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My Charlie Wilson War
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Why is the University of Texas naming a chair of Pakistan Studies after the notorious U.S. congressman who helped destabilize that country? Fatima Bhutto—niece of the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto—demands an answer.
Pakistan’s new government, the only in the world headed by two former convicts—who have their fingers on the button of a nuclear-armed state, no less—is nothing if not a keen purveyor of irony.
There’s currently an effort underway by the Pakistani diplomatic mission in Texas to raise funds for a chair of Pakistan Studies at the University of Texas in Austin. The chair, a dream of the Pakistani diplomatic community, is to be named after Charlie Wilson. For those who missed the movie, it’s worth noting that of all the people to name a chair of Pakistani Studies after, Charlie Wilson is possibly the stupidest.
Why Pakistan would chose to honor Wilson is beyond everyone, even the Texans.
“Good-Time Charlie,” as Wilson was affectionately known by Afghan warlords and Texan socialites alike, has the dubious reputation of being the godfather of what would later be known as the Taliban in Afghanistan. (He was also buddies with Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza.) In the 1980s, Wilson led Congress into supporting the CIA covert operation aimed at funneling money and arms into Afghanistan through Pakistan’s military and secret services, the ISI. That money, it should be said, did not go to Afghan refugees fleeing the Soviet’s communist invasion. No, it went to the mujahideen in the form of $17 million worth of anti-aircraft weapons, armaments, and other war toys. By the end of 1983, Wilson had managed to siphon $300 million of unused Pentagon cash to the Afghan mujahideen. Before they were the Taliban bad boys of the region, the mujahideen were one of Wilson’s pet projects. And now, Pakistan has decided to honor him by naming a chair of studies after him.
Personally, this is a source of great revulsion for me. My aunt, Benazir, and I never agreed on much, and though she's no longer alive to debate the point, my guess is that the idea of such a chair would be one more thing we'd not see eye to eye on—she had quite a different relationship with the Taliban than I do.
Why Pakistan would choose to honor Wilson is beyond everyone, even the Texans. According to the university’s newspaper, the Charlie Wilson Chair prompted several professors to send a letter to the dean questioning the naming of the chair. And the Pakistanis? The liberal arts development office at the university said that it “has not heard any concerns from the Pakistani community about the naming of the chair.”
Well if that’s the case, count me as the first. There’s no need to go back in history to find this choice outrageous. Wilson’s legacy remains omnipresent in Pakistan. Inspired by the success of its neighbors, Pakistan now has their very own Taliban (thank you, Charlie), and the ISI continues to exert its might over the country in a distinctly undemocratic way.
Before 2008 was over, Wilson’s boys, the Taliban, had trickled from Pakistan’s northern tribal borders into the heart of the country. They took over Peshawar, once a garden city known for its Buddhist heritage, and in December attacked the Peshawar Model School. The school, which offers co-education to approximately 12,000 of the city’s underprivileged girls and boys, had twelve of its school buses set afire, and a tightly packed set of dynamite detonated in the principal’s office. Several groundskeepers and staff were critically wounded by the explosion and the school was forced to shut down for several days.
But that’s nothing compared to the militants’ hold on the northern city of Swat, the site of a violent civil war that the militants are considered to have won over the past year. The Taliban has set a January 15 deadline in Swat for girls to stop attending school. The choice given to Swat’s parents: take your girls out of school voluntarily, or face Taliban-style justice. Young schoolgirls have already been attacked, a warning of what’s to come should the city continue with its dastardly plan to educate girls.
Wilson’s other pet project, Pakistan’s powerful ISI, also remains a newsmaker. India has been pushing Pakistan to admit that the recent Mumbai attacks were linked to a militant group that was supported by the ISI for years – an accusation Pakistan has not yet accepted, though militants captured in raids earlier this month have supported India's suspicions. And the Pakistan government would like to hush up the fact that its predecessor, Benazir Bhutto’s administration, aided the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan in 1996, and was one of only three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban government, the others being Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Bhutto’s minister of the interior, Naserullah Babar, a ruthless man who carried a cane walking stick, publicly called the Taliban “my boys.”
My father, an elected member of parliament, was killed while my aunt was prime minister of Pakistan (by her police force, no less). I was always vocally critical of her government’s extra-judicial killings, rife in Karachi at the time. And I spoke out against her corruption and her nepotistically guided politics, which she didn’t like very much. But it’s her role in recognizing the Taliban that is the gift that truly keeps on giving to me.
See, my email address is public—Google it if you’d like—and I get hundreds of emails a day from Pakistanis. Most are kind and supportive, written by frustrated fellow citizens appalled at the state of our country, seeking someone to commiserate with and debate with. But some are from complete loons, fundamentalist types: “Shame on you,” read one recent email. “Yr a disgrace to the veeson (sic) of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. She has supported the Muslim brothers in Afghanistan and given the blessing of Pakistan to the fighting sons of the mujahideen…Yr a disgrace to our women, your hairs are uncovered and your arms are bare, dressing in western clothes. You’ll see wat we’ll do to you when inshallah we are the powerful. Cover yr breasts.”
It was a charming email, a sign of how far Charlie Wilson’s Taliban has come in Pakistan.
Senator John McCain, unable to focus on what should be a not-so-early retirement, is busy swinging back and forth between India and Pakistan, coddling one country and scolding the other, all the while warning us all that Pakistan is within an inch of being aerially attacked by India. Maybe the Pakistani diplomatic mission can get cracking on funding a chair of Pakistan Studies named after McCain and Condi Rice, who very kindly eased tensions between India and Pakistan and dropped discreet hints that Pakistan may want to rein in Wilson’s chums at the ISI.
So, why not? Maybe one Charlie Wilson Chair of Pakistan Studies simply isn’t enough. Maybe Pakistani diplomatic missions the world over can corral their efforts and set up a whole Charlie Wilson syllabus: Funding Fundamentalists 101; Intro to Training Third-World Secret Services; Right-Wing Dictatorships: Where Have They Gone?
I’d love to sign up for a few classes. Too bad I’m a girl.
Fatima Bhutto is a graduate of Columbia University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She is currently at work on a book to be published by Jonathan Cape in 2010 and writes regularly for the New Statesman among other publications. Fatima lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan.
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As a student at the University of Texas, I could not disagree more with Ms. Bhutto. Yes, the Mujahideen transformed into the Taliban in the early to mid '90s, and there is no disputing that fact. However, was Charlie Wilson's intent to destabilize Pakistan and Afghanistan by pushing a "right-wing dictatorship? Not in the least. Lest Ms. Bhutto forget, Charlie Wilson's actions were colored and tempered by the heightened Cold War, a time when any and all means of destabilizing the Soviets were pursued. His initial actions were taken, in case Ms. Bhutto didn't see the movie or read the book, because he empathized with the displaced people being targeted by the Soviets.
Hindsight and history are always 20/20, and we don't always do things perfectly. Should we have taken a more active role to ensure that the area wasn't negatively affected by the Taliban? Of course. But saying that Charlie Wilson was wrong and "stupid" for not seeing 30 years into the future is like saying that FDR accomplished nothing fighting World War II because he imprisoned Japanese-Americans. Was it the wrong move? Probably. Does it overshadow the accomplishments? No.
While we may agree with some of the sentiment, there is a pretty large inaccuracy, and that is that Good Time Chucky created the Talibs. They actually emerged after the Soviets had left in response to the hideous warlordism that had wracked the country. So indirectly, maybe he did help them come about - but certainly not in the direct way that you suggest here.
Charlie Wilson's responsible for the creation of the Taliban? What an unsubstantiated leap! Criticize his lifestyle, his connections to Zia, and his covert methods in support of the mujahideen's campaign against the Russians in Afghanistan... but spawning the Taliban? Surely it was the West's collective neglect of Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal that gave rise to the Taliban. Not Charlie Wilson.
Great article, Ms. Bhutto.
Yeah, Ms. Bhutto, let's say Charlie Wilson actually has future-seeing powers - what good does it do for you to gripe about his actions from 30 years ago? Could you please invalidate his actions by telling us, using your alternate-universe perceiving powers, what conditions would be like in Afghanistan and Pakistan had Wilson not influenced events there? Could you also tell us how and why things would be better?
It's nice that you're trading on your name, and nice that the Beast is happy to pay you to write sophomoric crap like this, but really, this is a bit of an insult to the average reader's intelligence.
On the button, Fatima. Its too bad, some of the comments here do reflect exactly what the problem is here: a lack of grasp of issues and problems in Pakistan, Afghanistan & India.
Charlie Wilson is absolutely not an appropriate name for Chair of Pakistan Studies. To anyone familiar with Pakistan or Pakistani Studies/Culture, its almost laughable and ridiculous. Come up with a name of someone more decent and truly relevant to Pakistan and its complex culture.
Ms. Bhutto, excellent article, I like your bold and different views on this subject, not sophomoric at all by the way. Keep writing!
While I agree with the overall point of this article I must take issue with the rather simplistic and spurious claims made in this article. First or all, it is quite correct to call into question the legacy of Charlie Wilson and his support for the mujahideen. However it is worth pointing out that the bulk of the aid went NOT to the Taleban (which didn't exist until well after the Soviet withdraw) but rather to disparate groups fighting the Soviets such as Gulduddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-e Islami faction or Jalaluddin Haqqani and his fighters in southeastern Afghanistan.
While nominally these two groups have collaborated with the Taleban in numerous instances, these groups are distinct in their leadership, scope, and overall aims. The fact is that, the shortcomings or American police notwithstanding, the Taleban were and remain a Pakistani phenomenon born, bred and continuously supported there.
While I concur that history should not look kindly on the legacy of Charlie Wilson, I am rather puzzled why the author chose to focus so much attention on something relatively minor when right this second madrassas in cities like Wana and Miram Shah supported by her government are training young men to kill us.
It is amazing that Americans still deny the link between funding the muj and the rise of the Taliban. Let me get it straight. You dump $4 billion in guns and arms on the fundamentalists, then are surprised when they turn out to be, well, fundamentalists. Pure coincidence, right? And of course the conduit through which the money was fed, the Pakistani ISI, is above reproach.
hahahaha, people can't take any criticism at all when it's directed towards them. yep, you guys are right. the US always does the right thing; if something bad occurs as a consequence of our actions it's someone else's fault. Also, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Perhaps two issues are being conflated by most commentators. She is merely pointing out that Charlie Wilson is the not the best person to be naming a chair connected with Pakistan Studies after, due to the negative outcomes of policies he promoted, be such consequences intentional or not. It is certainly debatable whether the Afghan policy itself had any real feasible alternative, but giving Mr. Wilson a pass due to the fact that one could only see in hindsight the consequences of a call to arms and even Jihad by Zibignew B. and himself, is rather disingenuous. Many Pakistanis and Americans knew what was going to happen if mullahs and fundamentalists were to be armed and trained, such fears were communicated. It doesn't take a genius to see what Jihads and Crusades are all about. Ms., Bhutto's point is clear and accurate, there are better people whom such a chair could be dedicated to, and whose personalities do not color the academic integrity of such an honor nor directly relate forward to 9/11. Personal attacks on Fatima are a product of an extreme defense mechanism by those eager to defend everything concerning US foreign policy in context of larger and vague agendas such as the "cold war" and the "war on terror".
What comes out of Fatima's mind is a true sentiment of a young liberal Pakistani women frustrated by the dubious behavior of Pakistani and American politicians. There might be a little bias because of her family feud, but over all it is a good article.
Fatima has misplaced her disgust with the Taliban at The University of Texas.
Charlie Wilson might have recieved more credit than he deserves for ousting the Soviets, but naming a chair of Pakistinian studies after him is UT's business. Good for them, that is what universities do.
To call Charlie Wilson the "godfather" of the Taliban could not be more incorrect. Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia has that distinction. He funded the ISI, and exerted infulence that led to the Taliban. Yes the US gave some money to the ISI to purchase weapons, but not the support Saudia Arabia gave or as long. Wilson just got public support, and did specifically direct funds.
Even to say Mujahideen turned into is the Taliban is incorrect. Sure some of the Mujahedeen might have been involved in the Taliban's take over, but not all (Massuod for example). For all practicle purposes the Mujahideen ended with out US support and the Taliban sprang up as an answer to a lack of a central government The Taliban were sponsered by the Suadi's and the ISI.
There is no logical reason why Fatima Bhutto should have a problem with UT establishing a Charlie Wilson chair of Pakistan studies. Now I must question her motives. Maybe a UT booster did not that final bribe payment to to her Uncle for the the rights to build a gas pipe line across Pakistan.
Hardline Islam is what destabilizes Pakistan.
As a Pakistani Canadian, much as I support Fatima Bhutto's articles on human rights and Pakistani corruption, I for one am glad she isn't getting involved in politics. The Bhuttos have been an absolute disaster for Pakistan, starting with her grandfather Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's refusal to accept the 1971 elections which saw Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's Bengali party win a majority in Parliament and his assassinations of political opponents. And, starting with her cousin Bilawl Zardari, they all seem to have an absurd sesnse of entitlement.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
They didn't go anywhere, just broke Ms!
Thank you.
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