Gandhara Kingdom

President Biden finally did what should have been done more than a decade ago: He yanked the US military out of Afghanistan.  That's leadership that comes from experience in politics.

This thread from @djrothkopf is a thoughtful piece on #Afghanistan and #Biden’s decision to end the #ForeverWar https://t.co/00YOOliQoM

— Sriram K (@congoboy) August 13, 2021

Even I knew well enough that the adventure that Bush/Cheney led would not end well.  We are merely the latest superpower/empire to be humbled there.

The politicos and the pundits will have plenty to pontificate on Biden's decision.  I won't join that unproductive conversation.

I want to mourn the loss of Afghanistan.  A land with a rich history, for which Bollywood provides a link through Feroz Khan.

Feroz Khan was born to a Pashtun (Pathan) from Ghazni--well, the father had immigrated to India with the British departing, and his mother was of Persian descent.  He was born in Bangalore.  A story of globalization!

Time and again, I am impressed with how the old country has always been a melting pot, way before that phrase was attached to the new country.  People came from all over.  Conquerors came. They brought along ideas. Art, music, food, science, you name it.  When they left, whether they were fully aware of it or not, a great deal of India went with them to wherever they went.

If I often comment about India as being in the international crossroads, well, so was Afghanistan, with with all the stories of invaders from Central Asia coming through there and the Khyber Pass.  Of course, Alexander, too from the other side of the world.

With that kind of a long history of globalization, we had Feroz Khan the Pathan (Pashtun) in India. In Hindi movies. A star in his heyday.

He even made a movie set in Afghanistan.  Yes, he did.  A movie that was filmed in Afghanistan.  Imagine that!

Of course, the movie was shot before the civil war--though not necessarily termed that way--that then brought the Soviets in a couple of years later.  The young me, a geopolitical junkie even then, read the news reports in the Hindu every single day, but could never understand why Afghanistan had to be such a battleground.  Nor do I understand it even as a middle-aged guy counting down his existence.

It does immensely sadden me when I hear talking heads make comments, and read the pundits' opinions, that do not recognize Afghanistan's glorious past.  And I am not even from that country!

Consider, for instance, the Ghazni where Feroz Khan's people came from.  In history classes, and even in casual conversations, back in my childhood days, often there were references to Mahmud of Ghazni.  Not merely because of his conquests, but more importantly as an inspiration to never, ever, give up.  He was the figure that parents and teachers pointed out as example of one who tried and tried until he won.  We knew about him before we read about that Scottish chap.

We humans are messed up.  Instead of singing and dancing and eating and laughing, we manage to find reasons to screw up the lives of many others.

At least we have the gorgeous songs, like this one, made possible by Feroz Khan's movies.

Thanks, Afghanistan.  I hope things settle down, soon. Maybe, some day, I will even go there.