Just out today, one of the first high-level U.S officials, Michael Hoh, has resigned due to this administration’s handling of the war in Afghanistan. Hoh has based his resignation, not on a question of how the war is being handled; but why the U.S. is even in the country.
Obama inherited an intractable war in Afghanistan upon his inauguration. He was well aware before he took office of the growing perception and impatience of the American people with the manner in which the U.S. was becoming bogged down in Afghanistan. There had been growing dissatisfaction with the increasingly evident corruption in the Karzai government for months. There was a perception that the Bush administration condoned all of this with a wink and a nod.
Secretary Gates, a hold-over from the Bush adminstration; insisted in late January on a sharp rise in troops, and prepared the American people for what he termed, “a long and difficult war.” The early weeks of the Obama administration saw airstrikes into tribally controlled areas of Pakistan. Secretary Gates rationalized American presence to counter Iran’s intentions to develop and maintain influence in Afghanistan.
Retaining Secretary Gates on the heels of such a sweeping national effort to heed his own call for change; has proven to be Obama’s strategic blunder. This blunder now seems to be plainly as each day passes; an appeasement of the Bush-McCain group think. The new administration and ultimately the people of America, Afghanistan and Pakistan would have been better served had President Obama approached this region with a “new set of eyes.”
The Taliban, derived from the word “talab” means student of the Koran. The talab culture arose largely due to the effects of British colonialism in the Pashtun tribal regions since the 1800s; talabs focused their energy on religious learning to counter profound poverty and unemployment. The interference and after effects of historic colonialism has impacted this tribal society profoundly. Their experience is not any different from tribal cultures throughout the world that were very negatively impacted by colonialism. Obama has inherited this problem; it is not of his own making.
Obama is responsible for the outcome that occurs under his watch. There is a greater responsibility for all Americans to better understand the Pashtun culture and their land where our troops are being sent to die. The after effects of the post 9/11 invasion has created poverty, hopelessness and despair in Afghanistan. The narcotics trade has exploded under American occupation. The American promise of access to world markets for impoverished Afghan farmers to grow legitimate crops never materialized. This is the seeding of a destructive cycle that will certainly last beyond the current generation. This economic failure; coupled with the continued support of a fragile and corrupted U.S. backed government is a recipe for disaster, and that is what we got. The question is; how do we course correct misguided U.S. military response?
The Pashtuns are reeling from over a century of foreign occupants and disruption of their way of life. The nation of Afghanistan is a far flung battlefield where wars of ideology have been waged and lost. This is just the latest mortal wound scarring Afghanistan and its people. The tribal lands are divided by an arbitrary boundary of two nations asserting rule. Pashtun tribal experience again, is not unique or uncommon, but the implications of U.S. military occupation are economically, psychologically and morally devastating to all nation’s affected.
The leadership of this nation must retract its militistic views and engage regional and local diplomacy. No amount of troop build-ups will restore American honor or humanity in the eyes of the people in the two nation region. The very existence of what Michael Hoh describes as valley-ism illustrates the region has adapted to an “every man for himself” survival credo. This is no building block for lasting peace, and it is time for the American people to consider withdrawal from this region entirely.
We must ensure peace can be achieved in some measure to the region; the questions remain, has Obama bore the taint of dishonor and distrust of the previous administration? And can he effectively achieve peace? The answer at this point is probably no. The U.S. must draw upon an international coalition to rebuild and stabilize the AfPak region to counter the effects of eight years of war. I would encourage U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, extend foreign aid for an Afghan reconstruction, and press for international diplomacy to achieve lasting peace and human rights in the region.
Rebuilding Afghanistan and restoring peace will occur from the jirga, or tribal council–up. The Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Their civilization is a strong one; Americans cannot and will not remake their civilization into a reflection of our own. They have their own form of governance and culture. They have bore the brunt of U.S. wrath for giving Bin Laden sanctuary according to their tribal code.
A deeper look at the troubled region, known as the FATA–reveals a century of corruption and lack of human rights that seem to have originated and then were perpetuated under British colonial rule. In Pakistan, the corruption-laden federal system developed under and carries over from British era. The region, according to the Council on Foreign Relations website–has become a breeding ground for Islamic extremism due to its substandard living conditions, low literacy rates, and poverty conditions. U.S. engagement in Pakistan post 9/11 have in turn destabilized that nation. The U.S. is exacerbating conditions that will only increase terrorism and delay the need for human rights restoration.
It is my hope Obama will take a new tact. His recent policy on Afghanistan was criticized this past week by former President Cheny as “dithering.” If this is so, it is only because he kept Secretary Gates on board. We can never know what could have been achieved had we had the benefit of a “new set of eyes” to see this now intractable war with an end in sight.