Solving the Afghani Imbroglio:
Several things have become abundantly clear as the Taliban evaporates. First of all, they are only part of the problem in Afghanistan, despite their odious association with groups like Al Qaida. The main problem at the moment is the resumption of ethnic tribal warfare that will likely subsume any efforts of the U.S. or the U.N. to broker a lasting peace (which will in turn continue to breed the conditions that allowed Al Qaida to flourish in the first place). The idea of creating a polyethnic, stable democracy out of the current (and historic) environment is a utopic dream no less unrealistic than the ninteenth century's nearby (if mythic) "Shangri La". In order for democratic institutions to give stability, there must be an agreement by all (or at least most) members in the society that pluralism is a strength, not a weakness. Womens issues, free speech, freedom of religion, ethnic harmony -- all of these things are unrealistic expectations (however moderate) in an environment that has known only extremes in recent decades. However, since such an arrangement does represent the interests of both the modern world (both Islamic and non), efforts in this direction must be made. If Afghanistan resumes the civil war that the Taliban had almost put an end to, if no multinational accord establishes a true democracy, this is unfortunate but not unthinkable. If the international community "abandons" Afghanistan again like it supposedly did after the war against the Soviets, nobody is to blame but the Afghanis themselves -- it is impossible to rebuild an internally warring nation from the outside.
(The issue of "abandonment" is problematic in the first instance: we gave the Afghanis the weapons they wanted to repell a foreign invader. The decision to "remain" and "rebuild" were not implicit in the International community's obligation (if such a community exists at all except in the mind of idealists and NGO's), especially given the climate of a world grown intolerant of the U.S.'s spectacular attempts at nation-building (see Central America, see Vietnam, etc.))
This time is different, however. The U.S. and its allies directly provoked the Taliban and further destabilized a fragile country. The reasons for this intervention are justifiable given the Taliban's direct support for the enemies of the U.S. (and indeed non-Islamist civilization everywhere), but the imperative to try to foster a lasting and useful peace in Afghanistan based upon values we claim to be universal does exist in this instance. Hence, we must try to get the Afghans to forge a democratic alliance there. We must use our aid and influence to bring the parties together. We did not "owe" the Afghanis our efforts after the Soviet war, now we do. Our self-interest has made them even more vulnerable.
Long-Term Fixes:
There are three systemic causes of the current "clash of civilizations" between fundamentalist Islam and the democorporate West.
(Yes, it is wildly un-politically correct to refer to this battle as a "Clash of Civilizations". Fuck correctness. The same people who advocate correctness have their heads so far up Noam Chomsky and Norman Solomon's respective ass's that in their eyes America itself will always be the real enemy and America's enemies will invariably be thought to be "misunderstood".)
I. The First Reason is radicalism vs. reactionism in the Middle East itself. Democracy has utterly failed in the region -- intellectuals and moderates have been driven underground or abroad. If recent Al-Jazeera polls taken of the "Arab Street" are correct, religious anti-pluralism has supplanted Islam's traditional emphasis on tolerance -- a hallmark of past epochs. But this extremism emerges because religion is one of the only forces in the Middle East capable uniting people who have been driven to poverty by repressive governments. No other forums of expression are sanctioned. From the Mahdists ("Dervishes") of the late ninteenth century, to the Iranian revolution of 1979, extremist messianic Islamist movements have provided outlets and support for people left voiceless and powerless by repressive governments (either foreign or domestic, or both). Islam itself is divided between those that would seek compromise with the forces of modernity and secularlism and those that would "return" to some mythical but seemingly purer state of existence. The regimes are generally motivated by international oil politics (necessitated by the world's increasingly untenable reliance upon fossil fuels), which enrich them and provides them with immense (personal) wealth. There are, of course, exceptions (i.e. Turkey) which do not fit this mold, but there is no need to elaborate on the particulars of the entire region when I am clearly going to great lengths to provide sweeping generalizations.
II. The Second Reason we are involved in this mess is because we lost credibility as a "neutral" power broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We (the UN, the British, the West) not only supported Israeli claims to Palestine initially, but have continued to do so despite our pretensions to neutrality. From an American perspective, support for Israel may have made some amount of sense in the context of the Cold War, but the Cold War is over. It is time to acknowledge that even if Israel exists in reality (and for whatever dubious reasons was created to begin with), the continued expansion of Israel via settlements on the West Bank is not legitimate. Nor is a West-Bank Palestinian "puppet state" subject to Israeli domination. If a "Two-State Solution" is the best we can hope for (I personally think a truly pluralistic, secular Israel that removes the second-class status for Arabs is the best idea) then let this new "Palestine" sink or swim on its own without Israeli incursions or meddling. Until this issue is resolved, Jews and Americans and "The West" will always be the scapegoats for the frustrations of Muslims and Arabs who do not have any hope for parity.
III. The Third Reason is the increasing organization and "internationalization" of the Islamic fundamentalist movements. This has come about through an increase in communications and media in the Muslim world, as well as a realization that many similar living conditions exist bewtween the Muslims of many nations (from Morocco to the Philippines). A "consciousness" developed that, rightly or wrongly, simply or oversimply, identified the oppression in many of these places with certain identifiable enemies: the U.S., the Russians, the Jews. Thus, after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, many foreigners joined the mujahedeen ranks in a sort of pan-Islamic movement. When the war ended, many of these fighters moved to other parts of the world to continue a struggle that had taken on international religious connotations: Algeria, Egypt, Chechnya, Indonesia -- veteran fighters have appeared throughout these regions and brought respectability and experience to the fledgling radical fundamentalist Islamist movements. As I write, a large contingent of these fighters are holed up in Kunduz in Afghanistan. They are resented by many Afghanis and will likely die horribly if they surrender. I say let 'em hang. As a bumper sticker Karim observed recently said "Kill 'em all -- let Ali sort them out". George Bush is the sheriff, the Northern Alliance is the posse. (For a more detailed explanation of this immoderate position, read on: It is from these ranks and not the Afghani Taliban ranks that the threat of international violence ala September 11 comes. We are all better off without such a violent (and effective) force arrayed against us, both for our own sake and for the sake of the future of the Middle East, within which these fighters have had an enormous destabilizing effect. Destabilization leads to more reactionary oppression, which precludes the possibility of genuine, moderate reform along the lines of democracy and human rights).
[If you want to cry about my characterization of your people, be they Americans, Jews, Afghanis, Muslims, Intellectuals, Oil Magnates, Palestinians, "Westerners", Homo-Sapiens, Lizardmen or otherwise, you'll find me at sailingacrossamerica@hotmail.com]
