N.Siddiqui
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Why you have "Pashtuns" in brackets for Afghan fighters in the quote of Hamid Gul?. It is said about all citizens of Afghanistan.
To make it more clear, most of the Taliban fighters are Pashtuns and they are dead against the US presence, staunch Islamist and fiercest of fighters.
Others Afghans splinter groups like Tajiks, northern alliance of Rasheed Dostum, are against the Talibans and dead against Pakistan, also kind of secular or not staunch anti imperialist.
Britishers never used the term "Graveyard of empires" for Afghanistan or tribal areas. Its a very modern term, two decades old , and is coined by Americans after collapse of Soviet Union.
These are the reasons, old and tested, even if the term coined anew. Yes Britishers were at the receiving end...could not have coined the term 'graveyards of the empires' you are right here....but what I quoted about calling Indians servile and docile was true...
- Alexander the Great circa 330 BC conquered Persia in 6 months and then spent nearly 3 years attempting to subdue Afghanistan. The losses incurred and the resistance faced were some of the contributors to the eventual fall of his empire following his death
- The British had three Anglo-Afghan wars spanning the 19th and early 20th centuries. The end result of these struggles were heavy British losses as well as the end of British military influence in Afghanistan
- The Soviet Union attempted to capture Afghanistan in it's sphere of influence by spreading socialism there. While it initially gained traction, religious and tribal forces within Afghanistan resisted and this led to the Soviet-Afghan War. With help from the CIA and Arab/Muslim fighters from other regions, the "Mujahideen" succeeded in drawing the USSR into a protracted struggle that many believe led to the end of the Soviet Union. (the pebble that cracked the Soviet Empire)
- It can be argued that the US conflict in Afghanistan which began in 2001 and continues to this day is another example of technological and military power being unable to subdue the tribal forces of Afghanistan
Thus, Afghanistan has gained the moniker "Graveyard of Empires" for causing superpowers to overestimate their odds of victory and overextend themselves in attempting to conquer it.