[Le Temps, Switzerland]

 

 

Le Figaro, France

Afghanistan Shows the West Must Regain its 'Colonial Savoir Faire'

 

"Western military elites no longer generate the likes of T.E. Lawrence [Lawrence of Arabia]. But to win and be effective in an anti-guerilla asymmetric war, we need officers who are in empathy with the people … the game worth the candle.."

 

Analysis By Renaud Girard

 

Translated By Ebtehaj Kalantar

 

March 24, 2008

 

France - Le Figaro - Original Article (France)

No one can reproach the Americans for having intervened in Afghanistan in October, 2001. The puritanical Islamic regime of the Taliban housed training camps there for hundreds of Arab combatants from around the world - followers of anti-Western jihad.  The attacks of September 11 on New York and Washington were conceived of in Afghanistan, within the immediate entourage of Osama bin Laden.  In 1998, the latter had publicly declared war on “the Jews and Crusaders,” before garnering considerable influence over Mullah Omar, the uncontested leader of the Taliban.

 

Attacked, America had to react forcefully, if only to dismantle the training camps and try to capture bin Laden and his lieutenants.  When Mullah Omar refused hand over to the Americans the jihadists who had assaulted it, Washington had no choice but to intervene militarily.

 

The sending of troops to Afghanistan by the major European military powers was equally legitimate: it's the very essence of a military alliance like NATO. If one member is attacked, all must lend a strong helping-hand.

 

In December 2001, one month after the capture of Kabul (by the northern Tajiks and Uzbeks armed with Russian weapons helped by the bombing by American aircraft) and the route of the Taliban, an international conference took place in Bonn on the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan. The great powers and all neighboring countries - including Iran - were invited.  All these sponsors agreed to support the program of national reconciliation to a relative unknown: Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun of the Diaspora, both a traditional Muslim and pro-Western.  The man was the candidate of America, whose international creditability was still intact.

 

The rebirth of the country therefore began under the best auspices. Unfortunately, the work that had been undertaken was not completed. Obsessed by political, military and media preparations for its expedition in Iraq, the Pentagon has lost interest in Afghanistan after October 2002. The campaign soon escaped the weak authority of the consensus-seeking and indecisive Karzai and was handed to the warlords in the north and the Taliban in the south. Washington did nothing to require the Pakistani government to impose order in its tribal areas along the border, which serve as sanctuaries where the Taliban could quietly rebuild their forces.

 

In 2005, when we realized the gravity of the deteriorating situation inside Afghanistan, it was already too late.  It’s not unexpected that NATO's deployment throughout the territory (and not only in Kabul, as in 2002) has yet to bear fruit. The security in the country is a long-term undertaking. The Westerners train and equip an Afghan Army which is just beginning to look like something.  The police - corrupt and inefficient - need to be purged from top to bottom and then re-motivated with new blood.    

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Opponents of the Western presence in Afghanistan stigmatize the billions of dollars in aid that have been lost in the sands.  They castigate the incapacity of NATO soldiers to master a land where they are unaware of the language and customs.  All this is true, but it was predictable. Modern armies no longer have the slightest conception of “colonial savoir faire.” The three that had the courage to take upon themselves the attack on Taliban-invested zones - the Americans, British and Canadians - hadn't a single officer who spoke Dari or Pashto, or who could lead or even understand the Shura (assemblies) of Afghan tribal leaders.

 

Western military elites no longer generate the likes of T.E. Lawrence . But to win and be effective in an anti-guerilla asymmetric war, we need officers who are in empathy with the people.  For the moment, as has occurred in Iraq, Westerners have been sucked into the spiral of attack-supression-bunkerization and divorce from the population.  Western soldiers, including in conveys, “for security reasons,” traverse Afghan villages knocking down everything in their path, still uncertain about the housekeeping among Afghans, their charaf (a mixture of honor, personal integrity and pride).  They need to learn quickly.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

Recovering a “colonial expertise” in order to participate effectively in the reconstruction of a state takes time and money. But the game worth the candle. We cannot again abandon Afghanistan as was done in 1989 after the departure of Soviet troops.  We cannot allow these mountains to again become a training area for the jihadists of the world. Westerners have to learn patience and counteract the arrogance of the Taliban, who like to repeat in our media: “You have the watches; we have the time!”

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 30, 7:04pm]