Is no one concerned anymore?
Rameen Moshref Javid
January 11, 2010
With the new U.S. administration, interest on Afghanistan has greatly
increased and there are many discussions on Afghanistan. But noticeably Afghans
are absent from all such discussions. Although leaving Afghans out of the talks
on their own country is not new, yet with all the rhetoric on democracy, human
rights, civil society, sustainable whatever and other catch-phrases that the
West lands in Afghanistan, one wonders if the West itself is practicing what it
is preaching. Moreover, while it is an outrage to see respected experts and
scholars dispensing opinion from the pulpit, as if they are representatives of
Afghans, worse is that no one objects or even notices these injustices.
If there was a conference to discuss women, wouldn't you expect women to be
there and to have a major role in the discussions? Why isn't anyone thinking
that there is no need for Afghans to be present in issues related to Afghans?
Have we lost our sense of justice and objectivity or are we saying there are no
qualified Afghans out there?
In the past 7 years or so, billions of dollars poured into Afghanistan. A
flood of NGOs rushed to Afghanistan, and a million strategies were formed and
implemented in Afghanistan and yet this country is not that much better then it
was seven years ago. Looking at all these civil society organizations including
the UN, there are hardly any Afghans at the top management positions. Why is
that? Why are these large organizations not recruiting Afghans? Why do they
think that non-Afghans know Afghanistan better then Afghans? What have they done
in the past seven years that proves they have done foundational work on
Afghanistan that was successful?
The only Western strategy overwhelmingly visible is to support a warlord who
has trigger happy men with guns to get something done. You see these men are
strategically highlighted in the foreign press, where parachute journalists
romanticize their life's stories with well placed and carefully worded but
unassuming articles. For example, the corrupt governor of such and such province
is a former warlord with a dark past and a wide range of human rights violations
and war crimes. But he gets the job done Afghan style! And that is what more
Afghan people like. A further support of this theory would come in the form of a
well placed comment by Abdul the shopkeeper who is quoted as "the governor fixes
the roads and we have electricity. That is more then what others did. So what if
he kills and loots. So do all other Afghans and other foreigners!" And who can
argue with that logic? Afghans themselves apparently want this man, so who are
we to interfere? His people like him and don't care about his past, we shouldn't
either. This is their culture. We will just leave human rights abuse and his
past to when we want to remove him or he does not do as we ask.
The US State Department has just announced expanding its civilian personnel
in Afghanistan. Judging from current staffing, no doubt it is going to be full
of young people who are ready for adventure and those who have taken a crash
course in Dari/Farsi or Pashtu languages. Urdu is acceptable too. This would be
their step in the door, so they would accept any assignment. Or old people who
the State Department does not know where to place. The promise of base salary
plus 70% danger pay will certainly be enough encouragement for them to sign up.
They are to remain behind their high wall cocoons with all of the home amenities
and no contact with the people they are supposed to help. Will anyone know about
Afghanistan? Have they lived through its dark days? Do they even understand this
country beyond the fact that it was never conquered, percentage of major ethnic
groups, 5 main provinces and who are the top major current players?
When the West landed in Afghanistan, it was to avenge September 11, 2001.
They were back again, this time to punish the same extremists whom they helped
nurture in 1980's. They were Mujahidin when they were fighting the Soviets and
terrorists when they are fighting the West. Back then, no one thought of keeping
intact the identity and purpose of Afghan resistance and the authority to decide
who to support was given to Pakistan, which divided the resistance into ten
groups mostly along ethnic lines with underlying extremism in nature. The Afghan
identity is just some empty words of a bygone past, as local circles of power
are encouraged and supported in favor of a single central authority - not much
different then Pakistani policy of 1980's.
Consequently, now there are so many pockets and egos to please, thus progress
is incremental at best. What is the purpose of the West in Afghanistan? Which of
its objectives did the West achieve so far, aside from constructing expensive
and ugly buildings, including empty schools and hospitals that have no qualified
staff and no regular salaries? Are the women really free, independent or
educated? Has Afghanistan escaped Taliban mentality? Has the West chosen the
right people for the job, both Afghan and none Afghan? While the West can read
the wristwatch of a man from space and found Saddam underground, why can't it
find Osama Bin Laden or Mullah Omar? Will anyone listen to those who know how
this country works? What is the plan for Afghanistan again?
Is no one concerned or cares? At some point we all have to answer for our own
actions. Afghanistan maybe a country battered with war, crimes and poverty, but
even this people deserve to live with dignity, sovereignty and peace. This is a
moral issue for everyone, especially the Westerners who have a huge say in the
future of this country. If there is no afterlife and Day of Judgment, we still
have a conscience and have to answer to ourselves about the work we do and how
we effect lives - even if in the long run we will not be directly involved. It
is the sacrifice of the Afghans that caused the Soviet Union to fall which in
turn liberated Eastern Europe and led to the monopoly of power by the West. It
is the least what the West can do for Afghanistan - a singular strategy and plan
for Afghanistan and empowering those Afghans who actually are qualified based on
past performances, not men with guns. Finally, let Afghans decide what their
culture allows and what is in their own best interest. That is sustainability,
that is democracy, that is civil society and that is justice served.
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