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Ray · 09-12-2007, 14:29 PM

Quote:

Nowhere is safe now

The quietest voice in the Afghanistan debate is that of the Afghans themselves. Here, a friend shares his views on the conflict in his homeland.

September 11, 2007 8:00 PM | Printable version

The quietest voice in the debate about Afghanistan seems to be that of the Afghans themselves. Journalists often quote western political and military leaders in support of their views about how well or badly things are going, but I rarely read about the views of those whose lives and futures are more directly at stake.

The following account comes from an old friend who I met at last week. I have not seen him for three years, but we worked closely together when I lived in Afghanistan. I do not necessarily agree with all of the views that he expressed, but I think that his perspective is important. For fairly obvious reasons, he has to remain anonymous.

"Things are getting worse," he told me. "The insurgents now control half the country and without western support President Karzai's government would collapse. In many areas even where the Afghan National Army and coalition troops patrol during the day, the Taliban patrol at night. They visit the mosques and the village elders and tell them that they are the only effective force and that if people have problems they should come to them.

"In some places where crime has become a particular problem the Taliban have begun to impose order again. Where the authorities were unable to deal with problems the Taliban have tracked down thieves and executed them. They leave the corpses on display to warn the others. People feel safe again and this has boosted their support. Now they are even active in Kabul province. Just a couple of weeks ago they killed the father of a UN staff member, even though the village elders pleaded for his life. Nowhere is safe now. There are dozens of suicide bombings every week.

"Everyone talks about the Taliban, but the insurgency is bigger than that. In many places it is Hezbi Islami (led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar) that is leading things. They have a broader base of support than the Taliban, both geographically and ethnically, and that is why attacks are taking place in the north and the west. The other political factions are also treating Hekmatyar as a potential ally for the future. He is covered by the amnesty law that the parliament is supporting and which would shield the country's war lords for the crimes that they have committed.

"Jamiat-e-Islami, which used to back government are now the opposition. They were the dominant force in the Northern Alliance, which toppled the Taliban, and President Karzai is taking a great risk in alienating them. At the same time their former fighters are involved in much of the crime that is taking place including the kidnapping of international aid workers. The problem is that Karzai does not have an independent base of support and his own tribal areas are now controlled by the Taliban.

"Iran may be providing some support to the insurgency, just to keep the west busy and delay any attack on them, but it is Pakistan that is in control. The Pakistan secret service could shut the Taliban down tomorrow. They know where all their leaders are and they provide them with all the support necessary to keep going. They have even killed Taliban commanders who try to operate independently. They want to keep Afghanistan weak because we have a border dispute with them. They created the Taliban as a means of dominating Afghanistan and they are still in control of it.

"There is not an alternative to talking. That is the way politics works here. Karzai needs to bring the opposition groups into the government and that will have to include the Taliban and Hekmatyar. At the moment it is they who are refusing to come. Four years ago, things could have been different, but we did not get the support that we were promised by the west. I am not optimistic about the future. I think that things could get an awful lot worse."

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This is our Afghanistan!

Any chance of success?

If so, how?