View from Afghanistan

[kees]

This short brief by Tamim Ansary that I came across is a viewpoint I havent heard yet, which may shed some more light on the ongoing situation...

/Kees

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Brief on Afghan situation by Tamim Ansary, Afghani-American writer:

"I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on KGO Talk Radio today, allowed that this would mean killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with this atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to accept collateral damage. What else can we do?" Minutes later I heard some TV pundit discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be done."

And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.

I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New York. I agree that something must be done about those monsters.

But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country.

Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering.

A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of widows. And the Taliban has been burying these widows alive in mass graves. The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets. These are a few of the reasons why the Afghan people have not overthrown the Taliban.

We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and health care? Too late. Someone already did all that.

New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they at least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around. They'd slip away and hide. Maybe the bombs would get some of those disabled orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would only be making common cause with the Taliban--by raping once again the people they've been raping all this time

So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go in there with ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to kill as many as needed. Having the belly to overcome any moral qualms about killing innocent people.

Let's pull our heads out of the sand. What's actually on the table is Americans dying. And not just because some Americans would die fighting their way through Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout. It's much bigger than that folks. Because to get any troops to Afghanistan, we'd have to go through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations just stand by? You see where I'm going. We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the West.

And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants. That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right there. He really believes Islam would beat the west. It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers.

If the west wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of view. He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would die, not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does. Anyone else?"

[Andy G]

We are living in scary times,
All I know is that at this present time in my life, I don't fancy the idea of swapping my M3 for an armoured car, and leaving my family behind.
I can see a big war just around the corner, it appears to be unavoidable, time for talking is over, as this seams to resolve nothing.
If the Taliban shelter them, do you take them out, set up a democratic government, or attempt to get the country on it's feet.
I cannot see an answer, They are extremely 'extreme'.
Time will tell.

[Dallas Spikes]

Tamim,

Thanks so much for your perspective! That's exactly what I have been telling my friends the last few days. This will not be a simple, clean war and there are enormous considerations to take into account. I think Pakistan's official government will cooperate, but that does not mean the people or most of the military would also go along. Constant guerilla warfare just to maintain your launching bases gets very messy for both sides. I could go on and on, but you outlined them very well.

I have some questions for you regarding Afganistan. I understand Bin Laden to be a folk hero among the people there since he was very important in expelling the Soviets. (Perhaps Americans could equate him with our own George Washington on this issue.) My feeling is that the peasants would be very anti-American or any other force that would come in there to find Bin Laden and his group. Am I correct there? Secondly, most peasants in Afganistan are starving or nearly starving. Would some sort of food aid along with a military force help deflect and diffuse some of the hatred that Bin Laden is trying to stir up towards us? Bottom line, is there any way a western power could get in there and make the peasants believe we are on their side?

Overall, I am worried Americans are being short sighted about how easy this whole thing can spiral out of control and end up in disaster for all of humanity. If the answer were to "simply" invade one or two countries and bomb the living hell out of them that would be easy. We have to realize that the modern world is all interconnected and all actions have consequences. On the flip side, we cannot be so consumed with reprocussions that we don't act. No easy answers!

Chris

[Andy G]

Reports in the news over here state that it will be a long drawn out affair, involving thousands of ground troops.
And the concern is that the conflict that the US troops are about to enter into, is somewhat alien to them. i.e type of terrain, style of warfare etc. (to what degree I am unsure, I'll watch again tonight and try and remember) so losses will be high.

[kees]

Chris,

My apologies for maybe not making that more apparant, but I actually came across the original article by Tamim Ansary and posted it verbatum, with only a line at the top to show my opinion. I will rectify this asap.

Regrettably, I don't know much more about the situation in Afghanistan than anyone else in the Western world, which doesnt seem much.

/Kees

[Rahim]

Great post and very insightful perspectives. I agree with Tamim completely, this will be an extremely difficult process. Tamim, you should send your post to radio stations, news stations, public forums, etc... Your view is unique and will be much appreciated among the Islamic community.

Rahim

[kees]

Rahim,

Again, my apologies as well for the confusion. This story, written by Tamim, was something I came across over the last hours and found it so well written that I posted it here.

I think it would be a good idea to forward this story to more people.

/Kees

[Dallas Spikes]

Kees,

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I just read the meat of the post too quickly.

Interestingly, I had already sent the article on to several people before your suggestion. I agree.

Chris