Afghanistan’s descent into a Hobbesian hell

According to Anthony Loyd's article in The Times today, Afghanistan's descent into a Hobbesian hell began 30 years ago when President Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan was overthrown in a bloody Marxist coup. Perhaps a more authentic date was 1973, when Sardar Daoud overthrew his cousin King Zahir Shah in a bloodless coup, disturbing a rough consensus that had existed since the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani in the latter half of the 18th century.

The communist coup d'état was followed by Soviet military intervention in 1979, which triggered a war of national liberation and the humiliating withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan; this in turn contributed indirectly to the unravelling of the Soviet empire. Unfortunately, the unprecedented victory of the mujahedin was dissipated in an orgy of bloodletting and civil war, which led ultimately to the rise of the Taliban, their disastrous partnership with Al Qaeda, the attack of 9/11, and the presence of NATO forces in Afghanistan today.

The Times article focuses on the recent poignant discovery of the common grave of Sardar Daoud and his butchered family members and entourage by former Major Pacha Mir, who was in charge of the late Afghan President's burial detail 30 years ago.