A New Political Lexicon for Afghanistan

As we all know, the semantic field of some familiar words and concepts can shift a good deal depending on the environment and the moment. Based on this, we thought it would be interesting to provide here a lexicon of political terms and nouns in sync with the current situation in Afghanistan. The list here is of course not complete and we intend to insert new additions in the near future.

Abdullah Abdullah: 1. A "Moussa Shaffiq" wannabe. 2. A person who makes fashion statements. 3. A person who flip-flops.

Afghanistan: A geo-strategic playground.

Ben Laden: 1. A (Saudi-American) conspiracy. 2. An unwanted guest. 3. A missed target.

Democracy: 1. For the UN & the West: not good enough for the Afghans. 2. For the Afghans: a dream difficult to reach.

Dostum: 1. A militia commander. 2. A turncoat.

Emir: Title given to the ruler of the Independent Emirate (kingdom) of Herat.

Ghani, Ashraf: 1. Title given to the captain of the AUB (American University of Beirut) Alumni team. 2. A persons who ambitions to replace his boss.

Government: 1. An empty shell. 2. In context, an unfriendly competition for power between the Northern Alliance Cubs and the AUB Alumni.

Hekmatyar: 1. A CIA/ISI operative. 2. A Turncoat. 3. Ruthless.

Karzai: 1. A US Protégé. 2. A person with irrepressible personal ambitions 3. See artificial.

Khalilzad: 1.Vice-roy. 2. A "man who would be king". 3. Puzanov.

Liberation: Occupation.

Loya Jirga: 1. Kindergarten. 2. A non-representative assembly. 3. A futile exercise.

Marshal: 1. A person with no military background. 2. A person who fancies land-grabbing. 3. A person who believes in the "remove me if you can" policy.

Massoud: 1. A secret code name. 2. A giant mural.

Militias: 1. For the US, partners in the war against terrorism. 2. For the Afghans, a plague.

National Army: A farce.

Omar, Mullah: 1. A one-eyed mullah. 2. A person who owns a motorcycle repair shop in western Afghanistan. 3. An elusive fugitive.

Rabbani: 1. A fox. 2. A person who has made his the motto "Kiss the hand you can't chop off".

Sayyaf: 1. A Wahabbite. 2. A charlatan. 3. An adviser to Karzai.

Sovereignty: Displayed at the Kabul Museum.

Taliban: 1. Tyranny. 2. A romance (with the CIA, the ISI, Khalilzad, Karzai, etc.) that didn't go well. 3. For the US and the Northern Alliance, every person living in Southern Afghanistan.

Tora Bora: Antonym of Bora Bora!

Warlords: 1. For the US, partners in the war against terror. 2. For the Afghans, plague.

Zaher-Shah: 1. A former king. 2. A mean for others to reach power. 3. A person betrayed and trapped. 4. See apathetic.