Afghanistan – Between Two Cold Wars – Sunday September 19 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time – Dr. Bahman Azad
Our program will trace US involvement in Afghanistan back to the 1950s Cold War to exert strategic control of the Soviet Union’s borders, especially after the Iranian Revolution. Combatting terrorism was not the issue. Rather, the US nurtured politicized Islamic jihadists in the form of the mujahedeen and the Taliban to destroy the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. From 1978-1992, the socialist-oriented government instituted modernization, emancipation of women, literacy, and land reform programs, only to be reversed.. From 1978-1992, the socialist government instituted modernization, emancipation of women, literacy, and land reform programs, only to be reversed. After 20 years of military occupation in Afghanistan, the US is now redeploying for a new Cold War with China, while forging a new military alliance of Israel, Saudi Arabian, the Emirates in the Middle East.
Our speaker, Bahman Azad, an Iranian-American peace activist, is the executive secretary of the US Peace Council, a representative of the World Peace Council at the UN, and on the Administrative Committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC). He has also served as co-chair of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee, coordinator of the Coalition Against US Foreign Military Bases and the Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases, and co-coordinator of the Hands Off Syria Coalition. He has a master’s degree in economics and a Ph.D. in sociology and is the author of the book: Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR.
