The US election is over; my work on materials deriving from the Taliban Sources Project continues. As I waded through the archives -- released in book form and online this coming spring -- I found this little gem. Published on May 22, 2000, in Shariat newspaper (the flagship publication that ran throughout the years of Taliban rule), this is a commentary piece on Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It ran with the headline, "Friend" in their op-ed section of the day:
According to reports Mrs Hillary Clinton is the candidate for US senate.
Since long Hillary has been trying to fulfil this wish. But on one hand the accomplishment of her wish is a success for her, on the other hand it is a lethal blow to Mr. Clinton. As president of the country his days are numbered. After seven months he will no more be the president of the country.
After the end of his tenure as president he must leave the Whitehouse. After his retirement from the post presidency the Whitehouse will no more be the place of entertainment for him and Monika. But Hillary is also not a weak lady who is totally dependent on Mr. Clinton. During his presidency she was continuously ignored because of Monika.
Nowadays sometimes Mrs. Clinton is appears in very colourful poses beside vice president Al Gore in the media. One cannot blame her. She suffered a lot because of the Clinton and Monica affair.
Our topic was her candidature for the senate. Now she spends considerable time in New York in order to increase the number of her voters and supporters. In her absence Mr. Clinton has to live totally alone.
Their twenty year old daughter, Chelsea, is busy with her studies at the university. In front of the prosecutor he denied any relationship with Monika. That is why she is also no more interested to revive the old friendship with him.
For a long time the American journalist were wondering how Mr. Clinton would manage to deal the days and nights of total loneliness. According to Reuter’s news agency finally these questions were also heard by Mr. Clinton himself. When he was departing in a helicopter from New York to Washington, Hillary demonstrated a very cold behaviour towards him. She left him alone. When the journalists asked Mr. Clinton about his loneliness, he replied that he would no more miss his wife Hilary, because he found a new very loyal friend who stays and sleeps all the time with him. He told that his new friend was his dog who was called Buddy. He further explained that he enjoys every moment of his life in the company of Buddy.
The journalist fully believed what Mr. Clinton told them. However, for further validity he quoted the former US president Henry Truman who once said “if a person wants to have a loyal friend in Washington he must find a dog, which remains loyal in all circumstances and never leave his owner alone”.
Mr. Clinton prefers his dog, Buddy, over his wife, Hilary. Because his dog is an animal which is free of all human characterises but always remain fully loyal to his owner. It does not matter for the dog whether his owner the US president or the Whitehouse gatekeeper. He fulfils his loyalty to the extreme end. This kind of loyalty is neither in the capacity of Hilary, Monica nor any other western lady.
This piece didn't make the cut for the print anthology / reader, so I am publishing the translation here in full.
