AFGHANISTAN: A CIVILIAN’S NIGHTMARE COMES TRUE
The nation of Afghanistan is one that has been ravaged by unrelenting violence and poverty since its very formation. Tribal warfare and continued invasions by foreign powers have brought the foundation of that mountainous country to its knees. The people of Afghanistan, a community of civilians linked together in the failure and possible rebirth of their land, have endured many years of death and destruction that cripple their attempts at living long and peaceful lives. Disputes over land and religion have plagued the Afghan population and there appears to be a continued sense of political isolation, despite the United States’ newfound determination to rid Afghanistan of terrorism. The Afghan people are born into a world of overwhelming violence caused by outsiders as well as their own, all in the name of political power and progress. The U.N and the United States is trying to reverse this cycle of death surrounding Afghanistan, which is a tough mission that requires all the commitment and energy the world community is able to give.
The current war in Afghanistan started in the fall of 2001, following the September 11th attacks on New York City and the Pentagon in the continental U.S by Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist organization Al Qaeda. Bin Laden was being protected and sheltered by the Afghan government, which at that time was the Taliban, a religious sect of the population that took over the country amid the chaos that was taking place there in the 1990s. The chaos in the 1990s began immediately after the Soviet Unions withdrawal of troops, which had been in the process of occupying the country since its invasion over a decade before in December of 1979. “In April 1978 a military coup brought to power in Kabul a pro-Soviet Marxist party bitterly divided internally by factions. The Khalq (or People) faction, which came out on top, tried to carry out major social transformations very rapidly, regardless of opposition. By implementing land reform without proper preparation they unleashed bitter village disputes and undermined traditional elites in the countryside. Their attempt to reform the marriage laws by abolishing the Kalym upset the generally accepted basis of family contracts and hence the relationships between families. Campaigns for primary education and universal literacy on Soviet Marxist lines affronted Islamic believers. Symbolically most objectionable of all, the new rulers replaced the Islamic green flag with a red one”(Geoffrey Hosking). The civilian population was forced to endure what seemed to be an endless arrangement of fighting between foreign and Afghan rebels against the communist regime in charge of Kabul and the Soviet might moving through Asia from the center of communism, Moscow. Over a decade after the Soviet war in Afghanistan ended, in the early years of the 21st century, the last remaining super power in the world would take on a similar path of bombing and invading that Central Asian country, attaining retribution for the deaths of American civilians by seeking out known terrorist organizations and attempting to bring the ideals of democracy and freedom to a struggling land.
Throughout its history, as a nation in the modern world, Afghanistan has experienced many political changes and has repeatedly been placed in the center of conflicts between powers larger than itself. In the 19th century Afghanistan was considered to be the frontline between the competing nations of imperial Russia and imperial England, two world powers that held sway over vast empires. The British fought two wars inside the frontiers of Afghanistan, receiving a bloody welcome each time from the people in the form of disastrous defeats and deadly massacres. “The Afghans had annihilated one of the greatest armies of the British Empire on this very stretch of road, and high above me were villages where old men still remembered the stories of great-grandfathers who had seen the English die in their thousands. The stones of Gandamak, they claim, were made black by the blood of the English dead. The year 1842 marked one of the greatest defeats in British arms. No wonder we preferred to forget the First Afghan War. But Afghans don’t forget”(Robert Fisk). That ancient and mysterious land, which is Afghanistan, has witnessed the passing of time through spears, bullets and blood, and still the Afghan people survive. Though they suffer greatly from the destruction seen in fruition in that war zone of a country, the civilian population surpasses all logic by continuing to live their lives the way they always have and proving the theory of defeat completely wrong.
Currently the United States is the global power dominating the political arena centered on Afghanistan, a position acquired after the invasion of the country in 2001 and the defeat of the Taliban government, which had ruled the Afghan people with an iron and religious fist since the mid 1990s. “ The Taliban, composed mostly of ethnic Pushtuns from around Kandahar, launched a war against the hopelessly corrupt Tajik and Uzbek warlords of the “Northern Alliance.” War-weary Afghans often supported Taliban victories because its fundamentalist leaders did at least stamp out corruption, restore law and order (even if the law was an extreme version of medieval Islamic practice), and allow some semblance of normality to return to parts of the country”(Chalmers Johnson). This war, carried out by the Taliban against the warlord’s, preceded after the defeat of soviet forces and the vacuum of power that had been left in the wake of their withdrawal. The warlords, who had been a consistent sight of power in Afghanistan over the centuries moved in to fill that political void in the early 1990s, fighting amongst themselves and setting off a devastating civil war, which triggered a violent response from the Taliban. The population was once again forced to endure another conflict, this time between internal parties that waged across villages, towns and cities that had already seen great loss in the recent years.
The year 1996 saw the capture of Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan by the Taliban forces and the restructuring of power within the country that would have lasting affects on Afghanistan, the United States and the world. “If there was a single inspiration and hope for peace amongst ordinary Afghans after the Taliban emerged, it was the fact that they governed through a collective political leadership, which was consultative and consensus-building, rather than dominated by one individual”(Ahmed Rashid). Kings, dictators, warlords and “strong men”, a cycle of corruption following each new shift into political control, had continuously ruled Afghanistan up until that time when the Taliban appeared on the stage with the Koran and a heightened sense of religious determination. The Afghan people desired stability and a solution for ending the relentless violence that had on a whole consumed every family and individual in that impoverished nation.
Throughout the 1980s Afghanistan was a staging ground for Islamic militancy, which was strengthened and nurtured by religious fundamentalism and CIA dollars. Afghan rebels were at odd against the corrupt communist regime in Kabul and the occupying forces of the Soviet Union. During this chaotic time fighters from around the Muslim world flocked to the battle grounds of Afghanistan in hopes of engaging Soviet forces and striking a blow against what were perceived to be foreign “infidels”. These fighters seemed to be more interested in killing Soviet troops than liberating the Afghan people. The Afghan rebels and the Arab fighters had a common enemy, the Soviet Union, though their intentions and aspirations for the end result of the fighting differed. The Afghans wanted an opportunity at freeing their country from oppression and destruction, while the Arab fighters wanted their chance at conducting an Islamic Jihad against the Soviets. It was at this time that the United States first entered the scene in an attempt at disrupting the abilities and policies of its main Cold War rival the USSR. The U.S was only concerned about seeing Soviet casualties and so they turned a blind eye to the realities of the Islamic fanatics they were supporting with economic aid and training with highly advanced weaponry. “During the late 1980s and early 1990s, as allies battling Soviet occupation forces and their Afghan communist proxies, the CIA had pumped cash stipends as high as $200,000 a month to Massoud and his Islamic guerrilla organization, along with weapons and other supplies. But aid stopped in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. The United States government decided it had no further interests in Afghanistan”(Steve Coll).
When the fighting ended against the Soviets the U.S pulled out its economic support from Afghanistan and sat back, watching as the beaten down country spilled out of control and entered into a horrific civil war. “The U.S Agency for International Development had shut down its Afghan humanitarian assistance program in 1994. The Pentagon had no relationships there. The National Security Council at the White House had no Afghan policy beyond a vague wish for peace and prosperity”(Steve Coll). The United States had no more reason to be involved in Afghanistan according to their own thoughts and felt that what happened there after the withdrawal was on the Afghan people and that they should be the ones to deal with their own conflicts. This lack of concern for the Afghan civilians and their fate in some sense paved the way for the Taliban to rise up, take advantage of the complete confusion from the civil war between the warlords and engage on their own path towards conquest. Islamic fundamentalism was a different and radical way of viewing the world and the Taliban gained a lot of support as they positioned themselves to try and rid the land of corrupted warlords that were causing their own chaos by trying to win the greatest political prize that country had to offer, the right to rule.
This current war in Afghanistan, which has been in a continued motion for the past seven years, has produced many victories and defeats for both enemies and allies alike. The Taliban has been toppled, replaced with a more democratic and pro Western regime under the leadership of one Hamid Karzai. The War on Terror and the war being conducted in Afghanistan go hand in hand and the need for overall victory and the possibility of a disastrous collapse of the United States’ effort are fatefully linked. The process of rebuilding that country, after decades of internal fighting is a humanitarian and political mission of staggering proportions. “Building a country virtually from scratch, containing the Taliban and developing a national army in a land that’s riven by ethnic rivalries and feuding warlords is probably a challenge too far”(huffingtonpost.com). The Taliban and Al Qaeda have for the last seven years been using guerilla tactics to attack U.S, Nato and Afghan government troops in the same ways that they perfected the art of war against the Soviet Union. The Taliban use the land and the people to their advantage by hiding in Afghan villages and surrounding themselves with innocent civilians, and by doing so they force U.S troops to become the foreign aggressor in the eyes of the Afghan people. Though not all the people hiding the Taliban are under a fear from their bullets but rather they have willingly chosen to help the Taliban, viewing the West’s attempt at bringing democracy to their villages as a failed design of political policy. The Afghan people seem divided in the sense that some are ecstatic to see the fall of the Taliban and the now common sight of American troops trying to secure their ancient land. On the other hand there is a side of the people that chose to conspire with Osama Bin Laden and his highly trained terrorists along with the Taliban, hoping to aid in the fight for Islamic fundamentalism to regain control of Afghanistan and bring to life the painful defeat of the West for the entire world to see.
The United States is facing a resilient enemy in Afghanistan, and it appears that at certain times the local population is slipping through the grip of democracy in a speeding course to simply secure the reassurance of peace. “Last week a 50-man tribal council of Pakistani and Afghan leaders in Islamabad called for “negotiations with opposition groups” to end the insurgencies mauling their countries. Asked whether this included the Taliban, Owais Ghani, a governor of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and head of the Pakistani delegation, was trenchant. “Of course,” he said”(weekly.ahram.org). A new wave of thinking is moving through the mountains of Afghanistan and entering the minds of the local leaders there. They feel that the solution for peace is ending the hostilities with their former enemies and engaging in pure cut diplomacy rather than continued military violence. “In September, at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting between Afghan government officials and “former members” of Taliban, including ministers deposed by the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Taliban leader Mullah Omar reportedly accepted the Saudi mediation. Karzai says the contacts are “preparations for negotiations”(weekly.ahram.org).
Through many upheavals and drastic changes the fate of Afghanistan has shifted in sight over these long and violent years. The future for Afghanistan is not yet known and only by the actions of strong and determined individuals will that country survive these turbulent times in the early stages of the 21st century. The war rages on and there appears to be no end in sight to the fighting and dying of civilians and soldiers alike. Though there have been some efforts made to organize a peaceful solution, my firm belief is that these Islamic fanatics will not cease in their bloody struggle until, in their eyes and minds, they have achieved complete victory over their enemies. A dangerous present, a deadly past and a mysterious future cloud the activities of the Afghan people as they continue to live and breathe their way of life despite the never-ending hardships. The Afghan people are strong willed and they seem to have that keen ability of adapting to their environment, even if terrorist and allied bombings continuously compound that environment. Afghanistan is a nation consumed by a militaristic history and the people must begin to learn a new method of living, hopefully without tribal warfare and constant killing from the many factions of Afghan life. I have faith that Afghanistan and its people will survive this current war and emerge to form a better system of living and in that same process adapt to the world community, offering that community more than just guns, drugs and senseless death.
WORK CITED PAGE
1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-c-rose/the-war-in-afghanistan-is_b_144144.html
2. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/921/in2.htm
3. Coll, Steve GHOST WARS: The Secret History Of The CIA, Afghanistan, And Bin Laden, From The Soviet Invasion To September 10, 2001 Penguin Books 2004
4. Rashid, Ahmed TALIBAN: Militant Islam, Oil & Fundamentalism In Central Asia Yale Nota Bene, Yale University Press 2001
5. Johnson, Chalmers THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE: Militarism, Secrecy, And The End Of The Republic A Metropolitan/Owl Book Henry Holt And Company 2004
6. Hosking, Geoffrey A HISTORY OF THE SOVIET UNION: Revised Edition Fontana Press 1985, 1990
7. Fisk, Robert THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILIZATION: The Conquest of the Middle East Vintage Books 2005
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