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Alternate Views
By lindamuralidharan on 2009-03-10 21:56:20
No single blogger can speak for all outside of the basic premises of the blog page itself. However, I don't think I am the
only one of us who is willing to keep an open mind and adjust positions as we receive new ideas, facts, and viewpoints. In
the spirit of finding alternatives to prolonged combat, I have supported the idea of opening talks with Taliban leaders
however we might define "The Taliban." This week two women residing in Kandahar in Afghanistan have got me to
thinking about many more aspects of the pros and cons of such talks. One woman is an American who emphasizes what we
are all learning about the integral nature of corruption and empowering of the war lords as we have supported their
participation in President Karzai's government. This woman has lived and worked in Kandahar for several years and seen
how the people have almost lost hope for a secure life, one free from having to pay bribes as they travel the road to Kabul to
market their goods, free from daily anxiety about which member of their family will be killed by the lawless forces
surrounding them. They once chose the Taliban to keep them safe from the war lords. Then they embraced the US and its
allies as a force to free them from the oppression of the Taliban. Then they found that the "liberation" forces brought the
war lords back to power, and did not know how to establish a central government that is relatively honest or able to restore
order in the countryside. Now they don't know who is worse, the Taliban or the war lord dominated government. This
woman declares that the US policy needs to be to make the Taliban irrelevant by establishing an honest and effective
government that is able to serve the interests of the people and to provide real personal security for its citizens. She did offer
some suggestions of how to arrive at this state of affairs. She gave an example of some success to date. She claims that in
some areas American trainers not only give instruction to members of the Afghan army but also go into the field with them
to restore order, set good examples, and where necessary fight shoulder to shoulder with them against the violent factions of
whatever stripe. In her opinion, this has greatly improved the effectiveness of the Afghan army itself. She suggests that this
could be done in many government departments especially those that involve rebuilding of schools and infrastructure. Her
suggestion includes getting rid of some of the power grabbing war lords and corrupt officials in some provinces while
working with and supporting the more sincere government officials shoulder to shoulder. This requires respecting local
knowledge of local conditions as well as demonstrating effective modern management techniques. Civilian support for
Taliban elements would fade as the people began to feel more secure and hopeful. The other woman who appeared on TV
today was raised in the US by Afghan emigre parents, and then returned soon after 9/11 to help rebuild the country of her
ancestry. She is running a business that supports and empowers Afghani women in Kandahar. She says that it is all well
and good to include the Taliban in various efforts at political solutions since all the other factions that contributed to the
destructive wars of the last 30 years in Afghanistan have been consulted by the US, and if you are going to talk to one
problematic group it is only fair and possibly necessary to put all of them, the Taliban included, under one tent together
while you conduct your negotiations. She also emphasizes that within Afghanistan, people don't always make clear
distinctions among the militant fundamentalists from other Muslim countries in the Middle East, the homegrown Taliban,
and the Taliban particularly trained and given sanctuary in Pakistan. She thinks it is absolutely key that Pakistan be
addressed in relation to its ongoing support of many Taliban, and that the moderates in the Taliban are somewhat irrelevant
because she sees them as ones who aren't actually fighting. She also concedes they might be a path to engaging the more
violent ones, and that ultimately the violent ones have to be engaged. She would agree with the first woman that daily
security and economic progress is of paramount concern for the ordinary Afghan who feels left out of the process at every
stage. She states that they see almost no results from the monetary aid sent by the Western powers to Afghanistan as it ends
up benefiting only those in the war lord dominated government and their supporters in the hinterland. I consider this all food
for thought as the US hopefully moves closer to political rather than military solutions. I would also hope that the largely
male dominated US diplomatic corps opens up to input from local Afghanis and especially to the voices of women who see
the reality on the ground very clearly. Last Sunday, in Kandahar itself and in honor of International Women's Day, hundreds
of conservative Muslim women gathered in public to uniformly pray for peace. Their message was: "War is Not the
Answer."
