Happy MV Day

It was just 11 years ago, in 1992, that the socialist government that had controlled Afghanistan, was overthrown by the Mujahideen , and an era of influence by the Soviet Union came to an end.

The celebration of the fall if Kabul and the establishment of a non-socialist government is celebrated each year on April 28th.

The Soviets had actually cut and run a few years before ’92, in 1989, but the reason they were there – to fight the spread of Marxist socialist ideals – was solved three years later. The Mujahideen were a pretty ballsy group of rebels, but you and I should all consider them as little brothers of our own freedom, since it was the United States that funded their fight. Charlie Wilson’s war (now a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks and some other guys) is the story of our invovlement in that conflict. It was an escalation of the cold war where we fought the Soviet Union through our proxies, the Mujahideen.

The fact that we spent, by some estimates, up to 40 billion dollars training and outfitting these fighters is interesting. The root word of Mujahideen is jihad – and it means, as most people know, “to struggle.” These fighters were struggling in the 1980′s to win back their country, and since they were struggling against the USSR, we wanted to help them. But now, it seems that they are struggling against us most of the time, and it would take an act of God to pass an act of Congress that would help anyone who labeled their campaign as anything that even rhymed with “jihad.”

The holiday was celebrated this last Tuesday and Wednesday, blending right into the Thursday weekend day. Due to security concerns in Kabul, there wasn’t much celebrating going on in the streets. The weekend, according to our Afghan workers, was spent relaxing and in one case, attending an engagement party.

Afghanistan has few holidays that are not Islamic, and most are recently adopted. But strangely enough, they are very similar to ours. We celebrate our independance from England on July 4th, Afghans celebrate their own independance from England on August 19th. We celebrate Mother’s Day on May 15th, they celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th. We celebrate Veteran’s Day while they have Remebrance Day for Martyrs and Disabled . . . day. We celebrate Labor Day and they celebrate the similar-sounding, but completely different, Labour Day. We celebrate Father’s Day in June, and they celebrate men all the time by making sure that everyone knows that men are much better and stronger than every other sex.

I actually asked the guys if there is anything they say to each other on MV Day, like “Happy Freedom Day!” at which they laughed and said that it is a relatively boring holiday, but they did say to each other “Happy Day that We Don’t Have to Work!”

So I say to you, Happy Mujahideen Victory Day! Or you may prefer the shortened version: Most Felicitations to You on this Most Auspicious Anniversary of the Momentous Day when the Socialist Dogs of Kabul were Brought Low by the Mujahideen Victors . . . day.

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