By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

As I write this, there is a New York City Mayoral run-off taking place to determine who will be the candidate of the Democratic Party for the highest office of our City. As you read this, we know, or will shortly know, whether Mark Green or Freddy Ferrer will face Republican candidate Mike Bloomberg in the November 6th election. As the campaign enters the final critical month, this political junkie/columnist might be expected to be dissecting and analyzing away.

Although committed to covering the City elections, an overriding political issue hit us all in the face on September 11.
And this writer and student of history, who considered he was well-read and worldly, recognized just how little he knew of the land, people, culture and religion where our new enemy was nurtured. Our schools didn’t teach us. Our books didn’t inform us. Our electronic media also failed us. And although as Tip O’Neil told us, "All politics is local," the world is much smaller and the people in Afghanistan are part of our brotherhood of man. Their politics, life and religion impact us — violently.

So while we shall continue our commentary on very local politics, we are all too cognizant about whose politics is presently impacting our lives. So when Rego Park resident Nisar Ahmed Zuri, publisher of Ayendah E-Afghan, agreed to have lunch on Friday, my column was committed — to learn and share an Afghani’s insight into politics, Afghanistan history and its people.

Front and back of Nisar Ahmed Zuri’s paper in English and Farsi.

Nisar arrived promptly at noon for our in-office lunch. He came on the Q88 and was more familiar with Queens public transportation than I am. I called him earlier in the week after searching the internet for Afghani publications in the United States. I wanted to meet with the publisher or editor of an Afghani newspaper. Nisar, from Rego Park, was nearby and gracious enough to quickly agree to meet. He began his career as a publisher and editor more than 30 years ago in Afghanistan.

Nisar spent four hours at our office, with Trib editor Tamara Hartman and me, sharing the story of his country, regularly invoking his people’s love for freedom and his passion for an Afghanistan embracing western culture.

Nisar is scholarly; he speaks of the history of his homeland, recalling dates of the past century without pause. He is a practicing Muslim and speaks of Islam no differently than any of us speak of our religion. He is opinionated and driven. Freedom of his homeland is his ultimate goal.

Democracy, western culture and freedom seem to run through his veins. The dove part of his newspaper logo carries a folded newspaper with the Farsi words meaning: "Freedom, Unity, Progress." Unlike a people who are able to take our way of life for granted, Nisar has chronicled a society which evolved through the centuries torn between the traditions of the east and the liberties of the west. Historically, western values have time and again come to Afghanistan, been forced out and later reemerged. With the utmost of passion, Nisar cries that terrorists and the Taliban have taken his entire nation hostage depriving it of their beloved freedom.

He refers to the acts of September 11th as a "tragic crime committed by terrorists . . . a genocide against the innocent people on US soil . . . against Islamic norms and in conflict with Afghan tradition."

He asserts, "The people of Afghanistan around the world condemn the barbaric terrorist attack." The people in Afghanistan, he continues, "Never gave up hope and the continuous struggle against the terrorist organizations." Bin Laden, Al-Qaedah, and other fundamentalist fanatics from Pakistan have perverted Islam, are exporting terrorism, massacred thousands of Afghan civilians and killed their national figure Ahmed Shah Massod, slain head of the Northern Alliance.

Year after year in the pages of his paper, in English and Farsi, and in letters sent from his Rego Park home to United States Presidents from Ronald Reagan to George Bush, Nisar has pled for his people. In an open letter to President Bush, he calls upon the United States to support the Northern Alliance in returning freedom, democracy and peace to his country, by ridding it of Bin Laden and the terrorists of the Taliban and Pakistan.

His passion is clear and his words from the heart. To share his compassion for freedom, Nisar patiently related to us the history of his nation:

In a land marked by centuries of internal wars and invasions by large empires, Nisar recalled the richness of Afghan heritage. "In ancient times," he explains, "we were the center of commerce. Goods from Thailand, Indonesia, Delhi and the east would be brought to Kabul on their way to central Asia."

From the middle of the eighteenth century until the First World War, Jewish businessmen traveled ‘the Silk Road’ linking east to west. The goods moved through Kabul from the Far East to Europe — London, Paris — and western politics and culture were introduced to the people of Afghanistan.

For centuries, empires recognized the value of being at the center of these crossroads and Afghani history is marked by invasions and battles for control.

During World War I, the Germans wanted this "road to India." At war’s end, the British and Russians agreed that Afghanistan would be a "buffer state."

It was here that Nisar begins to smile as he relates his political history (while using a fork for his sushi): From 1919, for ten years, King Amanullah, the reform King, pushed the British out as he westernized Afghanistan. He traveled to the major European cities with his wife, who was dressed in western garb. Afghani women were sent to European colleges. This ancient Islamic nation met the west and newspapers and free thought flourished.

Although he ruled only 10 years, Amanullah introduced a series of social and political reforms and seems to be the omnipresent heroic image when Nisar discusses the Afghan people’s fervent love for freedom.

Nadir Kahn took control by 1930 and reversed many of the reforms. In 1933, after his assassination, he was succeeded by his 17 year-old son Zahir Shah, who now, at the age of 86, is in exile in Italy.

For the first two decades of his rule, his uncles ran the country. It was during this time that the US recognized the government of Afghanistan. Afghanistan remained neutral during WWII and saw some of its land lost in 1949 when Pakistan was carved out of India and a piece of Afghanistan, in a move rejected by the Afghani government. When the US rejected an Afghan request to buy military equipment, they turned to the Soviet Union.

Under Zahir Shah’s rule, women entered the workforce and government, war with Pakistan loomed and relations with the Soviets improved. In 1963 Zahir Shah created a constitutional monarchy.

In 1970, a young, 19 year-old lover of freedom named Nisar Ahmed Zuri, began his career as a publisher — offering political books to the Afghani population.

On Aug. 21, 1970, on the occasion of the celebration of the freedom of Afghanistan, Nisar launched a new magazine, "Freedom," lauding the memory and reforms of King Amanullah.

"I was aware of the fate of this magazine before I published it," explained Nisar, who upon publication mailed copies to everyone, "parliament, the king, the world."

"It was loved and hated," he explains. "But the old guys [who ran the government] said no, and the Culture and Press Minister sent for me. I had to change the magazine’s name," explained Nisar. By 1973 politics had reached a boiling point. Backed by the Soviet Union, Zahir Shah was overthrown by a communist coup and freedoms started to erode as independent newspapers were outlawed. After a year in the army, young Nisar continued publishing in a threatening atmosphere.

"In 1976 at the age of 26, I had big ideas and big dreams. I came to the United States," says Nisar.

Back in Afghanistan the landowners remained strong and the people resisted the will of Moscow and objected to atheism. On Dec. 27, 1979, Russia invaded and the Afghan guerrilla Mujahideen is born. A ten-year battle ensued and the Soviet Union was finally driven out of a devastated country. By 1992, the Mujahideen formed an Islamic state and call for Democratic elections.

Seeing a weakened country, Pakistan and Iran interfere and in 1994, the Taliban militia was born. Fundamentalist religious students trained in and armed by Pakistan were sent to attack. By 1996, Kabul fell. Under Taliban rule, women were severely oppressed and men are forced to grow beards. Buzkashi, the Afghan national sport was outlawed. Tensions rose as the Afghan government accused Pakistan of aiding the Taliban. Massive human rights violations by the Taliban existed and by 1997, much of the country was under Taliban rule.

The rest of the history is current. The Mujahideen, now the Northern Alliance, continues the struggle for freedom. The Taliban destroys any vestige of any freedom or culture other than their own fundamentalism. They also became host to the world’s most feared and barbaric terrorist group Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaedah.

At this point, Nisar’s viewpoint varies somewhat with the present day accounts that have been reported since September 11.

"Pakistan," asserts Nisar, "created the concept of the Taliban as far back as 1981. Their intelligence agency (ISI) has been an interloper in Afghani affairs since that time. Pakistan wishes to destroy Afghani culture and is using fundamentalist religion to achieve their political end," explains Nisar.

"Pakistan is the body, Bin Laden is the brain. The Taliban — ignorant fundamentalists trained by the Pakistanis – link the two," insists Nisar.

"The Afghani people are innocent and must be protected," he proclaims. "But we must get rid of the Taliban and Bin Laden at all measures."

When asked whether he felt all Muslims agreed with him, "No," explains Nisar, "I can’t speak for the Muslim faith. We were bleeding and the Islamic Conference didn’t intervene."

Nisar explains, "Islam says, if you kill one person, Allah is upset as if you killed all humanity. In war, Islam tells you do not harm women, children, elderly men or even buildings. These people [the terrorists] are not Muslims. They have their own agenda and we must act before another attack," Nisar cries with passion.

Nisar wrote to President Bush, "We cannot be blindsided. We must act as soon as possible,"

And so it has begun.