Repairing Afghanistan and Combatting Terrorism

Repairing Afghanistan and Combatting Terrorism

by

Wahab Raofi

 

 

On March 27, 2009, in a speech entitled “A New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” American President Barack Obama said, "we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future." However, six years later, Afghanistan is on the verge of unraveling. The US is withdrawing its remaining troops, the Afghani government is weak from constant Taliban and extremist attacks, unable to spread its wings beyond the capital - Kabul, and unable to protect its citizens. In addition, the economy is in complete decline. As a result of this instability, thousands are attempting to flee the country or join either the Taliban or Daesh.

 

Can Afghanistan be saved?

 

1. Constructing a coherent strategy. US policies toward Afghanistan have been ambiguous and have vacillated from counter insurgency (winning hearts and minds) to counter terrorism  (capturing and killing) and finally replaced by Obama’s call for a Responsible Ending of the War, a euphemism for cutting and running. All these policies have proven to be disingenuous failures. The US has relied on its military power for the past 13 years. This reliance should be amended but not abandoned.

 

Afghans joked that the Russians left a few legacies, namely, the salang tunnel that connects the north to the south, the Silo bakery factory, and the macroyans residential apartments, while the US left the empty containers of civilian contractors for housing their employees.

 

The training and equipping of Afghani security forces should be a major component of this new strategy. The US and NATO should continue to provide air support and conduct night raids on suspected insurgents.

 

2. Applying international pressure and economic sanction on Pakistan. Afghanistan has always accused Pakistan for the Taliban. Unfortunately, Pakistan is following a destructive policy of deception. Pakistan collects American dollars for allegedly fighting terrorism, but in reality allows the notorious Haqani network of Afghani Taliban to conduct operations against Afghani and US security forces. On the day he transferred power to the newly elected president, Hamid Karzai said lamentingly that peace will not be achieved in his country unless Pakistan ceases to support the Taliban.

 

Without a firm international stand, Pakistan will continue to harbor terrorism, using it as an element of pressure and distortion.

 

3. Afghans should do their part by putting their own house in order. Afghanistan should reform its archaic political structure, its lack of stable institutions, and its concentration of power in Kabul and in one man, the president.

 

Afghanistan should enact strong anti-terrorism laws. Afghani leaders have been very lenient toward the Taliban. Not one convicted Taliban member has been publically tried in a court of law and some of the most dangerous ones captured by the US were released from prison. Former President Hamid Karzai even pardoned many Taliban members and demanded that the US refrain from using heavy weapons and night raids to fight the Taliban.

 

After liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban regime in 2001, the U.S. helped Afghanistan draft a democratic constitution, but failed to address the country’s post-civil war aftermath and complexities arising from the same.

 

Based on this new constitution, the president received tremendous power, depriving provinces from making independent decisions about local affairs. In its semi-feudal and multi-ethnic tribal territories, therefore, Afghanistan needs a multi-tiered structure to meet the exigencies of its newly emerging political environment.

 

Afghans must look inward to examine the root cause of their endless wars. One solution would be to give more autonomy to the provinces. The ethnic structure of the land (Pashtuns in the east and the south, Tajik in the north, and Hazara in the center) renders Afghanistan a good candidate for a federation of loosely connected, independent states with a single defense and foreign policy.

 

Fighting international terrorism should not be left to Afghanistan alone as the country has already suffered for so long. The world has a responsibility to fight this new terrorist phenomenon together before it takes hold in Afghanistan and ultimately destabilizes the free world. It is not too late.

 

It is time for us to fashion and implement a solid strategy if we are to repair Afghanistan and combat terrorism.