"Ignorance and a tolerance for the
corruption spearheaded by President Hamid Karzai have allowed the return of the
Taliban. The latter is against equal rights and education for girls and women,
and enjoys widespread support among the male population. Sometimes politics is that
simple. … . In a society that has existed for 3,000 years without such attributes,
democracy and human rights will ultimately fail."
Maulavi Qalamuddin, the former chief of the Taliban's Ministry of Vice and Virtue, is advising people not to fear a Taliban return. It would appear that a good number of Afghans are paying attention.
The
U.S. wants to leave Afghanistan earlier than planned. Despite billions of
dollars and 300 NGOs, the country's situation has hardly changed.
Frank
Gaffney, a well-known Washington commentator, said that the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan were indeed the "right wars," but that we now face the
"wrong outcome." The U.S. and NATO want to end the combat mission much
earlier than previously planned - as early as 2013 instead of 2014. Washington
is looking at the question of whether the goal of 'regime change" has been
lost. Will there be a Taliban comeback in Afghanistan? Even the optimists see
clouds on the horizon.
In
both countries - inhomogeneous Islamic states with a history of despotism in
which security has collapsed and which are surrounded by subversive neighbors -
the intent is to impose democratic forms of government.
In
both countries, the U.S. military has created an almost perfect storm. In Iraq,
the governor appointed by George W. Bush, Paul Bremer, dissolved still-functioning
institutions to initiate "de-Baathification," which was modeled after
the de-Nazification of Germany. But the people that were targeted simply went
home, picked up any stray Kalashnikovs lying around, and took the fight to U.S.
Ignorance and a tolerance for the
corruption spearheaded by President Hamid Karzai have allowed the return of the
Taliban. The latter is against equal rights and education for girls and women,
and enjoys widespread support among the male population
Sometimes politics is that
simple, even if that doesn't always get through to some of the people who run
the State Department or some Western reformers. In a society that has existed
for 3,000 years without such attributes, democracy and human rights will
ultimately fail. Re-educating the population requires parallel values, not a world
view that sees in every non-Muslim an "enemy of the one true God." At
the end of December, General John Allen critically noted that the Afghan army
might be "simply incapable."
In
Iraq, Iran is working toward a secession of the south; in Afghanistan, Pakistan
is the driving force of destabilization in the country, since it is considered
a state on the frontlines with India. And China and Russia are promoting destabilization,
because they perceive democracy and the U.S. presence as a threat.
In
Washington, former ambassadors, experts, and military officers have testified
to Congress about failed attempts at democratization. And the mere fact that
the Taliban are now negotiating is itself a capitulation: This is the Taliban
that, curiously enough, President Karzai has described as "our lost
brothers," even as it carries out 30 to 50 attacks per day and slits the
throats of those they capture.
Sharp
criticism is also being leveled against the 300 some-odd NGOs that have
achieved nothing in Afghanistan (just like before, in Iraq) and have squandered
vast sums of money. Capital grants and economic assistance to Afghanistan
amount to $10 billion a year - half of which local politicians set aside for
themselves.
*Friedrich
Korkisch heads the Institute for Foreign and Security Policy in Vienna.
