Time to end America’s partnership with Afghanistan’s war profiteers

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee on Foreign Affairs

RE: Afghanistan

Dear Chairperson:

For the past twenty years during the United States’ longest war, your committee has only heard the perspective of the war profiteers. Again, that is happening today. The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs must hear both sides of the Afghan issue and not only the view of the war profiteers like Zalmay Khalilzad. Afghans, who do not have blood on their hands and who have not profited from the longest war, must be heard if the United States wants there to be stability and true peace in Afghanistan.

President Biden’s announcement this past month to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan under a “delayed” Doha Agreement is welcomed news for Afghans and Americans alike. However, in a period of post-military withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad must not be involved in US and Afghan relations as he has been and is an obstacle to peace. Khalilzad is a war profiteer, who has benefited and will continue to benefit from the continuation of instability and ethnic division in Afghanistan. His involvement will not lead to stability and peace

In addition, moving forward, your committee must investigate the some 18,000 Afghan interpreters- many Afghan Americans, who profited from this longest bloody war. Many of these interpreters caused the unlawful killings of Afghan villagers by intentionally misinforming US troops when setting military targets for strikes because of their ethnic hatred of the Afghan majority, the Pashtun villagers. Innocent Afghan villagers attending wedding receptions and other gatherings in their homes were killed because of interpreters’ hate-filled actions. There has also been many allegations that some of these interpreters molested Afghan children.

In a post-withdrawal period, Afghan women’s rights are important. The U.S. must stop the use of CIA paramilitary troops and private contractors/mercenaries on the ground to do its dirty work. Freedom for Afghan women means an Afghan woman being able to live in her country, with her family, with her culture being respected, with her honor in tact, with her faith being respected, and without foreign drones and intelligence balloons flying and buzzing overhead, without puppet leaders in Kabul, and without the constant fear of foreign soldiers invading her home and privacy, terrorizing her and threatening her safety and honor. In an Afghanistan occupied by foreign military and private mercenaries who are terrorizing the villagers, with widespread drug trafficking and rampant systemic corruption there can be no true freedom for women or anyone.

The continued use of CIA paramilitary troops and private contractors/mercenaries in Afghanistan will cause the continuation of war/violence and instability and will lead to a continued negative U.S. Afghan relationship. The U.S. must not leave CIA paramilitary troops on the ground along with tens of thousands of private contractors/mercenaries to continue to wage war and cause chaos. As you are well aware, the CIA has trained and funded paramilitary “death squads” like the National Directorate of Security (“NDS 01” and “NDS 02”) Khost Protection Forces (“KPF”), Kandahar Strike Forces and many other CIA militias, who are targeting and assassinating innocent Afghan villagers, peace activists, journalists, and Afghan intellectuals. These squads will continue to wreak havoc on the Afghan villagers. In addition, the U.S. will wage remotely the war in Afghanistan. Afghan mercenaries, CIA paramilitary forces and interpreters, who have misinformed and misguided the U.S. these past two decades, who have caused a good portion of the suffering of the Afghans, must not be allowed to stay in Afghanistan and interfere.

With the removal of U. S. Troops, the U.S. and other foreigners must remove themselves from Afghanistan’s internal affairs. The Intra-Afghan gatherings and reunification processes are internal matters that should be left entirely to the Afghans themselves. The US/NATO and other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, etc. should not be involved. Afghans must determine their own destiny, which means that the U.S., NATO and other countries must not be involved in any way in Afghanistan’s Intra- Afghan national peace gathering and reunification efforts. After the withdrawal of all foreign troops, Afghanistan does want a good relationship with the United States, but it has to be allowed to exercise its sovereignty without any interference.

For Intra-Afghan gatherings to be successful, war profiteers and neighboring countries, who have profited from the 20-years of war and chaos, must not be allowed to continue to stoke the violence for their financial incentives. It has been well established by organizations such as SIGAR and other watchdog groups that significant sums of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been stolen and misappropriated by various war profiteers, such as those within the current Ghani Administration, who are financially incentivized for the violence to continue. It has been recently reported that Ashraf Ghani has given his brother lucrative mining deals in Afghanistan. Ghani and his family have profited from this bloody war and benefited by the presence of U.S. troops.

What has not been widely discussed are the incentives of Afghanistan’s neighbors and countries such as Turkey, who have profited handsomely off the war. These parties are also financially incentivized for the tumultuous environment to remain in place as to continue to leverage their influence for their own financial agendas. It is in the United States’ and Afghanistan’s best interest to no longer allow these countries to hold them hostage to extract their ransom by dictating or controlling the reconciliation process and dialogue amongst the various parties at these crucial upcoming months.

For the past twenty years, it is evident that bullets and bombs have not led to progress in Afghanistan, only more destruction and chaos. The pathway for a successful end to the war in Afghanistan that results in peace can only be created by the continued use of diplomacy. Creating and rebuilding trust is a key component of diplomacy, yet it is evident that all sides do not trust one another. The recipe for successful diplomacy and reunification in Afghanistan means the use of educated, independent Afghans in the United States, Europe and around the world, as trusted mediators instead of relying on foreign countries such as Turkey, Qatar and Pakistan to guide the withdrawal and reconciliation processes.

Groups such as the Afghan National Peace Council (“ANPC”) are crucial for the Intra-Afghan talks to reach a successful outcome. ANPC believes that independent, educated Afghan men and women, who hail from various ethnicities must expeditiously be involved as a trusted mediator amongst the various Afghan groups. These ANPC members can also provide a valuable perspective on the issue of the US and Afghan relations after the withdrawal of troops, which will help lead to stability and true peace. Your Committee should request the testimony of members of this group, the ANPC, which consists of Afghan Americans, who are not war profiteers. Their testimony and involvement can help lead to a positive US and Afghan relationship.

Let the Afghans control their Intra- Afghan national peace gathering and reunification processes. Instead of spending trillions of dollars on endless wars, the United States needs to use its funds to rebuild our infrastructure, which will increase our national security. Committee Chair please address these issues with the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Please include this letter as part of the official record of the hearing today at 10:00 a.m. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Kadir A. Mohmand

Founder of ANPC

6147 Old Log Trail

Kalamazoo, MI 49009

Kadir A. Mohmand

Abdul Kadir Mohmand was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He currently resides at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He graduated from Kabul High School. On an UNESCO scholarship, Mr. Mohmand studied at Sofia University, Bulgaria from 1976 until 1978 when his studies were interrupted by the Communist seizure of power in Afghanistan. The new Afghan Communist government ordered the Bulgarian government to return him to Afghanistan because he was anti-communist. Mr. Mohmand requested political asylum. With the help of the United Nations and the U.S. Embassy, he arrived to Italy and then the United States in 1979.

Mr. Mohmand returned to his studies and earned his B.S. in 1983 from Western Michigan University. He found employment in various positions in the engineering business. For many years, he worked for BFI and was country operations manager for BFI Italia. Currently, Mr. Mohmand owns a shopping center and develops commercial properties.

During the 1980s, Mr. Mohmand was the Representative of the Afghan Mujahideen for North America. During the 1980s, Mr. Mohmand returned to Afghanistan to fight as a freedom fighter against the Soviets and Afghan communists. Through an arrangement with Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Mr. Mohmand would bring back wounded Afghan children and Mujahideen for medical treatment at Borgess and recuperation in his home in Kalamazoo. He formed and was president of a nonprofit, Aid for Afghanistan.

In the 1980s, Mr. Mohmand also worked with the Committee for a Free Afghanistan in Washington D.C to bring wounded Afghans to the United States for medical treatment.

For the past four decades Mr. Mohmand has dedicated his life to working to achieve true peace and stability in Afghanistan.

A few years ago, Mr. Mohmand organized educated Afghans intellectuals across the world who drafted a comprehensive plan for peace. Presently, he has united many different Afghan peace organizations under one umbrella. The goal of this network is to unite Afghans to bring true peace in and the independence of Afghanistan. This network wants to be the bridge between the Afghan freedom fighters and the silent Afghan majority, and the Western World in any peace negotiations.

Mr. Mohmand wants true peace and stability in Afghanistan. As a veteran of war, Mr. Mohmand hates war.