Pakistan: Failed and Cowardly

Flag of Taliban (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The attempted murder of a 14-year-old girl, Malala Yousafzai, by the Pakistani Taliban was initially met with wide-ranging disgust and calls for action against the Taliban by the press and government alike.

The Economist Reported:

“Most condemned the attack without condemning the Pakistani Taliban. A few went further. The army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, who had already taken a more aggressive stance against extremists in recent months, sounded ready for action. After visiting Malala in hospital in Pakistan, he said: “We refuse to bow before terror. We will fight, regardless of the cost. We will prevail.””

Yet, even this level of condemnation of the act is beginning to seem like a criticism too far. The previous half-hearted attempts by the Pakistani Military to chase the Taliban from Swat have resulted in their unseating as a local authority. Yet, they remain seemingly perpetual in their continual ability to intimidate, threaten, and kill those with whom they disagree or condemn.

This shooting will not result in some watershed moment that will finally provide the impetus for a rout of the Taliban from Pakistan. In fact, it would be a surprise if any thing happens at all. Here lies the failure of the Pakistani state. It’s inability to recognise the true nature of the burden of the Taliban and the fact that their failure of deal with them stains the Pakistani government with an un-removable tarnish. This is the mark of a failed state, the inability to control its dominion, enforce laws, and avoid becoming beholden to forces it cannot control. The Taliban are a creation or at the very least, a manifestation of the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency. Their support of the Afghani Taliban as an ally in their constant paranoid competition with India paid dividends before the Taliban began hosting Al Qaeda.

“On October 16th the main opposition party, led by a former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, opposed the government’s resolution, demanding proof that earlier military operations had not weakened the country rather than strengthened it. The PPP balked, and dropped its proposal. With an election due in the next few months, politicians of all stripes are cautious about advocating operations against extremists that could result in a violent blowback across Pakistan.” – The Economist

The proposal of course was one to take ‘practical measures’ to address the situation created by the shooting of Malala. Typically, it failed to pass the proposal stage. Hard-line Islamists of the Talibani ilk are smearing Malala’s name, claiming she’s an agent of the US, according to the Economist. Well, isn’t that charming.

While the US makes noises about Iran and its apparent desires toward achieving an atomic weapon, the true danger is Pakistan. Its broken government, nuclear arsenal, and inability to keep its house in order are evident of a coming storm. Eventually, either the corrupt government or the extremists will win. By standing by, the world is placing a sucker’s bet.

Kind regards,

Related articles

• Pakistani Girl Malala Shot By Taliban Able To Stand (eurasiareview.com)
• Taliban stifle media over Malala (edition.cnn.com)
• Will attack on a child at last prod Pakistan (triblive.com)
• You: Pakistani schoolgirl attacked by Taliban sent to UK for treatment (guardian.co.uk)
• German neo-Nazis, Pakistani Taliban complain about how unfair the world is (news.nationalpost.com)
• Exposed to Politics Too Early (pochp09.wordpress.com)

Death has a name

Afghanistan - Image via Wikipedia

In 2001, US bombers began the effort to remove state sponsorship of terrorism from the Afghani lexicon and to capture Osama Bin Laden. Both of these goals have been achieved. The former was resolved some time ago, and the latter was achieved when a SEAL team shot Bin Laden in Pakistan.

So, why are the US and NATO troops still there? Why haven’t they left yet? Why have they hung around to allow events to undermine any good works they may have achieved?

Bringing ‘democracy’ to Afghanistan is the key reason. Providing a nation with ‘Western style’ democracy is a long and drawn out affair. It’s tough slogging. This especially so when:

a)    The implementers of this nation building are conveniently distracted by a bigger war elsewhere; and,

b)   There is a reasonable possibility that the recipient of this largesse doesn’t really understand why they need this democracy ‘thing’ and whether it’s a good idea in the long run.

Let’s be honest, the West doesn’t understand Afghani Culture. Yes, there are a lot of Muslims there. Yet, that would suggest (as Westerners often behave), that a Muslim in one place is the same as a Muslim elsewhere. They aren’t, no more than Christians are. Culture matters. Take a trip from one end of England to the other and you’d be hard pressed to assert that the people you met were all from the same country. This is true of most nations.

But even these shortcomings aren’t really the issue. Eventually understanding will come on both sides and were the only issues associated with culture they would eventually be overcome.

There are other matters.

Coalition troops urinating on the bodies of dead Afghan Taliban is one. The spree killing of 16 Afghan civilians is another.

These are two of the most prominent of late – the Koran burning debacle is another. Why are these acts of casual disregard on the one hand and terrible violence on the other occurring? No one, I am confident, thought urinating on dead bodies or burning Korans would be a good idea, one that would promote acceptance of Western Democratic values. No one thought, nor wanted an experienced, well respected US soldier to walk into a village and murder families.  These were not policy objectives being achieved. They were a symptom of wider issues.

The ‘War on Terror’ has lasted too long.

Three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan were too much for Sergeant Robert Bales. Charitably people view the Sergeant as a man overtaxed and over-tasked. He broke under the pressure and committed an act counter to the very core of his being.

Were there signs? Did Bales commit acts of casual disregard on his way to the village? Did he grow into the state where he was able to abandon his humanity? Is this act and others a reflection of broader concerns?

It was recently asserted on CNN, by one of those ‘guests-who-know’, that the Koran burning was far more a grievous offense than the murder of 16 civilians. I don’t know about that. The speaker stated that the Koran would have a far greater mass reverence than 16 villagers most didn’t know. Perhaps this is so; perhaps this is a cultural difference. One thing is sure; the reverse is true in the US. Yes the US is a religious country, but it is a Christian Country. That one of their own might kill families, drag them into a room and burn their bodies, is easily a grievous offense – more than burning books.

The silly ‘Graveyard of Empires’ rhetoric has left the impression that Afghanistan is nation untamed and resistant to civilisation. This might be true if Afghanistan were a nation in the first place. It is a loose confederacy at best of tribal and ethnic alliances. Not so of those who have come to democratise this space on the map surrounded by Nations and Tribes.

Sergeant Bales has provided the clearest example of why trying to change culture and politics is not an Army’s job. The War in Afghanistan achieved its primary objective early and its secondary one only after the US President gave up ignoring the duplicity of Pakistan. Bales spree killing demonstrates that even the best intended, trained, and committed can falter under the unrelenting pressure of combat, the threat of violence, and occupation of an alien land.

Had eyes not turned to Iraq, had the Military actions in Afghanistan been quick and curtailed with rapidity, and had Afghanistan been permitted to restore its tribal structures and coaxed toward democracy rather than infused with a parachuted President and Government, perhaps Bales would never have lost his way. Perhaps he would have been at home with this family rather than wandering out in the night to kill the families of others.

Death has a name in Afghanistan: Time.

Kind Regards,