Afghanistan, the forgotten project

The United States has used air strikes to bomb suspected hideouts and gathering locations of the Taliban and al Qaeda.  They have been useful in destroying congregations of the enemy without risking casualties, but they have also been a cause for worry as either faulty intelligence or collateral damage can result in the deaths of innocent civilians.  The deaths of these bystanders have caused negative repercussions by turning the local population against the United States and NATO, enabling the Taliban and al Qaeda to gain more support and even recruits in their resistance.

The grieving relatives of these victims are easy targets for these extremist groups to enlist, as there is a code of vengeance in the Pashtun culture.  They will be manipulated by the extremists into believing that their cause is better for Afghanistan.  Thus, there will be more people eager to cause damage and hinder the development of the country.  Even if they do not openly join the extremist cause, their discontent can manifest itself in aiding and protecting al Qaeda and the Taliban or as simple as refusing to cooperate with reconstruction efforts funded by the West.

Air strikes are not the only matter straining relations between the U.S. and the Afghan populace.  Afghan Muslims have staged protests over the false rumors of the desecration of Qurans at Guantanamo Bay and the suspected mistreatment of prisoners in U.S. facilities in the country.  Demonstrators had burned effigies of President Bush and several people had been arrested.  Karzai has condemned these protests, which have often escalated to riots, remarking that “those people demonstrating are against the strategic partnership of Afghanistan with the international community, especially the United States.”^[l]  There is also worry that the insurgents would seize advantage of the situation and bring more people over to their side.

Islam remains extremely prevalent in Afghanistan and despite the ouster of the Taliban regime, there are still hard-line religious elements in the country.  These clerics and their supporters remain deeply suspicious of any perceived intrusion into their sphere.  That fear has exhibited itself in several ways over the last five years and has lead to concerns that Muslim extremism is spreading even among the non-insurgent population.

Earlier this month, 2,000 South Koreans have announced they would leave Afghanistan after hundreds of Muslim clerics rallied demanding their departure.  The clerics accused the visiting South Koreans of attempting to spread Christianity.  The Korean delegation insisted they were in Afghanistan for a “peace festival and educational and entertainment programs.”^[li]  The South Koreans have been isolated as a protection measure as arrangements are being made for them to leave the country.

In a case that made headlines throughout the world, a man named Abdul Rahman faced execution for converting from Islam to Christianity in March.  Religious leaders had wanted the man to die for his conversion stating that “if you leave Islam, our law says you must be killed.”^[lii]  This crisis placed Afghanistan’s Western backers into a quandary of whether to intervene and risk undermining the trust of locals who believed that they were there to assist, not to rule, or stand aside and watch helplessly while one of the tenets of a free society: the right to choose a religion, was being violated.  In a last minute escape, prosecutors judged the man mentally incompetent to stand trial, avoiding local anger over Western interference in the case and flown to Italy.  The right to worship freely has not been the only liberty in jeopardy.

Human rights groups are expressing concern about the backtracking of civil liberties under the Karzai administration.  Several members of Parliament walked out in protest in August when an independent television station filmed some of the MPs sleeping during the debates.  Legislators had already been incensed over protests of a warlord who now sits in Parliament, Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf.  These harsh feelings against the media, which has resulted in attacks on reporters and cameramen have driven the group Reporters Without Borders to send a letter to President Karzai asking him to “firmly condemn these attacks and to take all necessary measures to protect journalists and their news organizations.”^[liii]