When the Lion Roared: How Abdul Haq Almost Saved Afghanistan

Posted: 10/17/11 03:56 PM ET - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-hughes/abdul-haq-afghanistan_b_1012241.html

Although for one to suggest the U.S. had any alternatives to leveling Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 is to invite ridicule, legendary Afghan resistance commander Abdul Haq had, in fact, an indigenous remedy for overthrowing the Taliban, rounding up al Qaeda and establishing a legitimate government in Kabul.
However, according to Lucy Morgan Edwards in her new book, The Afghan Solution: the Inside Story of Abdul Haq, the CIA and how Western Hubris Lost Afghanistan, the U.S. chose to force regime change from without while marginalizing Haq, who still valiantly tried to activate his plan on October 26, 2001 but was assassinated by the Taliban (although local sources claim his executioners were tipped off by certain foreign intelligence agencies). A decade later, it has become quite clear why Haq's solution was -- and still is -- the only solution.