Marat Danai
ALMATY, March 12
(The GLOBE)
Illusion of peace
It is hardly probable, that as a result of the next negotiations between struggling Afghan parties, a treaty to begin the process of the formation of a new system of state administration will be signed. The parties� conceptions of the future state structure of the country are fundamentally different. The answer to this key problem is not clear at all. A temporary armistice at the front has allowed some current problems to be settled, for example, prisoners of war have been exchanged. In the process of negotiations the parties made a mutual attempt to find out the mood of each other. The sign of a war spirit in the other party, corresponds to confidence in their forces. As far as this meaning is concerned, the Talibs are ready to fight until the final victory is achieved. Masud� s army on the other hand, is not going to lay down their arms and has fully resolved to defend Salang, Pandsher and the North-Eastern part of the country. Therefore present seemingly positive developments should be viewed with skepticism. Throughout the history of 20-year conflict in Afghanistan the practice of use goodwill announcements, negotiations and agreements has been used either to lead astray or to have a rest in the fight.
September, 1978. A struggle commenced among Afghanistan�s communist leaders. The Soviet ambassador handed over a personal message of L.I. Brezhnev to the Head of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Nurmukhamed Taraki. In this message, the Soviet leader asked Taraki and Hafizulla Amin, the second person in the country to reconcile. In connection with this, Taraki invited Amin to his residence and ordered his people to kill his rival when he would arrive for negotiations. This attempt failed. In reply to that Amin raised a revolt in the army. As a result, Taraki was removed from the position of the first leader and a few days later he was killed. On 9th December 1979 a special Soviet troop reached Kabul, as though to guard Amin�s palace. On 27th December the troop, led by officers of the State Safety Committee stormed the palace. Hafizulla Amin was killed.
1990. The Defense Minister of the Republic of Afghanistan, Shah Navaz Tanai appeared on the Soviet TV speaking about his personal faithfulness to the USSR. Shortly afterward, Tanai raised a revolt against the President Nadzhibulla. During the struggle the capital was severely damaged. After the revolt failed, Tanai fled to Pakistan.
April, 1988. The USSR, USA, Afghanistan and Pakistan sign a Treaty in Geneva for withdrawal of the soviet army and the stoppage of military operations. On February 15th, 1989 the last Soviet military unit left Afghanistan. But the war did not cease.
April, 1992. Under the aegis of UNO, the parties signed a treaty, in accordance with which a leader of the moderate Mojaheds Sibgatulla Modzhadedi was chosen for the position of Afghanistan president. Modzhadedi however, lacked proper military support.
December, 1992. Burkhunutdin Rabbani is named President of Islamic State of Afghanistan. Rabbani is supported by numerous military units of Ahmad Shah Masud, who was appointed the Defense Ministry of the country. Once again, a struggle among leaders commences. Armed troops of the Prime-Minister Gulbetdin Hekmatiyar begin military operations against the President.
1994. Another revolt, this time by general Abdurashid Dustum begins in Kabul against Rabbani.
1995. The UNO plans to organize a new multi-parties government in Afghanistan failed.
Spring of 1997. Abdul Malik, a general from Afghan Uzbek army makes a peace with the Taliban movement. To celebrate the victory, some high Taliban leaders came to Mazari-Sharif. Suddenly the Taliban troops are attacked and defeated. Those Taliban leaders who were in Mazari-Sharif are taken prisoners.
Spring of 1998. Under the aegis of UNO, negotiations between the coalition of the overthrown President Rabbani and the Taliban Movement begin. In summer, the Taliban attacked Mazari-Sharif and successfully capture it.
Winter and spring of 1999. The next negotiations under UNO aegis�
Way to peace
For 20 years of civil war a war psychology has taken root. That is why at present the fighting parties are not able to conclude any agreement, and neither party believes that the opposite side will observe a peaceful settlement for very long.
A mutual correction of this psychology and appliance to new methods are probably required.
For example, the successes of the Taliban movement during the period from 1994 to 1995 were achieved mainly due to new psychological methods of work. The armless Talibans went to the people and by the force of their conviction, they sowed doubts among common fighters of their adversaries. In 1996 to 1998, the Taliban combined military force with propaganda. But in the autumn of 1998, the Bamian province, which was next to last stronghold of the opposition inhabited by Hazara was captured by revolt.
Does that mean that the Talibans are not going to propagandize, or they that are already exhausted? Their propaganda in its current form does not have an influence on the Tadjiks of Akhmad Shah Masud. That is why, though Rabbani� s administration is questionable, the Taliban have still not imposed their will over over the remaining 10 percent of the country�s territory. Besides that, Masud also keenly executes counter-propaganda, blaming Pakistan for an intervention in Afghanistan�s internal affairs. Almost all mass media of the CIS countries support him regarding this matter.
I think it is time to work mutually calmly, consciously and cleverly. Counting on military operations or one-sided approaches only will not settle the problem. Otherwise, even if the Taliban capture Pandsher, the situation may revert to the situation of 1978, when unrest from provinces to the central authorities sparked out. First of all, the Afghan people have to reach an agreement between themselves, taking into consideration the current political situation. The UNO can only assist in settling the problem but it is not able to settle it.
And, at last, it is naive to suppose that everything can be settled fast. The war has continued for too long to expect the fighting to immediately cease.
Timur Beisembiev
ALMATY, (Specially for THE GLOBE)
For the last years relations of our country with the outside world have abruptly widened. Many Kazakstan citizens had an opportunity to make acquaintance with different countries and cultures not by hearsay, by books or movies, but with their own eyes. They found out something new, and having understood something deeper they disappointed in it. The world became cramped from outside (nobody is surprised with direct air trips from Kazakstan to the famous towns of the world, e.g. to Amsterdam by the planes of the Netherlands KLM company), as well as from inside (meeting representatives of the world� s faraway places and finding something in common with their own conception, you get a new �fresh� sight from another culture to the trite truth and axioms, revealing some new sides and their deep meaning).
Our reader knows the fundamental collections of Kazak and Russian proverbs, books of proverbs of peoples of the former USSR and Eastern countries, sets of proverbs of Ancient Greece and Latin, German, English and French sayings. But the world�s richness in proverbs is not exhausted by these collections. An objective of this publication is to acquaintance a reader with the material which has not yet been published in Russian.
The proverbs given below belong to the Dutch and Flemish peoples, who contributed a lot to the world culture and take a special honorable place among the high-developed countries. Their historical motherland - the nowadays Netherlands, more than half of Belgium and the north-western corrner of France (Westhoek) - is unique in a way due to its geographical location: by land it borders on German- and French-speaking countries and by sea � it is not far from Britain. That means that since the beginning of time these peoples have been living among the three greatest national countries of Western Europe, namely German, French and English ones, and this fact determined their close mutual contacts (expressed in the proverbs). On the other hand, Dutch language is not only a kindred language, but it is as well the most similar simultaneously to German and English.
As many people know English and/or German languages, the original Dutch proverb texts are also adduced, since they can be understood by a reader. That�s why the proverbs are given in Dutch alphabetical order. In the original text rhymed proverbs are set up in italics.
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