| | Ways forward in Afghanistan The Guardian
09/02/2008
By Zuhra Bahman
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Military intervention into Pakistan may succeed, but ridding Afghanistan of the Taliban requires strategic soft power
Ambassador Ludin's suggestion to extend the scope of the military intervention into Pakistan is at best a partial solution to a complex problem. The suggested offensive, if targeted well, would sever one of the lifelines of the Taliban, who are receiving strategic guidance, intelligence and the use of a safe corridor to access global funding and manpower through Pakistan. However, it fails to deal with a variety of other groups of Taliban within Afghanistan and the larger discontent and loss of confidence in the international presence and the Afghan government.
Therefore, any military offensive to eliminate the Taliban would be a failure unless accompanied by softer efforts aiming to create a strong and inclusive Afghan democracy and making the Taliban an ideologically unattractive alternative.
The level of confidence on the Afghan government and the international presence in the country has been steadily declining over last few years. The Afghan government needs to attempt to recreate that sense of optimism and trust that it enjoyed during the first few post-Taliban years.
In addition, the Afghan government must deal with the issue of the civilian causalities as a matter of priority. It must reach a concrete deal with the ISAF and the US forces on responsible and targeted air raids, while ensuring that an open and timed plan of bringing these anti Taliban offensives into the domain of the Afghan National Army (ANA) is in place. This would require true commitment from the international community as so far, despite absorbing the largest share of money going into Afghanistan, the Afghan army is not fully prepared or equipped for major combat.
Another bone of contention is the international presence itself in Afghanistan. The forthcoming American and Afghan elections would be a would be a good time to pause, reflect and plan next steps including reflection on what the aims of the west are in Afghanistan. No matter what the aim is, it needs to be timed: the US cannot stay on the Afghan soil forever looking for Osama bin Ladin and the country cannot be allowed to turn into a protectorate under the disguise of development. Agreeing a timed exit plan for the international community would be the biggest sign of the strength of the Afghan government and would restore a large proportion of trust into it.
The Afghan government has been complacent in not dealing with widespread corruption and the Afghan public have to resort to bribes to receive even the most basic services and goods – without them, the police won't undertake a cases and driving licences are not issued. Even what university you go to depends on how much money you can part with… The solution is not in raising public sector pay or slogans. The solution is in setting an example. The Afghan government must curb big corruption first. A no-tolerance policy and a number of big arrests would at least put across the message that the government does not condone corruption.
The country's government should also work towards opening up the democratic processes further. At the moment, all the elected members of the government are very Kabul-centric and some law makers cannot even travel to their constituencies due to insecurity. This undermines the strength of democracy and distances it from the rural Afghan majority. Extending democratic office so that the provincial governors are elected would be a good way of taking democracy to the doorsteps of those living outside Kabul. This would also make democracy accessible to the politically minded individuals who might otherwise be attracted by the Taliban.
If the government enjoyed the confidence of its people, it would have an upper hand in negotiating with moderate elements of the Taliban. This of course does not mean a power-sharing deal. However, it does mean some compromises for the Afghan government; for instance removing some non-controversial figures of the Taliban from wanted lists, allowing disarmed Taliban to join the democratic processes and providing an amnesty and alternative employment opportunities for disarmed foot soldiers. This has been going on for a while, but in a haphazard way, since the fall of the Taliban; it is now time to bring the issue into serious consideration.
A range of practical questions, of course, remain … is President Karzai the best person to lead such reforms? Is there a need for another loya jirga? And should the Afghan elections happen while people's confidence is so low? However, the fact remains the people, both of Afghanistan and Pakistan, are largely traditional and ill-educated, hence are open to manipulation. These people were ignored once in 1990s and Taliban rule came about; let's not repeat the mistake. The solution is complex and a combination of militarily targeting those that turn these people into militants, while creating alternative ideologies to attract these people away from militancy.
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