After September 11th much of the world's attention was focussed on Afghanistan, a poor country that has experienced more than 23 years of instability and brutal warfare that has cost as many as two million lives. The progress that was made during the previous years of relative stability, from 1945 to 1978, was largely undone. Now many Afghanis are hoping for a lasting peace and a chance to rebuild their country. Is it possible that the 45 days of intensified military activity that led to the collapse of the Taliban will produce a lasting peace? This may be the best opportunity that Afghanistan has had for 25 years to achieve peace. Afghanistan now has the support of the United Nations and the world?s nations in its endeavour to achieve stability and good government. They also deserve the support of the people of the world and their various non-government organisations.
There have been false promises in the past. The departure of the Soviets in 1989 did not bring peace, nor did the fall of the Najibullah Government in 1992. The dubious coalition of Islamic fundamentalists that took over gave a short respite from war but they did not bring good government and soon factional and largely ethnic infighting developed bringing more war, destruction, and death. The Taliban invasion in 1994 promised peace and achieved it in the areas they controlled but their promise of good government with peace was to prove an illusion. By 1996, when they established their own government, they were shown to be no more than a war machine that hoped eventually to spread their Islamic government to the rest of the world.
Afghanistan needs support to form a functional democracy that has the support and confidence of the majority of the population. To achieve this end we must hope that the countries and people of the world will give them positive support and refrain from activities that will undermine this aim.
With its borders set by great powers and divided by mountains and deserts that have helped shape its ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity, the people of Afghanistan have been united only by their religion and a stubborn adherence to their Afghan nationality and independence. Factions, ideologies, and religious conservatism and fundamentalism have beset past attempts at democracy. Even with the support of the United Nations the path toward good government may still prove difficult. Few Islamic countries have achieved it. Islamic fundamentalism is a major hurdle and few Islamic countries have successfully passed this obstacle.
Let us support the coming together of the people of Afghanistan and those who seek peace and good government. With this in mind it is disappointing to see that there are some who would undermine or belittle the progress that has been made; some who would revive old enmities or the ideologies that caused the problems of the past; and some who seek to give a non-factual impression of the past in an attempt to achieve their own objectives.
We also need to be aware that most of the Taliban are still free and that there are many people in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are sympathetic to their cause. The madrassas of Pakistan are still educating Taliban and many other countries from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh have madrassas that are educating similar people. We may well see another Taliban eruption in the future. We also need to be aware that while the Al Qaeda network has lost its safe haven in Afghanistan it still exists and will still seek to train terrorists and spread Islam to the world at the point of a gun. IBM r
Originally published in New Zealand Humanist 152, December 2001