Talk of pullout draws scorn from Afghans
'If they leave, we all know the Taliban will come back'
Matthew Fisher
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
KABUL - For residents of the bustling Afghan capital, the prospective departure of Canada's soldiers by February 2009 produces mostly quizzical looks. It seems inconceivable that NATO's International Security Assistance Force would withdraw its troops, leaving these war-weary people to the mercy of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Even the more benign alternative to a complete withdrawal -- training Afghan soldiers and police to look after security while western nations focus on humanitarian and development work -- is, at best, undesirable.
"What is the point of sending your army to Afghanistan if it isn't going to fight?" demands Muhammad Noor Sahak, director of the OMAR war museum and a graduate student in Pushtun literature.
"Given Afghanistan's famous warrior culture, most Afghans like ISAF, but they will only continue liking ISAF if they think it is making their lives more secure. And the only way to do that is to fight. If ISAF fails, the Russians, who don't want NATO here, could interfere. So will Iran. Pakistan is already interfering."
For Afghans, an equally pressing question is whether the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai will accept a Taliban offer to begin peace talks. The answer is an overwhelming yes, although not if it means accepting the Taliban's condition that ISAF's 36,000 troops must leave the country first. Mr. Karzai has already flatly rejected that proposal.
"I don't like ISAF. I love them. They are good people," Balyaly, a 22-year-old carpet salesman, said.
Using a variety of obscene hand gestures, Balyaly, who, like many Afghans, uses only one name, denounces the Taliban as "very dirty." He seemed genuinely shocked that Canada is considering withdrawing its 2,500 troops from the volatile south of Afghanistan and that the Netherlands is contemplating a similar pullout.
Mukhtar Subur, 19, who, like many young Afghans, does not have a job, was also adamant that the NATO forces must remain and continue to fight.
"Our whole country profits from the gifts of ISAF," Mr. Subur says. "If they leave, we all know the Taliban will come back and the Afghan people will have trouble again."
Hamid Fahim, who collects ancient Enfield rifles used by the mujahedeen in their holy war against the Red Army during the 1980s, observes that Afghanistan has been in a state of perpetual war for nearly three decades. By contrast, the Canadians, who first fought on the front lines in Kandahar in 2002, are relative newcomers. Seventy Canadian soldiers have died here -- about the number of Afghans who die fighting on many days.
"They are not like the Russians who tried to take our whole country," Mr. Fahim said. "ISAF comes to fight beside us, not against us. It is much better for us if they stay."
Flush with aid money and cash from this year's bumper crop of illegal opium, Kabul appears far more prosperous and liberal than it was. Every day, more and more women shed the all-encompassing burqa and show their faces, something that always led to a beating when the Taliban ruled the capital.
But Kabul's confidence has been shaken by recent suicide bombings and a spate of kidnappings of businessmen. The government and ISAF seem unable to do anything about it.
Again and again, Afghans mentioned that many ISAF countries, such as Germany and Italy, have seemed more concerned with protecting themselves than sending out troops to attack the Taliban.
"If all the money being spent by those ISAF countries that don't fight here was spent on us, we would already have a bigger and better army," Sahak says as he shows a visitor around his museum. "We would also have better schools and more doctors and nurses and engineers."
'If they leave, we all know the Taliban will come back'
Matthew Fisher
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
KABUL - For residents of the bustling Afghan capital, the prospective departure of Canada's soldiers by February 2009 produces mostly quizzical looks. It seems inconceivable that NATO's International Security Assistance Force would withdraw its troops, leaving these war-weary people to the mercy of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Even the more benign alternative to a complete withdrawal -- training Afghan soldiers and police to look after security while western nations focus on humanitarian and development work -- is, at best, undesirable.
"What is the point of sending your army to Afghanistan if it isn't going to fight?" demands Muhammad Noor Sahak, director of the OMAR war museum and a graduate student in Pushtun literature.
"Given Afghanistan's famous warrior culture, most Afghans like ISAF, but they will only continue liking ISAF if they think it is making their lives more secure. And the only way to do that is to fight. If ISAF fails, the Russians, who don't want NATO here, could interfere. So will Iran. Pakistan is already interfering."
For Afghans, an equally pressing question is whether the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai will accept a Taliban offer to begin peace talks. The answer is an overwhelming yes, although not if it means accepting the Taliban's condition that ISAF's 36,000 troops must leave the country first. Mr. Karzai has already flatly rejected that proposal.
"I don't like ISAF. I love them. They are good people," Balyaly, a 22-year-old carpet salesman, said.
Using a variety of obscene hand gestures, Balyaly, who, like many Afghans, uses only one name, denounces the Taliban as "very dirty." He seemed genuinely shocked that Canada is considering withdrawing its 2,500 troops from the volatile south of Afghanistan and that the Netherlands is contemplating a similar pullout.
Mukhtar Subur, 19, who, like many young Afghans, does not have a job, was also adamant that the NATO forces must remain and continue to fight.
"Our whole country profits from the gifts of ISAF," Mr. Subur says. "If they leave, we all know the Taliban will come back and the Afghan people will have trouble again."
Hamid Fahim, who collects ancient Enfield rifles used by the mujahedeen in their holy war against the Red Army during the 1980s, observes that Afghanistan has been in a state of perpetual war for nearly three decades. By contrast, the Canadians, who first fought on the front lines in Kandahar in 2002, are relative newcomers. Seventy Canadian soldiers have died here -- about the number of Afghans who die fighting on many days.
"They are not like the Russians who tried to take our whole country," Mr. Fahim said. "ISAF comes to fight beside us, not against us. It is much better for us if they stay."
Flush with aid money and cash from this year's bumper crop of illegal opium, Kabul appears far more prosperous and liberal than it was. Every day, more and more women shed the all-encompassing burqa and show their faces, something that always led to a beating when the Taliban ruled the capital.
But Kabul's confidence has been shaken by recent suicide bombings and a spate of kidnappings of businessmen. The government and ISAF seem unable to do anything about it.
Again and again, Afghans mentioned that many ISAF countries, such as Germany and Italy, have seemed more concerned with protecting themselves than sending out troops to attack the Taliban.
"If all the money being spent by those ISAF countries that don't fight here was spent on us, we would already have a bigger and better army," Sahak says as he shows a visitor around his museum. "We would also have better schools and more doctors and nurses and engineers."
