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New vs. Old in MideastV* .*» •■* ■. • . • -i ,*»■ *TaylorAFGHANISTAN now fights to overthrow the Moscow regime. Through a bloody coup d’etat, the Communists brought it into power April 27,last year. The fighting is done by Jamiat al-Islam, the Turkish word for Islam, and the fighting is now intense.Afghanistan, about the size of Texas, is variously known as Ariana or, in ancient times, Bactria, and in the Middle Ages as Khorasan. In the 18th century emperors ruled through local emirs and kings.It is a big, landlocked country with a stone age economy, few roads and loaded with deserts. Some mountains reach 18,000 feet Only about 20 million people live there.For 40 years King Muhammad Zahir Shah held the country as a fiefdom. But strongman Lieut. Gen. Daoud Khan, his cousin, overthrew the king when he was luxuriating at a health spa in Italy.Both King Zahir and cousin Daoud cared no more for the interests of the poor Afghanistan people than the Bird Man of Alcatraz. But in the spring of 1973 a military coup resulted in a republic. Then in 1978 Soviet stooges staged another bloody coup. The Reds captured Kabul, the capital, and all of Afghanistan.The Post-Standard/■+/*Thursday. Aug. (K IV7OThe Standard ... 1820 The PnM . .The Post-Standard ... 18Q9umPublished Every Weekday Syracuse, N.Y., 13221J Leonard Gorman, Executive EditorRoller! C. Atkinson. Managing Editor Robert llaggart, Metropolitan Editor Roland II. 4lien, Jr., Telegraph Editor II tlliam R ( ole, Jr , Assistant to Editor R. (rarv Kruger. Emulation DirectorMEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESSfc* Auocioted Pr#« i* tnliUtd 0* i* forrcpubWonoA of oH fko locot now» pm*4 io it** fitwipopor,m ««N •« ON Attociotod frem mmt iftMictwt.THE COMMUNIST seizure of Afghanistan was, typically, a horrible bloodbath. Innocent people were killed, maimed, raped or forced to enter the Soviet Union, thousands being taken from their homes.The Jamiat al-Islam story goes back to its 1868 founding in Turkestan, flourishing in the kingdom of Yakub of Kashgaria at the junction of the caravan routes to Samarkand. Abdul Ali Maudadi re-erected it before Pakistan’s independence and turned the Jamiat at-Islam into a fanatical, anti-Western party.American-born (Denver, Feb. 2, 1914) Cimarron Hathaway had a Moslem family with Turkish roots. He took the name Ahmed Kamal. Hathaway’s movement proved a gold mine for himself and a vehicle for spreading his own Islamic revolution.Jamiat al-Islam threatened the leadership of the first president of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. And, after independence, Maudadi was imprisoned. Moreover, based in Pakistan, Af-ghanistan has been troubled by a fundamentalist movement.Libya, among others, is a chief source today for international Moslem organizations. They are aflame throughout the Middle East and the world. In the name of “liberalism,” they work to topple orderly governments, under Moscow’s guidance, in a truly (or cruelly?) revolutionary way.THIS APPLIES to Iran, Syria, South Yemen, Pakistan, the Philippines’ Moro Islands and our onee-loyal ally, Turkey.As a result, President Noor Muhammad Tar-iki visited mosques throughout Afghanistan to make certain that the teachings of Koranic literature are widely distributed. In Pakistan, Moslems played a decisive role in the military overthrow of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He was convicted not only of murder, but of failing to live up to the teachings of the Koran.Gen. Mohammad Zia, Bhutto's successor, presses hard for Moslem orthodoxy as Pakistan’s unifying force and promises to align the legal system with Islamic law.The same old vs. new way of life conflict goes on throughout the Middle East. In Lebanon, the old-new Christian-Moslem struggle is dramatically evident. And it exists in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and especially Saudi Arabia.This Islamic dedication could well spill over into the oil-rich United Arab Emirates and Iraq, although Iraq has its own version of Mohammed and his religion. And the Iraquis fiercely denounce Afghanistan’s division of sects.
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Post Standard
Syracuse, New York, US
Thu, Aug 09, 1979
Page 50
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 04 Aug 2021
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