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In 1985, President Ronald Reagan received a group of bearded turban-wearing men who looked like they came from another century. After receiving them in the White House, Reagan spoke to the press, referring to his foreign guests as "freedom fighters." These were the Afghan mujahideen. In August 1998, another American President ordered missile strikes from the American navy based in the Indian Ocean to kill Osama bin Laden and his men in the camps in Afghanistan. The terrorist of yesterday is the hero of today, and the hero of yesterday becomes the terrorist of today. In part one of this two-part pamphlet, Eqbal Ahmad holds up the concepts of "terrorist" and "freedom fighter," to U.S. foreign policy. What do these terms mean? Where do they apply? How can the roots of political violence be stemmed? In part two, David Barsamian interviews Ahmad about Pakistan, India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, the Taliban, Muslim Fundamentalism, and US foreign policy. An invaluable primer.

PRAISE FOR EQBAL AHMAD "[Eqbal Ahmad] was a shining example of what a true internationalist should be. Eqbal was at home in the history of all the world's great civilizations. He had an encyclopdeic knowledge of states past and present, and he knew that states had a rightful role to play. But he also knew that states existed to serve people, not the other way around, and he had little to do with governments, except as a thorn in their side. To friends, colleagues, and students, however, he gave unstintingly of himself and his time, His example and his memory will inspire many to carry on his work." -Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations

"Eqbal Ahmad was a multitude of men's scholar, activist, political analyst, teacher diplomat, visionary, but above all, a foot-solider in the army of peoples everywhere." -Race and Class

"A very dedicated and honorable activist, Eqbal was right in the middle of everything-He was a student of revolution and imperialism and a very good one." -Noam Chomsky

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FOREWORD

by David Barsamian

Eqbal Ahmad was one of the major activist scholars of this era. He was born in India probably in 1934. He was never quite sure. He left with his brothers for the newly created state of Pakistan in 1947. In 1996, the BBC did a powerful and moving TV documentary chronicling Ahmad's trek in a refugee caravan from his village in Bihar to Pakistan. The film, not shown on PBS in the U.S., is remarkable not just as an historical document but also for providing insight into the dangers of sectarian nationalism. Ahmad?s secular thinking was surely shaped by the wrenching communal and political violence he experienced as a youngster. Even before the sub-continent was engulfed in the homicidal convulsions of 1947, Ahmad witnessed his own father murdered before him.

Ahmad came to the United States in the 1950s to study at Princeton. Later he went to Algeria. It was there that his ideas about national liberation and anti-imperialism crystallized. He worked with Frantz Fanon, author of The Wretched of the Earth, during the revolt against the French. Returning to the U.S., he became active in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. It was during his involvement in the latter that I first heard his name. He was accused of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger. The trumped up charges were dismissed. I did my first interview with him in the early 1980s in his apartment on New York?s Upper West Side. It was memorable. I had just gotten a new tape recorder. I returned home thinking, Wow, I?ve got a great interview. I hit play and discovered the tape was blank. I had failed to turn the machine on. With considerable embarrassment I explained to him what happened. He said, ?No problem.? He invited me over the next day and we did another interview. This time, I pressed the right buttons. Whenever I tell that story, his friends would nod and say, ?That?s Eqbal.?

Ahmad?s radical politics and outspoken positions made him a pariah in academic circles. After years of being an intellectual migrant worker, Hampshire College in Amherst hired him in the early 1980s as a professor. He taught there until his retirement in 1997. He spent most of his final years in Islamabad where he wrote a weekly column for Dawn, Pakistan?s oldest English newspaper. His political work consisted chiefly of trying to bridge differences with India on the issues of Kashmir and nuclear weapons. He was also speaking out against the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and was concerned about the possible Talibanization of Pakistan.

Eqbal Ahmad died in Islamabad, Pakistan on May 11, 1999. His close friend Edward Said wrote, ?He was perhaps the shrewdest and most original ant-imperialist analyst of the postwar world, particularly of the dynamics between the West and postcolonial Asia and Africa; a man of enormous charisma, dazzling eloquence, incorruptible ideals, unfailing generosity and sympathy....Whether on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians or India and Pakistan, he was a force for a just struggle but also for a just reconciliation....Humanity and genuine secularism...had no finer champion.?

Terrorism: Theirs & Ours was one of Eqbal Ahmad?s last public talks in the United States. He spoke at the University of Colorado at Boulder In October, 1998. It was broadcast nationally and internationally on my weekly ?Alternative Radio? program. Eqbal Ahmad?s near prophetic sense is stunning. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, I aired the speech again. Listeners called in great numbers requesting copies. They almost all believed that the talk had just been recorded.