I’ve been meaning to write about what I think about Afghanistan, the 13 year war legacy, freedom and progress, women’s rights, what it means for ISAF & US forces to leave by the end of the year and a few other things. What captured my attention today was when I logged into my FB page and saw in my notification box a question from an old college friend who was concerned about a women in Chador (the long robe that Afghan & Iranian women traditionally wear) casting her vote and how he saw that as oppressive. Above the picture lay the bold headline “People in Afghanistan are defying the Taliban to cast votes”.
It seems like this is what Afghanistan has been reduced to and the wrong questions are being asked. It’s important that I start off with some history because if there’s one thing we can learn from history is that we haven’t learnt anything from it. If we look back in time, pre-9/11, what we see is a period where the US supported the mujahideen against the Soviets, in collaboration with the Pakistani ISI at a time when Afghan children where being educated and women were being treated as equals. This begs the questions, was this for freedom and democracy or for the sake of advancing global capitalism? If you believe the former then you have been brainwashed by incessant media propaganda. I don’t consider defending global capitalism at the expense of hundreds of thousand dead as progress. What happend before 9/11 is also happening now too. None of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Afghans or members of the Taliban. Of the dozen or so major terror plots that UK security agencies have successfully prevented since 11 September 2001, none have been linked to Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan was launched under a false pretence.
As for the legacy of the war, will the departure of ISAF and US forces make the country safer? No, it won’t. Look at Iraq for example, the last American troops left Iraq in December 2011, leaving behind a staff of at least 16,000, including 5,000 private security contractors, assigned to the large $750m Embassy in Baghdad. But Iraq has seen a rise in sectarian violence, suicide bombing, and the drumbeats of sectarian cleansing have not slackened. Similarly, violence against Afghan women and children is on the increase, the number of applicants seeking asylum has doubled, and there have been reports of Afghans drowning trying to reach the shores of Australia.
Lastly, with regards to women’s rights. If anything war psychologically and physical injures more women than men. You don’t wage a war to emancipate women, that’s the biggest BS we’ve been sold. It reduces them to refugees, widows, access to healthcare and education becomes more dangerous and their lives more unstable. Throughout the Soviet war (80s) and Civl war (90s) and the current “Operation Enduring Freedom” women have been victims on a larger scale than men. In each war, rival male combatants have claimed that they knew what was best for Afghan women, while marginalizing women in the actual planning of their future. And in each war, women and their children were often the victims of the violence itself. And if we take closer look at the so-called “progression” of women’s right in Afghanistan what you see is completely different than what we are told. For example, the Karzai government does not keep records of women slain as a result of doing their duty, no Afghan is ever brought to trial over their murders. In addition, the millions of foreign dollars that have poured in for contractors and infrastructure have mainly benefited men and in many cases have created incentives for escalating conflict between male-led groups
What I do expect from the Afghan elections is one thing: a revision of its peculiar success. I expect to see articles about how the Taliban have been crushed, Al-Qaeda dismantled (they are probably only operating a 100 men in that country), how women’s right is flourishing, education is better and how the country is more progressive than before. Only time will tell who is right. History does not tell lies, men do.
Wonders of a Traveler 