 "Photo: State Department Photo")
Student Life Senior News Editor Ben Sales sat down with former Afghan Attorney General Abdul Jabbar Sabit, who was at Washington University to speak to a class before flying to Washington, D.C.
Next year, Sabit will run for president in the upcoming Afghan elections. Here are his thoughts on domestic Afghan politics, the role of the United States in the country and what should be done with Pakistan:
Student Life: How have you liked Washington University so far?
Abdul Jabbar Sabit: I like the campus. The class was very good. I enjoyed it very much. They asked me very difficult questions and I was very frank with them. Believe me, in my message to them I did not conceal a single fact from them, nothing.
SL: What did you focus on during your tenure as attorney general of Afghanistan?
AJS: My main concern when I was attorney general was corruption and drug trafficking. I wanted to strengthen the rule of law there.
I was happy with my trips to the provinces, something that no attorney general had ever done. As you know, Afghanistan is a mountainous country. The roads are not very good, and lots of people have problems in remote and distant provinces. They do not have the opportunity to come to the capital and take problems and grievances to the central authorities, so I decided to go to the provinces and listen to the people.
Another thing I consider an achievement is that I received petitions every day from all over the country. Between 100 to 150 petitions would come every day, and I would respond to each of them and solve their problems if I could.
SL: Is there anything you were dissatisfied with while you were attorney general?
AJS: When I wanted to prosecute powerful persons, I could not. This was very bad and I could not tolerate it. I do not want to mention their names. There were many.
SL: How big of a problem is corruption in the Afghani government?
AJS: We have corruption, there is no doubt about that, but one thing I have always said in the past and I will say now is that we have corruption, but there is not as much corruption as people say there is. Some people exaggerate things.
SL: You’re running for president in the upcoming Afghani elections. What are the main points of your platform?
AJS: If I get elected, the first thing that I will do is to take major steps to strengthen the rule of law in the country, to see that no one is above the law, to be very harsh on those people who would violate the law.
On the other hand, corruption should be fought on all levels of the country, and I should bring peace to the country. The best way to bring peace to the country is negotiation, to negotiate a kind of settlement in which there should be involved our foreign friends like the United States and the neighboring countries like Iran and Pakistan and Indonesia. And the warring faction, the Taliban. If Pakistan and Iran agree that we should have peace in Afghanistan, then we will have it, but if the negotiation is only with the Taliban it will not work.
SL: Why won’t negotiations with the Taliban work?
AJS: Even if I negotiate with them, they will not negotiate with me. They will not accept the constitution of the state, they will not accept free elections and they will not accept many other democratic things.
SL: Would you be in favor of the United States invading Pakistan in order to curb the Taliban?
AJS: I would ask the United States government to put pressure on Pakistan to curb the Taliban. We would see what kind of invasion that would be. If it is needed, I would say yes, but if not I would persuade my American friends not to do that.
SL: Some have criticized you for favoring ethnic Pashtuns while you were attorney general. What do you think prompted those claims?
AJS: I am not a Pashtun, I am not a Kathar, I am not a Tajik; I am just an Afghani. I have proved that. People come to me and tell me that I proved that; I am not affiliated with any of those Afghan groups. Those are just baseless allegations.
SL: Do you think that Afghanistan can stably exist as a multiethnic society?
AJS: We do not have that many ethnic groups like, for example, Pakistan has, like Iran. Look at Iran. Look at India. Look at the United States. The United States can justify peace with that many ethnic groups in the country. Why shouldn’t we do that?
SL: What should be the United States’ role in Afghanistan in the future?
AJS: The United States government should increase its involvement in Afghanistan in every aspect. Every good thing that the president of the country does is attributed to the United States and every bad thing that is done by the president is blamed on the United States.
If I had been in the government of the United States two or three years ago, I would have advised the authorities to get deeply involved in Afghan affairs. I am in favor of increasing the military presence of the United States in Afghanistan.
It’s a good idea that the United States and Iran should negotiate. We say something in our language: If a knot can be opened with the hands, there’s no need to take it to the mouth. If the atomic problem is solved in negotiation, there’s no need for invasion.
SL: Why should American college students care about what is going on in Afghanistan?
AJS: The United States government has sent troops, billions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money and the people of the United States should know what’s going on there. That’s something the people of the United States should know, how the taxpayer money is spent there, what their government is doing there and what the people of Afghanistan expect the government of the United States to do.
Mr Sabit was and still is a member of Hezb-I-Islami, to the west Hezb-I-Islami stands for a terrorist party, whose leader (Gulbodin Hekmetyar) is in CIA’s ten most wanted men, and whose members are responsible for suicide bombings today in Afghanistan.To Afghanis, Hezb-I-Islami, and Mr Sabbit represent a tribal group of people who use primitive tribal customs to defame Islam. From pouring acids into girls faces in the 1970’s Kabul, to banning women from schools, public executions and of course the famous two year rocket siege of our beloved Kabul which gave Mr Hekmetyar the name Gulbodin Rocketyar by my fellow Kabulis.Mr Sabbit is a representation of a backward, primitive tribal Pashtun culture which has brought nothing but death and destruction to the land today called Afghanistan.