when family and friends try to gather under one roof . Besides , catching up on life events ,we feast ,pray and make beautiful memories

This time , our family decided to spend it at a close by resort ,Mango tree resort, in Western UP .Western UP shares its borders with New Delhi and these bordering states are sharing the population load of the capital .

For Delhi wallas , spending time with nature is a huge attraction and a 3 hour drive is not too much to ask for for .

Noida and Western UP was once considered the “The Wild West “but under the present government ,it has received a miraculous make over . The well connected and maintained highways , flanked by foliage and shrubbery with low density traffic is really a respite from highly congested ,New Delhi . Our 3 hour ride through the Eastern peripheral high way and NH9 was uneventful though the toll tax booths , seem to appear ,a little too early .

This was a new style resort ,where they had converted a Mango orchard into thirty plus cottages with modern amenities ,indoor activity area ,outdoor badminton court, well manicured lawns , tiled walkways along side the mango trees .There was simian presence on those trees ,but mostly they kept to themselves except for chewing away the badminton rackets and shuttle cocks

The pleasant March weather brought every one outside for tea and snacks and gradually the ice was breaking amongst guests .Some guests included us in the tambola game and we had an enjoyable time till the DJ floor and cocktails were announced .Unfortunately rain god decided to play bummers and the evening activity was cut short

Next morning , the air was thick with the exotic fragrance of mango bloom ,stillness was only interrupted by cuckoo calls ,tiled pathways were carpeted by the florets of mango tree .All in all , it was heavenly

Faces were now more familiar in the restaurant for morning breakfast after last evening and every body was wishing each other “Happy Holi” .The morning Holi festivities started with DJ music , dancing ,thandai , kanji ,chat pakodis . Though it was supposed to be Holi only with flower petals but the kids were unstoppable with their water pistols and water balloons Joy and enthusiasm was writ on everyone’s face as they were being smeared with dry color ,gulal

Screenshot

Popularity of these festival packages are gaining traction in India as they help to take away the stress of planning , executing and hosting guests and then each member of the household has an equal share in the fun quotient of the festivities .

Connecting virtually with strangers is the present day norm ,then why not create some magical moments with them and add them to our memory kitty !

Hope to connect with you all soon

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NEW DELHI -KETCHUP :THE ART OF LIVING

Its been almost two decades of work life in the US and I feel sabbaticals are well deserved

Incidentally , they always coincide with the change of jobs and I am still trying to figure out which is more overpowering , the need to take a vacation or the need to change the job .

But nonetheless they have happened on a regular basis .

The historical city of New Delhi , the capital of India , with relics of multiple dynasties ,is my home town .Every nook and corner of the city has a touch of history which makes these sabbaticals worth while

New Delhi ,in its monsoon reincarnation is resplendent with its green patches , cleaner air , cooler temperature and bursting foliage .During monsoons , more people are disconnecting from the virtual world and trying to be closer to mother nature People are seen jogging outdoors , doing yoga classes , participating in laughter groups taking in the aroma of wet soil .

India is the Queen of paradoxes . and one can never escape paradoxes in New Delhi , for that matter in India

On one hand connectivity via metros , express highways , railways is at its peak ,on the other hand. the potholes in the streets , in the rainy season, start resembling celestial craters

The Horticulture department and the municipal corporations are putting their best foot forward in beautifying the city but the reappearing trash block the drainage system flooding the streets and further increasing the legendary traffic woes .The multi crore apartment complex in the posh suburbs of New Delhi are turning sea-front The cleaners are sucked in through open drains and are discovered at another location by the search team .

Never a dull moment

Religion is in air in India and it is contagious and hence a visit to India is never complete without a visit to a religious place .This time I happened to visit a temple in Vrindavan . It is run by a private trust and visitations to the temple is not always easy and sometimes not straight forward with chaos at its best To top it all , we have simian trouble , who would unabashedly snatch your spectacles or other belongings and sometimes injure the devotees

But this does not dampen the unflinching devotion of swathes of people from all walks of life. It further reinforces that religion is still the major driving force and existential in India. Incidentally , India boasts of transporting intellectual property to the rest of the world .

In complete contrast , we have another Shrine ,Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine , on the hilltop in Jammu .a state bordering our friendly neighbor “Pakistan “and hence Jammu airport is a” defense airport ” .Jammu boasts of its own prestigious institutes like IIT and IIM .It is a well visited shrine with millions of yearly foot fall .Its run by an autonomous body with clockwork precision .Earnings of the shrine goes in upkeep ,improving infrastructure and modes of transport .Because of its geographic location , security is a big issue but lapses are rarely found .

These sabbaticals humble you and take you closer to your roots but the mystery of paradoxes in India still remain unsolved, as it was two decades ago .India has definitely started its journey of economic prowess but there are still too many speed bumps on the highway which needs structural changes

Great to connect back with you all

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The Coming Wave

Another phase of reckoning has been reached in the life of mankind .

Artificial intelligence has splattered across our life and we are acknowledging its reach ,scale and power .from the War fields to Manufacturing to Operation theaters to our farms artificial intelligence’s power is felt.

Science and technology is existential for human beings and as far as we remember , there has been multiple transformative points in human history , which has changed our lives beyond recognition like discovery of fire , wheel , steam engine ,electricity , motor vehicle

As this transformative wave of technology, of the twenty first century ,has already been sighted in the horizon, the authors give us a kaleidoscopic peek into a world in their book .

The Coming wave is a brilliant academic endeavor .

As we wander into his Magical world , without our 3D glasses ,we can generate powerful text to speech synthetic voices in more than 100 languages .There’s a promise of 40%reduction in energy for cooking , clean energy , sustainable and versatile building material and multitude of other projects , which would touch and change our lives forever .

Authors , Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar , co authored this book .

Mustafa Suleyman is the Cofounder and CEO of Inflection AI .He had also cofounded Deep Mind , one of the world’s leading AI company .

Michael Bhaskar , is a writer and publisher based in the UK .

Author emphasizes on two most important important technological breakthroughs ,Artificial intelligence and Synthetic biology

“Artificial intelligence ” tries to replicate human intelligence .CHAT GPT – has already taken our world by storm .Give it the right cues and it would answer back in a detailed prosaic form

Language models have been developed which can write “music , invent games , play chess and solve mathematical problems” , with minimal human oversight .

Similarly in the world of Human genetics , “Human genomic project “-where the full genetic mapping of human being was deciphered and CRISPR -gene editing ,precisely edit genes and modify .As a result , we can order flora and fauna , even human beings, with particular traits and characteristics ,treat complex diseases like COVID or cancer and produce disease and drought resistant crops .

We all do realize that these technological waves are essential , for stability , progress , enhancement of comfort , prosperity .

Immense amount of finance , labor , planning has been dedicated in this century for these breakthroughs as , the financial gains are stupendous and technology for most part is driven by power of incentive .

And which gives way to Human Greed .

History has multiple lessons of insatiable human greed for power and wealth , hence authors have emphasized the need for CONTAINMENT .

Containment would be in the form of technical safety ,audits ,Legislatures ,constructive criticism ,incentivizing safety and profit alike ,international alliances , culture of publicly accepting failures ,alignment of goals and perseverance to go ahead as at this point , there is no going back .

Performance of AI is at an unfathomable scale hence the speed and degree of transformation of our world is unimaginable .Regulations are the key to reap its maximum benefit so that its performance can be contained within moral , legal , ethical limits without letting it assume the role of a “monster “

All changes are disruptive but heavily incentivized ones are inevitable . Cautious acceptance is the best approach .

In the coming decades , as we get ready to give up our most prized possession, our intelligence , we need to act equally fast in terms of” Reining in ” before we fall into the category of Endangered or Extinct species .

A very interesting , absorbing and an essential read

Hoping to be with you all soon

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A GAZE AT GAZA

As citizens of  other part of the world , when we are still trying to look at the positive side of the Ukraine Russia war , - , Israel – Hamas conflict has erupted .

Ukraine is defending its territory ,sovereignty , dignity, independence and it has been successful to a certain extent but at what cost? It has been more than 1 year 11 months with more than 80,000 killed and 240,000 wounded , if we include the casualties of both sides ,not including international financial liability .

                HISTORY

Gaza –Historically ,this part of west Asia was never peaceful by any means .Israel to date has fought more that 15 wars in the region but no concrete steps were ever taken for a permanent peace process.

Before the end of World War II ,Britain took control of the area after, Ottoman Empire lost the war ,It was a land of Arab majority with Jewish minority

In 1947, UN voted for Palestine to be split into Jewish and Arab state with Jerusalem as the contentious capital city .Jews agreed to this but the Arab world discarded it and and it was never properly implemented

In 1948 , When British were withdrawing from this area , Jewish leaders declared creation of ISRAEL .

The day it was created , Arab countries attacked as a mark of protest .Most of the Palestinians fled the area and it became an Israel dominating area .

                GEOPOLITICS

Gaza is a narrow strip between Israel , Egypt and Mediterranean Sea .Previously it was occupied by Egypt , Gaza was captured by Israel during 1967 Six day War . Though Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005 , it still controls the airspace over Gaza , its shoreline and its shared borders and limits the movement of people and goods .

Palestine is constituted by West Bank and Gaza .The West Bank including Eastern Jerusalem and Gaza are recognized as Palestine by many countries and bodies but does not have UN status .The UN considers the West Bank and Gaza as a single Israeli occupied territory

GAZA is ruled by HAMAS , an ISLAMIST group , which won the Presidential election in 2006 in Gaza . The WEST BANK is governed by Palestinian Authority . PA, under President Mahmoud Abbas , and ISRAEL has over all control over it .

Today’s Palestine has a deeply fractured leadership which paved the way for Hamas to win elections in Gaza in 2006 .

The most united front Palestine was ever represented was , by Palestine Liberation Organization , PLO ,led by Yasser Arafat . In 1974,Arab League recognized PLO , as the legitimate representative of Palestinian people .Yasser Arafat became the first non state leader to address UN .

Palestinian authority was established as the governing body of future state of Palestine .

After Arafat’s death , Abbas took over the leadership but could never fill the shoes of Arafat Palestinian authority, PA encouraged peaceful resistance and diplomatic battles at UN but it came with a baggage of corruption , colluding with ISRAEL , helping with political detention , increasing taxes and muting the voice of freedom of expression .

Present day Palestinians are totally disillusioned with the leadership of PA and hence Hamas , the Islamist movement , with support from Iran ,Syria and Hezbollah could win the elections in Gaza , ousting PA .Ironically much of their leadership live in Lebanon , Qatar , Iran and Turkey .

Weak Palestinian leadership and representation ,Illegal Israeli occupation of West Bank ,Violence by the Terrorist groups to underscore their agendas ,Self serving international communities , all the incendiary components of present scenario in Gaza , have never ever taken into account ,the Humanitarian crises they create , time and again .

The Two State Solution , a peaceful coexistence , had always been elusive and violence had always been the , quick fix , answer for all the prevailing issues .

We all take solace in the fact that , our world , is not disturbed, but incidentally , today’s world is more than interconnected and interdependent .If the international communities do not come out of their slumber , with long lasting peaceful solutions then we soon would be drawn into the vortex of the Cyclones that has erupted a little far from our abode .

       Hoping to be with you all soon

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The Orange Revolution

The Orange Revolution has been a major landmark in shaping the politics of present day Ukraine .

Peter Dickinson in “Atlantic Council ” noted that it changed the thinking of Ukrainians in a profound

manner as they perceived themselves .In the aftermath of rigged Presidential election of 2004

,thousands of Ukrainians demonstrated nationwide from November of 2004 to December of 2005 ,daily,

to overturn the election results .It was one of the largest civil movements in the history of Ukraine .

Revote was ordered by the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the anti incumbent , Victor Yushchenko won

with a comfortable majority

Back Story Of Orange Revolution

In the late 90s and early 2000 ,Kuchma was the , Pro Russia President of Ukraine and it was witnessing

one of the worst inflation of about 10,000 percent Katya Gorchinskaya wrote in Eurasianet , that the

country was gradually being propelled towards Oligarchy and “Democracy , was only for the few .

“Kuchma was embroiled in corruption and country was witnessing lawlessness to the extreme .

The most difficult political moment occurred when the crusading journalist against Kuchma ,Georgiy

Gongadze ,was kidnapped and months later his decapitated body was found in Kyiv .

The slogan of “Ukraine without Kuchma ” took momentum and it was an important precursor to

“The Orange Revolution “

Kuchma could not handle the heat any more and abandoned his third term as President but installed a

person of dubious background ,Victor Yanukovich ,whose activities were not dissimilar to his own .

Yanukovich’s main rival was Victor Yushchenko .

He was a clever banker with a previous term as prime minister in Kuchma era .

His campaign color was orange , hence the name Orange Revolution

The Protests , whose main agenda was upholding democratic values , a separate identity from USSR

fair elections and independent press could pick up momentum ,as here , the diversity card of

Ukraine played a major role .

The Bust Of ” Orange Dream “

After the Orange Revolution , expectations were high that the country would be run by its own people

and for the common good, but unfortunately that was not destined to be .

As they say ,Money and Power spares no one .

Yushchenko fell prey not only to corruption but he also lacked skills of personnel management ,

political shrewdness and perseverance

There was bitter infighting between Yushchenko and his prime minister Tymoshenko and in 2005

Yushchenko dismissed the entire government

Following which , coalition government came and went and for a period , Ukraine had no proper governance

In 2006 , Yushchenko , joined hands with Yanukowich and he joined as former’s prime minister

The ultimate demise of the Revolution happened in 2010 when Yanukowich returned with a comfortable majority .

Yanukowich , behaved exactly as he was supposed to .

During his four years of presidency , Yanukowich , stole $ 100 billion and most of it went abroad .

Though all the goals of the Revolution were not fulfilled but Ukraine emerged as a more mature nation

paving the path for a stronger national identity .

We will continue this fascinating conversation in our next blog

Hope you all have a great weekend ahead

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UKRAINE

Russia – Ukraine war entered its seventh month and Ukraine’s grit , determination , resilience is almost a sphinx like enigma

The whole world rallying behind Ukraine ,though , grappling with the consequences of war ,somewhere proved that the price of Sovereignty is immeasurable .

As I delved deeper into this war of unequal powers ,I came across ,some very intriguing but relevant information that I would like to share with you in my next few blogs .

“UKRAINA ” translated in both Polish and Russian “Means on the Edge” or “Borderland” ironically has been devoid of its own natural “Geographical Borders “.

Anne Applebaum , in her book , “The Red Famine “ , points out that though Carpathian Mountains are present in the southwest of the country , rest of the borders are wide open ,with gentle forests and fields in the North west and Steppe in the East .

The absence of natural borders ,was always , an open invitation ,to the enemy armies in the medieval times and Ukraine , was ,split between Russia , Poland ,Austria ,Czechoslovakia and Romania since the mid 17 the century to the 20 th century till the collapse of republic of Soviet Union .

No wonder , it took ,so long for Ukraine to become a Sovereign State .

Anna Reid , in her , book on Ukraine ,Borderland “ observed that its geographical location, not only, gave it an inheritance of “Legacy Of Violence “ but also, an Ambiguous sense of National identity .

Collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 , threw all the newly formed Republics of Russia ,completely off balance , including Ukraine

All the neighboring countries , Poles, Hungarians , Czechs and Balts were joining the European Union but Ukrainians did not know where they belonged or where they wanted to belong ?

Overpowering influence of Russia , shared history with rival powers and a fuzzy national identity did not make the decision easier for Ukraine

On the other hand , Russia , could never get Ukraine , out of its mind .

1.It evoked memories of Eastern Slav’s first state” Kyvian Rus”

2.Its the second most populous state

3.It guarded the Union’s western Frontier .

4.It produced the third of Soviet Union’s steel and half of its ore and half of its sugar

5.It had the “black earth ” , fabled for fertility and was the “Bread Basket ” of the world

In the initial years , in the 1991 ,The West ,did not realize the importance of Ukraine .Western Soviet ologists widely predicted that Ukraine would soon be a part of Russia .

They made Ukraine sign a “Tripartite Agreement ” with Russia and America , in which Ukraine had to send its nuclear warheads for dismantling to Russia , in exchange for nuclear fuel

But by 1994 , West knew that Ukraine had a major role to play in keeping Russia democratic and Ukraine became the fourth largest recipient of American aid

Though Kuchma , the then President , was warming up to West and rest if the world , but Ukraine’s fate was still ,too tightly intertwined with Russia

Entry into the European club or NATO membership was only a wishful thinking

We will continue this interesting conversation about Ukraine in our next blog

Hope you all have a safe week ahead

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No Good Men Among The Living-3

Author -Anand Gopal

In my last two blogs , we waded through the muddy terrains of Afghanistan with Author Anand Gopal trying to make sense of the two decades long war and finally an abrupt ,shocking anticlimax with American Troop withdrawl

Author invested four years of his life and lived in Afghanistan as local and interviewed thousands of Afghans .Hence the book is an authentic collection of first hand accounts of those people whose every day life became nightmare , as their destiny changed with change of power at the “Power Nodes “

After Taliban was decimated and Al -Qaeda flew out of Afghanistan in late 2001 and early 2002 ,Author often wondered in hindsight ,that may be that was the right time for Troop withdrawl for the USA but then again , Who should have been the power transferred to ?

“The Talibans “- who were Afghan centric and did not mind , minding their own business and had a strong hold in Southern Afghanistan but at an insurmountable cost of pushing the country to the back gear .

OR

The forward centric , prowestern ,representing a tiny slice of the population , totally dependant on foreign powers ,easy to topple governments

The ” MIDDLE MEN “, another wrought in the system ,who had amassed wealth and power at the USA’s expense , the only liason between the Afghan people and the USA also played a strategic role in catalyzing the war to go wrong .Anybody from any faction could be branded as Taliban or Terrorist by these middle men, even to settle their own personnel rivalry and that person could be targeted ,tortured ,imprisoned or sent to Guantanamo prison

In the process ,as early as 2005 ,people of the country were weary and hopeless and Taliban resurgency started .They regrouped themselves by tacit support of ISI , Pakistan and Al-Qaeda and by 2007 they had regained control of half of rural Pashtun territory and interestingly author found out that people lived in peace in those areas .Crime had vanished but islamic justices were met with no jobs or development .

Author reported that as a nation ,Afghanistan always had to piggy back on foreign powers for its development and which further divided the nation into an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle .

US’s intent was always well meaning and Afghanistan toking its baby steps towards development , women empowerment and hence Nation Building

BUT

Intelligence failure ,language barriers , rampant corruption , betrayals led the USA towards one misstep to another and some where lost the holding power of the Nation

Author revisited his protagonists in Afghanistan in 2010 and found out the “Ex- Taliban commander , had landed in Bagram prison ; The Pro Karzai commander was shot dead and Heela , the urban turned rural housewife ,became a senator

Author gave us an authentic account of the state of Afgahnistan and it felt after reading the book that not only the country but the US had also exhausted all its options and troop withdrawl was a foregone conclusion

In Today’s Afghanistan ,there is a humanitarian crisis going on and calls for help are intense and we only hope that we as “Humans Of The World “could figure out some solution and do not discard the Country as “Basket Case”

Wishing you all a very safe week ahead

Hoping to be with you all soon

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NO GOOD MEN AMONG THE LIVING -2

Author – Anand Gopal

In our last blog ,in the book review of “NO GOOD MEN AMONG THE LIVING” ,BY AUTHOR ANAND GOPAL , we talked about how interestingly ,Taliban, a group of fanatical students came together to bring law and order to the Afghan society and they were a success to a certain extent except for pushing the country back to medevial times

AL -QAEDA

As per protagonist , Mullah Cable ,the Taliban commander , a bad stroke of luck , brought the Arabs of Al-Qaeda to Afghanistan . They had a distinctly different culture , spoke a different language and their goals were entirely different .Al -Qaeda wanted to displace US supremacy but Talibans were Afghan centric .They wanted diplomatic recognition as long as they wer left to their own ways .But at the time of World Trade Center attack in 2001 ,unfortunately ,Al-Qaeda was operating from the soils of Afghanistan.

The U-TURN

After the October , 7 2001 American attack on Afghanistan ,author reported ,Talibans were decimated and Al-qaeda retreated unconditionally .Talibans even agreed to support the US backed Afghan government and Hamid Karzai.This REBRANDING , was nothing new in Afghan politics .This was survival .The losing party either fled ,retired or submitted to the victorious .

But for Americans ,this was all alien

Allegiance is supposed to be for life .Changing colors like a chameleon was unacceptable and the” Foe ” even if packaged differently ,continues to be an enemy

So America continued its war against it’s “Invisible Enemy” and they were never offered a seat on the table in any of the reconciliatory efforts in the initial years .

HAMID KARZAI

Why Hamid Karzai?Author pondered !

Karzai was no different than any other Afghan leader, who survived on foreign power .He was a former humanitarian worker ,Scion of an elite Kandhar Family and with Tribal elders and former antisoviet commanders formed SOUTHERN ALLIANCE with headquarters in a Pakistan CIty

But he was smart enough to be at the right time and at the right place and Americans’plans aligned with his .

Karzai hated Taliban and Americans wanted a man who was from Pashtun ,Background[Tribal background] to head the government .

The Ghost Enemy

At the end of 2001 and early 2002 ,Talibans were dismanteled and Al-Qaeda had fled to the safe Havens . So author wondered who were the Americans fighting the war against?

Entered the Middle men and the frst missteps were taken , when the war started going wrong These” Middle men “understood the meaning of “American power and Money ” and enemies were recreated .

Author named Sherzai as one of them ,who ran the intelligence network for the Americans and reaped enormous rewards .Villas ,Business empires and power in Southern Afghanisatn ,to name a few

Unless you were a part of these PRO MIDDLE MEN OR PRO KARZAI groups .you were targeted by e ither taken into custody ,tortured or sent to Guantanamo prison

No amount of assurances from the rest of Afghans ,who at different times of their lives had belonged to different groups ,either Mujahideens ,Talibans or regular Afghans could convince Americans that like Americans they wanted to build their nation and aimed for peace

So the war , took a new turn and it was called “Counter -terrorism” and the peace efforts were called “Nation building “ but all within the precints of these “Middle Men” and the Victors ,The Americans ,themselves became victims of Afghan Strongmen

We will take forward this review in the concluding blog .

Till then ,

Wishing you all a safe and a Happy New Year , 2022 , in advance

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No Good Men Among The Living

America , The Taliban, And the war through American Eyes

Author – Anand Gopal

Historical perspective

The World was in disbelief and shock when US army left the reins of the country to the same foes ,who they had fought for 20 years .The promise of Women empowerment ,Development ,universal education , Peace ,justice seemed ephemeral and the country was sliding back to the Dark ages

To those of us , whose investment in Afghanistan is merely through News Channels and Print media ,its chaotic socio- political history has always left us wondering , that when would an organized society , emerge out of this upheaval ?

Why Economic stability and self empowerment still eludes this part of the world?

Author Anand Gopal’s book gave us quite a few of those answers ,

In 2008 ,he not only moved to Afghanistan for four years but also learnt their languages and lived as one of them and in the process , interviewed thousands of Afghans and got a close view of actual happenings there

Anand Gopal, as a journalist covers , dangerous and disturbed terrians ,the likes of Afghanistan ,Egypt , Syria and contributes regularly to the renowned magazines ,Wall Street Journal,The New Yorker , to name a few

His new book’s title – NO GOOD MEN AMONG THE LIVING – comes from Pashto proverb [,a language spoken in Afghanistan] .

The title seemed very appropriate to him , reflecting present state of mind of Afghan people ,when they realized that none of the sides of the conflicting parties can help them anymore.

Excerpt

His three protagonists one an insurgent Taliban ,another a member of US backed Afghan government and the third a urban turned rural housewife , a civilian ,one from each echelon of society ,belonging to the different warring sides bounce us around through the turbulent years of the country

In order to get a better perspective , we need to delve deeper into the history

GROUND ZERO

To unravel the grand puzzle of Afghanistan , author moves us back almost four decades to 1979 when Soviet Union invaded the country ,that’s the year protagonists felt , was the beginning of it all .

Afghanistan ,those days ,was a largely peaceful country .Though monarchy was overthrown by the then President , Daud Khan ,in 1973 for a one party AUTOCRATIC RULE ,urban part of the country was progressive .Women wore western attires and were allowed education , veils were optional and movie theatres were there

As compared , the countryside was the paradox , ruled by tribal leaders and tribal laws prevailed .

Over the course of time ,urban population was inspired by communism and embraced it and Daud Khan was overthrown and killed

Country saw urban development and women empowerment but to suppress rebellion ,communists also killed tribal leaders ,land lords and religious fighters . A million afghan were killed and 5 million became refugees

These were the times of COLD WAR and Communist influence had to be counteracted .

With the help of CIA money and ISI [Inter service Intelligence] , Pakistan Spy Agency ,Rural Afghanistan saw the making of Mujahideen commanders or War Lords .They were young men from the tribal areas who were trained and armed against the urban elites .Not only violence ,but also a violent version of islam was propagated in their religious seminaries

With the impending collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 , peace deal was signed with Afghan Government in 1989 and the proxy war gave way to CIVIL WAR ,1992-1996 . Horrendous atrocities were committed by the various factions of Mujahideens on each others as well as on the civil society

TALIBAN

A fanatical band of religious students , in 1994 ,came together under the leadership of Mullah Omar to bring a certain law and order to the country .Most of them were from country side ,with minimal formal education but believed in practicing a pure version of Islam .

As per author ,almost 90% of the country was brought under control but it came with a price tag .Music ,films ,photography was banned as it was considered roadways to sin .Women empowerment and education was stalled , and women were incarcerated to their households.

We will continue this interesting conversation in our next blog

Wishing you all a happy weekend

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