Although I was confident when I made the bet with Smith, I actually had no confidence at all.
The main reason is of course that no guerrillas are willing to cooperate with us... This makes me angry when I think about it... Damn it, we are here to assist the guerrillas for free. Not only that, we also provide all kinds of help for free, and we can even go to the battlefield.
...but no one wants to!
But having said that... the battlefield is such a realistic place. If I were to put myself in my shoes... If I were the leader of the Afghan guerrillas, I would undoubtedly prefer the United States in front of the United States and China... The United States is well-equipped, and
There are also strong funds... isn't that what Afghanistan lacks?
On the other hand...a considerable part of the Afghan guerrillas were transformed from drug traffickers. What do drug traffickers do...they also do it for money and profit, so of course they will choose the United States.
However, I would rather not use armed forces such as drug dealers, because I know clearly that such an army is difficult to command and has no cohesion... As the instructor often said, an army without ideas and ideals...
It is impossible for them to be willing to sacrifice their lives for fighting, which determines the combat effectiveness of an army.
I quite agree with this point, because I grew up in a thoughtful and ideal army.
But... will this unite the people be effective?
I have deep doubts about this... because it is obvious that the Afghan refugees we assist are just old people, women and children... Even if we can unite them, it is impossible to form a women's Rangers, or wait.
Children, grow up!
But I soon realized that I was wrong...
"Battal Commander!" On the third day when we provided assistance to the Afghan refugee camp, Sahad brought an old Afghan man from the refugee camp to me: "This is Elder Abdul... He said he wants to see you!"
What I saw was an old man with a thin face and a white hat on his head. At this time, he realized that I was the person he wanted to see, so he pressed his chest and said: "Anji Gali"
tribute!"
"Anji Galigong!" I saluted back.
Then the old man started talking, and while talking about Saheide, the old man translated: "My name is Abdul, and I am an elder of the Sayita tribe. Thank you for your assistance to the Afghan people. May God bless you!"
"Thank you!" I replied: "This is what we should do, and it is also the purpose of our coming here...to work with the Afghan people to drive away the Soviet invaders! I hope the suffering of the Afghan people can end soon!"
The elder's eyes became moist as he listened: "Thank God... At this time, I really can't believe that there is a team like you! You help us selflessly without asking for anything in return... You are the one sent by Allah to save us."
Messenger, or Allah guided me to you... I think we should obey Allah's arrangements!"
"Elder Abdul..." I was a little confused and asked with some confusion: "What do you mean by obeying Allah's arrangements...?"
"Dear guest!" Elder Abdul replied: "I heard that you are looking for guerrillas to resist the Soviet Union. There are 500 soldiers in our Sayita army who are fighting tenaciously against the Soviet army in the Hindu Kush Mountains. They
Need your assistance! If you allow me, I can contact them!"
My eyes lit up when I heard this, but then I asked again: "Elder Abdul... I wonder what the five hundred warriors of your tribe... used to do?"
The reason I asked this was because I was worried that they were drug dealers... If that was the case, then I would politely refuse.
But Abdul quickly gave me a satisfactory answer: "Most of them are farmers, and some are people working and serving as soldiers in Kabul... Because Kabul and the tribes were occupied by the Soviet army, they fought against the Soviet army and
Carmel was a political axe, so he fled to the Hindu Kush!"
"Great!" I nodded and said, "Then please ask Elder Abdul to contact the soldiers."
"May Allah bless you!" The elder saluted us again.
"Elder!" Just when he turned to leave, I caught up and added: "I hope you understand... our equipment and funds are not as sufficient as the United States on the other side, nor are they as good as theirs!"
"I know!" The elder nodded: "This is also the reason why other guerrillas choose Americans, but I believe in Allah's instructions. You are all merciful people and merciful troops. This is the most important thing!"
After sending Elder Abdul away, I couldn't help but sigh... This is really useful in uniting the people!
One night a few days later, the guerrillas sent three people...
These three people were brought by Elder Abdul. After he saluted me, he introduced me to an Afghan with a big beard and a fierce look: "This is my son.
Hassan is also the leader of the guerrillas!"
"Hmm!" Only then did I realize that Elder Abdul was not simple yet.
"God bless you!" Hassan saluted me and said, "Thank you for taking care of my relatives and friends, we will keep it in our hearts!"
"Hmm!" From Hassan's tone, he didn't seem to trust me very much, otherwise he wouldn't have just thanked me without mentioning anything about the assistance.
Seeing this, I couldn't help but smile, and without mentioning the military assistance, I replied: "Brother Hassan is out of business, this is just a small effort on our part!"
Then I prepared finger rice and yogurt soup that Afghans often eat to entertain them... We in the cooking class had itchy hands. We watched the Pakistanis make hand rice and the like, and we also followed suit. Unexpectedly,
It really tastes like that when made.
During the meal, I never mentioned the topic of assistance... because I knew very well that Hassan was still suspicious of us and was in a state of psychological vigilance. Rushing for assistance would only make him more suspicious and vigilant.
, although at this time I still don’t know what he is suspicious of or what he is wary of.
In the end, Hassan couldn't help it anymore. He gave me a distant salute and said: "Dear Chinese friends, I heard that you are willing to help us fight against the Soviet army for free. I want to know why!"
As soon as I heard this, I understood what Hassan was wary of... There is no free lunch in the world, how could it be so good to provide food, weapons, and help them fight, so there must be some purpose!
From this aspect, Hassan is much more rational and realistic than his father.
"For profit!" I told the truth.
Because I know that in front of people like Hassan... if you talk about Sino-Afghan friendship and for the Afghan people, it will only be a bad thing. Although when I decided to assist Afghan refugees, it was just because I couldn’t stand it and lost compassion.
.
"What benefits?" Hassan asked directly.
I rummaged around on my desk, pulled out a map, walked to Hassan, spread it out in front of Hassan, and said: "This is China, this is the Soviet Union, this is Afghanistan..."
"Hmm!" Hassan couldn't help but nodded. Judging from the expression on his face, it was obvious that he had rarely seen a world map.
"There is Vietnam below China!" I continued: "China is at war with Vietnam now... I wonder if you have heard about it?"
Hassan shook his head.
This is actually not his fault. Afghanistan is a poor country with few literate people, and they cannot care about domestic affairs. There are still a few people who care about whether there is a war abroad. Just like us in China... my soldiers
Didn't even know about Pakistan before coming here.
"The reason why a small country like Vietnam dares to fight China!" I said simply: "It is because the Soviet Union provides weapons, equipment and food, and at the same time the Soviet Union also wants to invade China... This is also the reason why the Soviet Union wants to occupy Afghanistan as soon as possible, occupy Afghanistan as soon as possible
...The Soviet Union can then launch a war against China!"
"Oh!" Only then did Hassan understand: "If the Chinese Army can help us defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, then the Soviet Union will not be able to invade China!"
"That's right!" I said: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. We have a common enemy!"
Hassan couldn't help but nodded frequently, and the suspicion and wariness in his eyes immediately disappeared.
"What about the Americans?" Hassan asked: "Why do they want to aid Afghanistan again!"
"The United States is the enemy of the Soviet Union!" I said: "There are only two superpowers in the world now, one is the United States and the other is the Soviet Union... They are the boss!"
Of course I wouldn't talk about the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union...I said that Hassan couldn't understand these things. Instead, I made the words simple and popular, so that he would think it made sense.
"So!" I finally said: "Now China and the United States are friends of Afghanistan, and they are both here to help the Afghan people defeat the Soviet Union. You can choose the United States, or you can choose us... We will provide you with the necessary weapons and equipment.
Even financial assistance!”
Hassan nodded and returned to his seat. Several people gathered around and had a chatty discussion for a while... I later learned that they had now determined that accepting assistance would be beneficial and harmless to them...
The reason why they were afraid of accepting assistance before was mainly because they were worried that they would be used by foreign forces or be annexed... Afghanistan is like this, with countless large and small tribes, and each tribe does not know each other.
Tolerance, mutual disapproval, and even the big fish eating the small fish often occurred between tribes. This situation never stopped even during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Later, this situation was even often exploited by the Soviets.
This is a little different from our Chinese brothers playing on the wall and staying at home... This may be because Afghanistan has not yet formed the concept of a big "nation". For example, all the ethnic groups in China are called "Chinese nation", and everyone
The interests of the "Chinese nation" should be considered first, and then the interests of each ethnic group. But this is not the case in Afghanistan. They consider interests from their own ethnic group or even their own tribe. Of course, there are differences between ethnic groups and tribes.
Difficult to unite.
It is also because of this that Hassan is so suspicious of our assistance... There has never been such a free thing in Afghanistan. It must be some kind of conspiracy! (To be continued.)