Afghans Must Publicly
Admit they Still Need West to Stay
“HamidKarzai knows full well - particularly
since his own fate is inextricably wrapped up in all this - that for now, he won’t
last long without the Americans. … The Afghans must acknowledge that they still
need help, and say so, both at home and abroad. Karzai’s
duplicitous high-wire act is as much a burden on the process as charred pages
of the Quran and out-of-control troops. Karzai has to
enunciate what he wants.”
Ghulam Rasool, a tribal elder from Kandahar Province, after a meeting with President Hamid Karzai. It seems that he and his associates now believe that the massacre allegedly committed by a lone American serviceman, was a revenge attack for a roadside bomb attack on American forces in the same area a few days before.
We are back to debating the
withdrawal from Afghanistan. This time it was triggered by the perverse rampage
of a U.S. soldier last Sunday. There have been events of similar gravity in the
recent past: corpse desecration, the hunting down of civilians, and the accidental
but momentous burning of copies of the Quran. The discussion then was the same:
With incidents like these, is it possible to remain in Afghanistan? Can we still
seriously hope that this mission can succeed? Or should we finally admit the
mission has failed and withdraw international troops from the Hindu Kush earlier
than planned?
In its own interest, the West
launched this conflict as the war on
terror. But then it turned into a promise to guide Afghans toward a better
future and help them build a state that could guarantee security and
opportunity for the nation’s people.
That remains no more than a
promise. And up to now, the West has failed spectacularly to keep it - in the
first place, by committing a large number of military and administrative mistakes.
But above all, because the perspective of the West was incorrect from the
outset, since the aim never was to ascertain how Afghanistan could best be
helped. Rather, the idea was to ascertain what the West was prepared to do - or
not do - for Afghanistan. As a result, civilian reconstruction was pursued half-heartedly and the response to the resurgence of the Taliban in the middle of the decade was no more than one-sided.
Not We but the Afghans Must Decide
It has always been our ideas
and resources that determined the mission in Afghanistan – and it was always
our perspective. Now, after the rampage of an American soldier, this is again
the case.
Instead, the correct question
to ask is whether the Afghans still want us there. What future do they envision
for their country? When would they like to take full charge of their own fate? And
do they believe they could do so by 2014, the date international troops are
scheduled to withdraw?
In particular, the reaction
of Afghan President HamidKarzai
to the rampage committed by the U.S. serviceman shows that for the time being, such
questions will remain unresolved. In the first place, because Karzai uses almost every mistake and insanity this war
produces to discredit America’s deployment as an unwanted occupation.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
With Karzai
fueling a domestic mood that as far as international troops are concerned, makes
everything beyond battling extremists difficult, all often seems lost. Thus for
tactical reasons, Karzai weakens moderate forces in the
country and plays into the hands of those who don’t wish to see a functioning
government that can prevent attacks. This provides just a glimpse of the
potential post-withdrawal chaos.
On the other hand, he knows
full well - particularly since his own fate is inextricably wrapped up in all
this - that for now, he won’t last long without the Americans. Therefore, Karzai is negotiating with Washington over a post-2014
strategic partnership that might allow for some U.S. troops to be deployed once
the combat mission ends.
Karzai Must Tell Us What
he Wants
And these days, that’s the
real point we need to focus on. The West can only stay in Afghanistan, whatever
the length of time, if Afghans want it to - at least a majority. Not without a
growing recognition here and among Afghan leaders that things primarily depend
on the Afghan people, will both sides be able to work together to find solutions
to Afghanistan’s lingering problems.
To achieve this, the West will
have to be realistic about its ambitious and optimistic goals and show patience.
The Afghans must acknowledge that they still need help and say so, both at home
and abroad. Karzai’s duplicitous high-wire act is as
much a burden on the process as charred pages of the Quran and
out-of-control troops. Karzai has to enunciate what
he wants.
Yes, a discussion about withdrawal
must take place. But not with the war-weariness of Western troops as the only
backdrop.
