Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Our moral duty to Afghanistan
By Muqtedar Khan
Director of Islamic Studies, University of Delaware
On November 5, I had the privilege of testifying to the House Armed Services Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations. These hearings are part of the lengthy ongoing deliberations in Washington D.C. searching for a new direction in Afghanistan. The Hearing was chaired by Chairman Dr. Vic Snyder (D-Ark) and Ranking Member Rob Whitman (R-VA).
The panel was divided. Half the participants were pro-surge and advised the government to honor General Stanley McChrystal's request and send in additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and the other half did not believe that another surge would help. The pro-surge view was based on several assumptions that were in my opinion debatable. This view saw the possibility of Pakistan's nuclear weapons ending up in the hands of radical groups as the most pressing of U.S. national interests in the Afpak theater and they felt that this threat justified more intensive and extended U.S. presence in the region.
The pro-surge view did not see an exit from Afghanistan on the near horizon. They felt that the threat of the collapse of Pakistani state to the resurgent Taliban justified indefinite U.S. military commitment to Afghanistan. The advocates for sending more troops did not make operational distinctions between Pakistan and Afghanistan and between the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Taliban in Pakistan. It was a similar absence of nuance that got us into unnecessary wars in the first place.
They want the U.S. to stay in Afghanistan and build a state with an army and a police force that can achieve for the U.S. what NATO and the U.S. military have so far failed to do - secure Pakistan and Afghanistan, defeat Taliban in both countries, defeat or contain al-Qaeda and establish democracy. In principle these are laudable goals but unfortunately the American public does not have an appetite for a prolonged commitment to Afghanistan. President Obama is already talking of an exit strategy. What needs to be done there, we are no more inclined to do; and what we are doing is only making things worse.
My recommendation was to exit Afghanistan as soon as possible. The Taliban have never threatened the U.S. and they have neither the reach, nor the intention to attack us. The same is true of Taliban in Pakistan. Our enemy is al-Qaeda and we must focus our attention on al-Qaeda. As far as extremism and intolerance in the area is concerned, let those who suffer from it most fight it first. We should be willing to help those who strive for democracy and aspire for prosperity. But let them demonstrate their desire for freedom first before we rush to assist them. The current attitude of armies and populations in Afghanistan and Pakistan leave much to be desired. It is obvious that we want democracy for them more than they do.
U.S. and NATO military presence in Afghanistan constitutes a provocation that intensely agitates not only many Afghans and Pakistanis but also many Muslims elsewhere. Muslims in the area continue to view US intentions with suspicion and are very angry with the number of civilian casualties that are caused by U.S. and NATO operations. Scaling down US presence will help in refocusing the attention of the people of the region on their indigenous problems, away from US occupation, and perhaps motivate them to work towards stability.
There was a moment during the Hearing, when I was caught off guard by a very poignant question by Chairman of the committee Dr. Vic Snyder. "What is America's moral obligation in Afghanistan?" he asked. Honestly, I did not expect that question. After witnessing the Congress do very little for eight years as horrifying event after horrifying event unfolded; Abu Ghraib, torture, Guantanamo, renditions to just name a few; I didn't think morality had a cache on the hill. I salute Vic Snyder for not only raising the issue but for making it the central theme of his investigations.
America's moral obligations to Afghanistan date back to 1989, when we walked away leaving behind the world poorest and most underdeveloped nation to deal with the culture of war that we had fostered to win the cold war. America's moral obligation is to the families of each and every innocent civilian we accidentally kill. America's moral duty is to leave Afghanistan better than it was before it encountered us.
But unfortunately, morality like imperialism is a commodity that America can no longer afford in Afghanistan.
Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a Fellow of the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding.
By Muqtedar Khan |
November 18, 2009; 4:11 PM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: Evolution of the supernatural |
Next: Should Hasan be court-martialed?
Posted by: abhab1 | November 19, 2009 11:55 AM
Report Offensive Comment
There's nothing moral about this war of vengeance. The Afghans would spit on the graves of the dead American soldiers if they had the chance~! You're spending $40 billion a year in Afghanistan. Save that money to provide health care to your sick. You're not helping Pakistan. There can be no peace in Pakistan as long as US stays in Afghanistan~!
Posted by: yasseryousufi | November 19, 2009 11:33 AM
Report Offensive Comment
NO NATION HAS CHANGE AFGHANISTAN IN IT'S HISTORY. RUSSIA LEFT AFTER NINE YEARS. BUSH JR. AFGHANISTAN CRUSADE WAS WRONG FROM DAY ONE AND WILL FAIL AS WELL AS HIS IRAQ CRUSADE. PRESIDENT OBAMA SHOULD JUST END THESE WORTHLESS BUSH JR. CRUSADES. WHAT ARE THE TROOPS DYING FOR? IS AMERICA IN IT'S ECONMIC SUNSET THANKS TO BUSH JR.?
Posted by: usapdx | November 19, 2009 11:32 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Unfortunately, Afghanistan harbors terrorists and these crazies must be removed before they attack the USA or our freedom loving friends.
Our War On Terror and Aggression
An update (or how we are spending or how we have spent the USA taxpayers’ money to eliminate global terror and aggression)
The terror and aggression via a Partial and Recent Body Count
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops, 3,469 killed action and 871 non-combat and 93,040 – 101,537 Iraqi civilians killed, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
10) Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan: US troops killed in action 562, 176 killed in non-combat situations as of 9/02/09
11) Thirteen USA citizen soldiers killed by an Islamic nut-job posing as a psychiatrist.
continued below:
Posted by: CCNL | November 19, 2009 12:28 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Other elements of our War on Terror and Aggression:
- Saddam, his sons and major henchmen have been deleted. Saddam's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes.
- Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
- Libya has become almost civil. Recently Libya agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the victims of their terrorist activities Apparently this new reality from an Islamic country has upset OBL and his “crazies” as they have threatened Libya. OBL sure is a disgrace to the world especially the Moslem world!!! Or is he???
- North Korea is still uncivil but is contained. With the opening up of rail traffic between North and South Korea after 50 years and with the assistance of the US Navy in retrieving NK ships and personnel hopefully a fresh sense of civility is afoot.
- North Korea was taken off the terrorist country list recently.
- Northern Ireland is finally at peace.
- The Jews and Palestinians are being separated by walls. Hopefully the walls will follow the 1948 UN accords. Unfortunately the Annapolis Peace Conference was not successful. Unfortunately the recent events in Gaza has put this situation back to “square one”. And this significant stupidity is driven by the mythical foundations of both religions!!!
- Bin Laden has been cornered under a rock in Western Pakistan since 9/11.
- Fanatical Islam has basically been contained to the Middle East but a wall between India and Pakistan would be a plus for world peace. Ditto for a wall between Afghanhistan and Pakistan.
- Timothy McVeigh was executed. Terry Nichols will follow soon.
- Eric Rudolph is spending three life terms in prison with no parole.
- Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK were all dealt with and either eliminated themselves or are being punished.
- Islamic Sudan, Darfur and Somalia are still terror hot spots.
- The terror and torture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Radovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war -- charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
- And of course the bloody terror brought about the Japanese, Nazis and Communists was with great difficulty eliminated by the good guys.
Posted by: CCNL | November 19, 2009 12:22 AM
Report Offensive Comment
test
Posted by: CCNL | November 19, 2009 12:17 AM
Report Offensive Comment
The comments to this entry are closed.
What galls me and many others is when we know how really bad it is in Muslim majority societies and especially in Afghanistan, and see them risk life and limb to escape their hellholes and reach the shores of the West. They do not seek refuge in any of the 57 so-called Muslim states, because for one thing those states would not accept them.They have more than enough of their kind. The amazing thing is that the instant they get through they march as if they own the place and begins in their own self righteous supremacist attitude try to subvert its institutions by violence and deception. They find fault in every aspect of Western life and agitate to replace the laws of the civilized nations with the primitive laws that got them to where they are in the first place. This is a measure of the extent of their delusions.