Whatever Happened To Afghanistan?
Charles Krauthammer had an article in today's Washington Post reminding us of the near miraculous change in the political landscape of Afghanistan during the past three years. The American media has seemingly lost interest in this corner of the world. Why?
Perhaps journalists are attracted to where the highest American casualties are taking place...Iraq. Perhaps the hotels in Baghdad are nicer than in Kabul.
Perhaps photographs of a peaceful and pacified Afghanistan, the voluntary surrender of disspirited Taliban mujahadin, the ongoing creation of a federal system of government with legislation controlling the regulation of trade, finance, education, elections, economics, etc. simply do not provide a photo-op dramatic enough to be featured in the daily paper or the evening network news broadcast.
After all, the creation of electrical grids, power plants, sewage treatment systems and communications networks are, from a news standpoint, boring, boring, boring.
So it was that I was not surprised when the inauguration of newly-elected President Karzai this week was buried in a small three paragraph side-bar on page three of the Honolulu Advertiser.
As I have watched these events unfold I have gotten the feeling that Afghanistan was not "conquered" by the United States, at least not in the usual sense of the world. It would, instead, appear that the expulsion of the Taliban has released Afghanistan from its historic isolation from the world and provided the local chieftains and warlords an alternative to the internal, warring, provincial feudalism of the past. For the first time, the people have been able to taste and smell and touch and see the first fruits of freedom: Hope for peace and a more prosperous tomorrow.
Ironically, the historic isolation and "emptiness" of Afghanistan which, in the past, provided a haven for those intent on imposing terror and tyranny, has now become the cause of their swift destruction. With modern methods of surveillance and intelligence gathering there is literally no place to hide. The lack of urban population centers, such as are found in Iraq, allow for little or no opportunity for foreign fighters or remnants of the Taliban to blend in with the local population.
Even so, there are many of the former Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders and fighters lying in wait across the borders in Iran and Pakistan, waiting for a chance to reclaim the power that was once theirs. Political realities prohibit American or other coalition troops from crossing those borders for reasons of search or pursuit. Given this reality I do not expect to see Osama bin Laden or his ilk captured and brought to justice any time soon. More likely, in the next few years there will be a betrayal leading to an assassination or a pinpoint missile attack. The cat often must stand still for a long time before snatching its prey. In this case, America's intensely focused patience will sooner or later bring Osama to his inevitable destruction.
This week one of our church elders who has spent the past eight months in Afghanistan has come home for a two-week R & R. On Tuesday he arrived and met his three-month old son for the first time. I hope to have coffee with him and with several others who will be returning for brief visits over the next few weeks. From them I will get a view from the ground as to what the reality of the new Afghanistan is like.
The only Afghani I have ever met (a cab driver in Walnut Creek, California) was glad that the United States had kicked out the Taliban. His mother, sisters and brothers in Kabul were glad, too, he said. When things settled down he hoped to return for a visit and, if possible, bring the rest of his family back to the United States to join him, his wife and two children. When pressed he wasn't sure that they would actually want to leave if things improved.
If this man is any indication of what other Afghanis are thinking and feeling these days I should expect the situation there to continue to improve, step by step, until, by God's grace, a new and peaceful way of life can become the norm throughout the country.
Good news from a distant, dry and dreary land does not sell newspapers or generate advertising sponsorship for the evening news. But it is still "good" regardless of whether we hear about it or not.
I am glad that I know some of the men and women who have made this "good" thing possible. And I am glad that writers like Charles Krauthammer continue to make the effort to remind us of it every so often.
Perhaps journalists are attracted to where the highest American casualties are taking place...Iraq. Perhaps the hotels in Baghdad are nicer than in Kabul.
Perhaps photographs of a peaceful and pacified Afghanistan, the voluntary surrender of disspirited Taliban mujahadin, the ongoing creation of a federal system of government with legislation controlling the regulation of trade, finance, education, elections, economics, etc. simply do not provide a photo-op dramatic enough to be featured in the daily paper or the evening network news broadcast.
After all, the creation of electrical grids, power plants, sewage treatment systems and communications networks are, from a news standpoint, boring, boring, boring.
So it was that I was not surprised when the inauguration of newly-elected President Karzai this week was buried in a small three paragraph side-bar on page three of the Honolulu Advertiser.
As I have watched these events unfold I have gotten the feeling that Afghanistan was not "conquered" by the United States, at least not in the usual sense of the world. It would, instead, appear that the expulsion of the Taliban has released Afghanistan from its historic isolation from the world and provided the local chieftains and warlords an alternative to the internal, warring, provincial feudalism of the past. For the first time, the people have been able to taste and smell and touch and see the first fruits of freedom: Hope for peace and a more prosperous tomorrow.
Ironically, the historic isolation and "emptiness" of Afghanistan which, in the past, provided a haven for those intent on imposing terror and tyranny, has now become the cause of their swift destruction. With modern methods of surveillance and intelligence gathering there is literally no place to hide. The lack of urban population centers, such as are found in Iraq, allow for little or no opportunity for foreign fighters or remnants of the Taliban to blend in with the local population.
Even so, there are many of the former Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders and fighters lying in wait across the borders in Iran and Pakistan, waiting for a chance to reclaim the power that was once theirs. Political realities prohibit American or other coalition troops from crossing those borders for reasons of search or pursuit. Given this reality I do not expect to see Osama bin Laden or his ilk captured and brought to justice any time soon. More likely, in the next few years there will be a betrayal leading to an assassination or a pinpoint missile attack. The cat often must stand still for a long time before snatching its prey. In this case, America's intensely focused patience will sooner or later bring Osama to his inevitable destruction.
This week one of our church elders who has spent the past eight months in Afghanistan has come home for a two-week R & R. On Tuesday he arrived and met his three-month old son for the first time. I hope to have coffee with him and with several others who will be returning for brief visits over the next few weeks. From them I will get a view from the ground as to what the reality of the new Afghanistan is like.
The only Afghani I have ever met (a cab driver in Walnut Creek, California) was glad that the United States had kicked out the Taliban. His mother, sisters and brothers in Kabul were glad, too, he said. When things settled down he hoped to return for a visit and, if possible, bring the rest of his family back to the United States to join him, his wife and two children. When pressed he wasn't sure that they would actually want to leave if things improved.
If this man is any indication of what other Afghanis are thinking and feeling these days I should expect the situation there to continue to improve, step by step, until, by God's grace, a new and peaceful way of life can become the norm throughout the country.
Good news from a distant, dry and dreary land does not sell newspapers or generate advertising sponsorship for the evening news. But it is still "good" regardless of whether we hear about it or not.
I am glad that I know some of the men and women who have made this "good" thing possible. And I am glad that writers like Charles Krauthammer continue to make the effort to remind us of it every so often.
posted by Bird of Paradise at 11:26 PM
<< Home