JAIPUR: “Whether it’s Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Kashmir, the main prerogative why many join militant groups is to survive and not be harassed and brutalised by the authorities,” Anand Gopal said at a session titled ‘No Good Men Among the Living: America and the Taliban’ — sponsored by The New Indian Express Group — at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Sunday. Gopal, the author of No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban and the War Through Afghan Eyes, said that what the US did in the Afghanistan was to divide the world into terrorists and non-terrorists.
“The United States changed the meaning of terrorism. If you are a terrorist, you are someone beyond the peril of reason and logic. You are antisocial. And it is because what this war has done, is that it has bequeathed upon all sort of authoritarian governments around the world a way in which they can label and later justify the killing of their enemies. Parallel to this is the tag anti-national in India,” said Gopal, who believes that this language of terrorism is an outcome of the Afghan war.
Incidentally, Gopal’s book describes the travails of three Afghans caught in the war on terror. Another aspect that Gopal highlights in his book is the voice of Afghan women who he believes are the most affected, especially in terms of curb in their freedom.
The genesis of the author’s obsession with Afghanistan can be traced back to the early morning of the deadly 9/11 terror attack on America.
“I woke up to a really loud noise around 8 in the morning. When I looked out of my window, I saw the twin towers on fire. I quickly realised that there was an attack. After the attack, I started to excessively read the news. A month later, the United States launched its war against Afghanistan. For me, from afar, it made sense because it was logical for the US to react to an attack that killed so many,” Gopal recollected.
He later went to Afghanistan in 2008 and even lived with Taliban units. There, the writer realised that the three categories — ally, enemy and civilian — that were often talked about to validate the war, could not be distinguished and were rather blurred.
“I met a person in Kandhar and his family was pro-government, but with a family member who was a Taliban commander. So, you would have Taliban commanders eating lunch with Afghan Army members. For them, it was about survival,” added Gopal.
Anti-CAA protest: Five detained, released later
Five people were detained for raising slogans against the amended citizenship law during a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) here, police said.’ They were released following a warning to not repeat such act in future, the police said.