Taming Afghanistan

US are planning to add 30000 soldiers to its force in Afghanistan. The objective is to seek to make it a governable state and not a launching ground of terrorism around the world by Al Qaida. At this time I will invite the incoming Obama administration’s attention to the fate of a British force of 16500 which was sent to effect a regime change in Afghanistan in 1942. It was decimated completely by Afghan guerillas and a lone survivor by the name of Dr Brydon limped back to report this. This shocked the British Empire where the sun never set in those days and it drew some conclusions.

•It was easy and straightforward to invade Afghanistan but it is absolutely impracticable to occupy the country or attempt to impose a government not welcomed by the inhabitants.
•The political and ideological needs of leaders must not supplant military judgments when incursions in other countries occur.
•The character and determination of its leaders can be decisive in determining the morale and success of a military expedition.

Both Bush and Blair flouted the above lessons and threw caution to winds. In their zeal to make use of the new technologies and weapon systems they sent both Afghanistan and Iraq to Stone Age The morass they created did not make the world any safer and bereft of Al Qaida and its followers.

In an article in the Time of December 22, 2008, Joe Klein calls Afghanistan war as aimless and rooted in absurdity. The reasons he advanced are:

•Our original objective of catching or eliminating Osama bin Laden has evaporated as he has moved to Pakistan.
•The Afghan war has become a war against narco-tribal guerilla forces. We mistakenly continue to call them Taliban.
•Pakistan is the new base and safe haven for “rag tag bands of opium fueled assorted religious extreamists, drug lords and Mullah Omar operate out of Quetta”

All this is true today but in 2009 we need not go on a rampage against Bush and Blair and their ideology based policies. On the other hand the destructive policies of last 10 years may have ushered in an age of non ideological and pragmatic policies. For the first time in history we have means to overcome the challenges faced by disastrous expeditions by British and Americans.

A wide ranging and prudent actions based on the understanding of the local cultures and designed to wean people away from habit of violence due to lack of work and poverty will make the southern Asia and Afghanistan safer for them and the rest of the world. These deliberate actions will not only squeeze terrorists all over the world but will also eradicate the scourge of poverty and eradicate disease for billions of human beings.

Military solutions and efforts to change old mores and build democratic institutions have miserably failed. None of this has caught on with completely uneducated and grossly poor populace. It is high time that we try new solutions to eradicate Al Qaida, Taliban, Maoists, Hamas and all of its kind.

US and NATO have messed up the situation so bad that if they continue to stay there, will only add to the misery of Afghans and the rest of the world. Their mission which was rooted in good intensions was doomed to failure from the get go. Obama administration should immediately move UN in collaboration of Russia, China, India and most of gulf countries to create a “Terror Eradication Force” of 50000 soldiers and begin the experiment in Afghanistan and then replicate it in other terror ridden and lawless places like Somalia, Congo and Sudan. The world will have to have such a force with sufficient teeth to do the job as soon as possible or continue to undergo the terror attacks like 9/11, Mumbai and on and on.

The developed world had become rich by exploitation of mineral wealth and unequal commerce with more than 3 billion people that live in Asia and Africa. It is their moral duty to help build an infrastructure which will assure their sustained development. If the developed continues to ignore and let them rot in absence of infrastructure, it is a sure recipe for terrorism and the likes of Al Qaida. And we could have more of lawless places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. We need highways and bridges and large industrial complexes employing millions of people. The employment and infrastructure in Afghanistan and other areas would demolish the haven for fundamentalists who prey on poor people of all nationalities. In Afghanistan, opium fuels terrorism, finances Taliban and Al Qaida as also feeds the local population. Without infrastructure and amelioration of poverty in South Asia, there is no hope for them and more cedes ground to terrorism for the world.

All western forces will need to get out of the area. The effort to rid the area of terrorism should be led by Russia, China, India, Iran and countries who know the people, terrain , culture and have had links with Afghanistan at one time or another. One of the countries which is remote and has lot of space like Mongolia, Saudi Arabia or a large island may be developed to be the training center for such a force.

And if the US in its ignorance continues to pin all the violence on Islamic Fundamentalists, we will be breathing life into many more Al Qaida’s and Taliban’s. It is economy stupid.