A bit of context

[glenatron]

Reading this article on Afghan history and the ones that follow it made me very aware of how little I know about the roots of the current situation in Afghanistan and how deep our involvement with it goes. I mean sure, everyone knows about the retreat from Kabul and how the powers of the west provided weapons and training to the noble Mujahideen who later opened the door for the evil Taliban, we all know about that big picture stuff. But there is so much else there and until reading those articles I had not only not known any of it, I hadn't even thought to ask the questions that might have lead me to find out. Well worth reading.

Comments

[makoiyi.livejournal.com]

I was listening to a radio prog yesterday about why Canada, and my son, is there. The whole point, this time, was to get rid of Al Queada and they've done that. Everything else is to support the president into a more democratic way. Now they are stuck, supporting someone whose own people are deserting in droves. The Afghan National army desert from the south where it's dangerous and rejoin in the north and the country is so disorganised it doesn't even notice or ignores it. No army which has gone to Afghanistan has ever been 'defeated' because the locals never stand still long enough for a battle. Whether it's the Taliban or the Mujahideen, no one 'stands' to fight and the west can't seem to get that. Alexander wasn't 'defeated', he went home. The Russians and Brits weren't 'defeated', they went home with snipers trailing their behinds.

It hasn't changed. The majority of Afghans, or so it seems, do want help. They aren't any safer from the Taliban, and they are the ones who get hurt from situations the Taliban (mainly) have created. They have no choice in hiding Taliban in their villages. Not a lot of choice in growing poppies - it's their only income.

But it's a totally different world without the communication we so rely on in the west. How would they know whom to trust and who not? The place, which was once many years ago at the peek of civilisation, is one of the poorest places anywhere. Kandahar was once a thriving city, until the Russians salted their orchards. Now it's a place of mudhouses and it stinks with sewage running in the streets.

In some ways I agree with folk who say, let them get on with it and sort it out themselves, in others I don't. The Taliban never wanted Al Queada there, they are a different doctrine. They tolerated them but didn't want them there. I feel for the country, I really do. Landlocked as it is it's always been a route from one place to another and more strangers ahve tried to take it than you realise. I think I'd be pretty fed up with it too.

I don't know the answer. The ISAF try and bless them for doing so but I wonder if they truly know what they are doing there anymore than we do.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Well Kabul was pretty easy to take, but the mistake - as I understand it - that a lot of people made was to assume that taking Kabul was winning the war, and of course it wasn't. Where a lot of British troops are in Helmand the news here talks about an insurrection, but as I understand it that part of the country was never really under allied control, the war just continues there.

What I found fascinating about the article I linked above was how much involvement America had in that part of the country back in the fifties and sixties- getting Afghanistan on side was a big part of their cold war policy of keeping asia out of communist hands but it seems like we have collective amnesia about the whole period. I certainly had no idea.

[makoiyi.livejournal.com]

You'd be surprised, or perhaps not, being well read :) how many folk have wanted Afghanistan. It's actually a pretty amazing place, but it's gone to rack and ruin. Even stuff like shooting the native dogs. You can't find an Afghan hound in Afghanistan. That's not a religious or cultural thing, but it shows, to me, the degeneration of a nation.

The thing that got me the most was when a Canadian soldier was hit in the head with an axe. He'd gone to a village meeting and politely taken off his helmet. He was attacked with an axe and will never be the same. He simply -yes, simply - wanted to talk. That hurt. Because he was there trying to help, trying to communicate, but it said lots.


Take a picture from the parliament where a woman dared to speak up. The men's faces were thunderous, no other word for it. She *dared* to speak. That's what our troops are there for, but we can't seem to get through.