Let’s invade a former ally and force western ideals onto their people, a heterogeneous population that already celebrates its own beautiful cultures and has a vibrant history that has more plot turns and twists than a daytime soap opera. Let’s throw billions and billions of dollars everyday into funding this invasion and destroy the lives of our soldiers and of innocent civilians. And just to put the icing on the cake, why not leave millions of people in our own countries behind, making further cuts to their already limited access to the right to a good education and a sense of human dignity, simply so that we can fund our invasion onto another land full of people who are growing spiteful of all things western. I think it sounds like a fantastic idea. Oh wait. That’s horrible. And it’s already happening in this ongoing “War on Terrorism” in Afghanistan.
Believe it or not, America and the "terrorists" once worked and fought together. It’s so interesting to see how allies can become bitter opponents over the course of 30 years. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, America saw the devoutly Islamic Middle Easterners and Central Asians as an ally against the spread of the atheistic communists of Eurasia. But America also hoped to use these pious people to wreak revenge on the USSR for being the victors of the disastrous Vietnam War. Thus the Americans delivered weapons to university-age men that hoped to fight against the communists in Afghanistan. These men soon became known as the Taleban (from the Arabic word “طالب”, meaning student), and were lauded by the American government for standing up against the communists. When the USSR did eventually withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989, the Taleban and the capitalist world rejoiced in their victory. Yet the Americans quickly left Afghanistan as soon as their mission to curb the growth of communism was done, leaving thousands of young men in Central Asia unemployed and with a surplus of military arms. Their frustration with a lack of a “life purpose” soon turned to rage as they watched the United States, the very same nation that helped them defeat the communists, wage war on the holy Islamic land of Saudi Arabia during the Gulf Coast War and constantly exploit the Middle East in its quest for more petrol during the 1990’s. And thus, these men quickly polished their weapons and used these American arms to call jihad (جحاد), or holy war, on the United States and Europe, bombing the Underground in London and destroying the World Trade Centers in New York City in the first decade of the 21st century.
Now I admit that it would initially make sense to call for war on the Taleban. After all, they are killing thousands of innocent civilians and ruining a countless number of lives across the world, as we have seen not just in Afghanistan but also in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. They abused women and limited the rights of all people. But sending troops to Afghanistan may actually hurt the peace process that is fighting vigorously to be established. If a war causes mayhem and destruction, how can a “war on terrorism” (which is quite paradoxical in my honest opinion) bring peace and justice? War IS terrorism; it destroys and ruins lives. As we have seen throughout the course of history, war is the result of war. The Great War paved the way for World War II; World War II became the Cold War. And troops from the UK and the US who are supposed to liberate the Afghanis and end terrorism have ended up playing a similar role to that of the Taleban, disrupting the lifestyles of millions of innocent civilians in Afghanistan. So how is disrupting the lives of people going to help them? Their liberators have become their new oppressors. And these innocent civilians are growing restless under American and British control; why are these “Christian” foreigners in Islamic territory?
Perhaps the best way to solve the crisis of terrorism and the Taleban would be for NATO to encourage education and job opportunities for the Afghanis. As a Berkeley student, I will admit that I will always be biased toward education and social empowerment. But it’s true; research has consistently shown that people with employment and education lead more fulfilling lives and feel a stronger sense of purpose. Had these young men in Afghanistan been offered a livelihood in the 1980’s, perhaps they would have been too busy working and contributing to their society to bother to fight the interfering Western World in the first place. For it is only through education and job opportunities that unemployment and anger (which can result in war and carnage) can evolve into social justice and harmony.
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For more information, see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7546355.stm
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