Sunday
Nov302008
The Story You May Have Missed: Afghanistan
Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 8:39
With all the attention to the unfolding events in Mumbai and, to a lesser extent, the manoeuvres in Iraq over the Status of Forces Agreement, here's a development that slipped by:
"Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticized the United States and NATO, demanding a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces."
Yep, withdrawal. What's more, this was not a call for withdrawal after military victory but for withdrawal after political negotiation, even with former and current enemies:
This war has gone on for seven years. The Afghans don't understand anymore how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue to launch attacks with 40 countries in Afghanistan, with entire NATO force in Afghanistan, with the entire international community behind them. Still we are not able to defeat the Taliban....
If there is no deadline, we have the right to find another solution for peace and security, which is negotiations.
The Afghan President has been pushing for talks with factions of the Taliban for months. Last month, there appeared to be some US recognition of his position, as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates indicated that there might be scope for engagement with "moderate" Taliban.
Then, however, the US headlines were taken over by President-elect Obama's posture that more forces were the way to go. Meanwhile, leading Taliban --- probably believing they could manoeuvre for an even better position --- pointedly rejected Karzai's suggestion. And democracy's clock is ticking: Karzai faces a Presidential election next year.
To my knowledge, only The Washington Post picked up Karzai's speech, made to a visiting UN Security Council delegation. The next day, headlines returned to violence --- 4 killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul --- and unwelcome progress --- "U.N. Reports That Taliban Is Stockpiling Opium".
With respect, folks better start paying attention. It's not Karzai who wants to erase, over a period of time, the US military footprint. Washington may disagree with his assessment, shared by some within the Pakistani Government, that "hard power" is not offering a solution. If President Obama shares that disagreement, however, he needs to recognise that he is proceeding in defiance of --- not with --- his purported ally in what remains of the 2001 "War on Terror".
"Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticized the United States and NATO, demanding a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces."
Yep, withdrawal. What's more, this was not a call for withdrawal after military victory but for withdrawal after political negotiation, even with former and current enemies:
This war has gone on for seven years. The Afghans don't understand anymore how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue to launch attacks with 40 countries in Afghanistan, with entire NATO force in Afghanistan, with the entire international community behind them. Still we are not able to defeat the Taliban....
If there is no deadline, we have the right to find another solution for peace and security, which is negotiations.
The Afghan President has been pushing for talks with factions of the Taliban for months. Last month, there appeared to be some US recognition of his position, as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates indicated that there might be scope for engagement with "moderate" Taliban.
Then, however, the US headlines were taken over by President-elect Obama's posture that more forces were the way to go. Meanwhile, leading Taliban --- probably believing they could manoeuvre for an even better position --- pointedly rejected Karzai's suggestion. And democracy's clock is ticking: Karzai faces a Presidential election next year.
To my knowledge, only The Washington Post picked up Karzai's speech, made to a visiting UN Security Council delegation. The next day, headlines returned to violence --- 4 killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul --- and unwelcome progress --- "U.N. Reports That Taliban Is Stockpiling Opium".
With respect, folks better start paying attention. It's not Karzai who wants to erase, over a period of time, the US military footprint. Washington may disagree with his assessment, shared by some within the Pakistani Government, that "hard power" is not offering a solution. If President Obama shares that disagreement, however, he needs to recognise that he is proceeding in defiance of --- not with --- his purported ally in what remains of the 2001 "War on Terror".
tagged Hamid Karzai, NATO, Taliban in Afghanistan
Hamid Karzai, NATO, Taliban in Afghanistan
Reader Comments (1)
One of the major problems here is that Karzai is increasingly unpopular amongst the Afghanistani's, this is compounded by his government's failure to decrease the level of corruption in it's ranks. To many of those people on the ground the last thing they want is for N.A.T.O to pull out, they may not openly disguss this wish, given that to do so would more than likely invite the Taliban to come and kill their entire family, but from my experience they realise that to have N.A.T.O. withdraw would merely invite the Talibs back.
Personally I have no problem whatsoever in holding negotiations with the moderate groups often branded as 'Taliban', however, what we in the west seem to fail to comprehend is the nature of the beast that we are fighting. We are not at war with the 'Taliban', we are fighting a large number of groups that have been branded the 'TALIBAN'; to negotiate with those who are in fact the leadership of whom are actually 'Talibs' is in my opinion to do nothing but to negotiate with hard-line terrorists - what next negotiations with all terrorist factions? There are those whom we can negotiate and who knows this may decrease the number of fighters opposing the aims of the international community in Afghanistan, but there are those that will not stop fighting until such time as their aims are achieved and that would be a return to the days of hard-line Talib rule.
We in the west and throughout the international community need to desperately take a step back and realise what is going on in Afghanistan. War is not going to solve the problems of the people of Afghanistan but it is through the co-operative use of military, diplomatic and non-military activities that the people of Afghanistan maybe free to live the way the want to live.
For my own part do not be suprised that, should free and democratic elections be held - [please note without the influence of any exterior groups, people of the intelligence communty and others I am looking at you] - that I should be very suprised if Mr Karzai is president of Afghanistan for long. Feel free to call me back in the future on this but be prepared to prove these elections were as democratic as those recently held in the U.S.!!!!