Kabul revisited: the unembedded experience

19 oktober 2010

De-ISAFING

 

Our official program ended today. We have been given a unique opportunity to discuss the NATO strategy with commanders at all levels and to interact with top EU and UN representatives. Our group leaves the headquarters of ISAF for the airport. I am not leaving with them. I am staying on in Kabul to get some Afghan perspective on things. De-ISAFING, I call it. 

I hand in my NATO ID and walk with my bags to the exit of the headquarters of the ISAF military headquarters. Suddenly I am alone in Kabul. I pull my scarf over my head, call a taxi and travel to my new location, a research institute in the center of Kabul. It feels strange, a little scary also, without armed drivers and the organization of NATO behind me. I tell myself it's OK, I am no longer an obvious target, traveling with American military. Somehow, I miss their crude jokes.

Staff of the EU in Kabul live and work in a walled security compound. The UN and its staff will soon be moving to a secured compound too. Journalists and independent researchers still live in their own -guarded- houses in the city. There are wonderful restaurants to go to at night with great Afghan food in beautiful walled gardens with Afghan carpets and seating arrangements with pillows and low tables. Some of them even serve wine in clay tea pots.   

What strikes me in the discussions with Afghans is the pessimism about the situation and the prospect for an end to the conflict. Afghans I speak to lament the fact that violence and insecurity are on the increase, the Taliban control large parts of the country and the public perception in our countries is turning against longer involvement in Afghanistan. “How come you defeated the Taliban government in 2 weeks in 2001 and cannot defeat them now?“ The contrast with the optimism and dynamism of the military could not be more striking. “The military are the only ones convinced that this strategy will succeed.”

Afghans are concerned about the intertwined counterinsurgency and political strategy. Killing and capture operations don’t necessarily create the momentum for negotiations, some of them say. The heavy-handedness of the kinetic operations creates a backlash. “The insurgency is incredibly resilient. For every one Taliban killed 10 will re-emerge. They will be more radical and less inclined to talk. They have nothing to gain from talks right now.” In Kabul, former Taliban ministers and ambassadors give interviews on some of the many TV channels. They distance themselves from talks and propagate the ideas of the Taliban. Some Afghans welcome their openness en want the Taliban to become a political party that participates in the political process.

We, the international community, are backing the central Afghan government to extend its long arm to the provinces. Is this the only or even the best way to stabilize Afghanistan, I wonder. “You cannot change old habits at gunpoint” one Afghan tells me. “You cannot impose an illegitimate government at gunpoint either.” The military can clear an area of insurgents. But if subsequently a corrupt governor with a criminal record is appointed, the population again turn to the Taliban. “Afghans never expected to get health clinics and schools, one Afghan MP tells me. “What they want is someone to turn to, who helps them to solve problems and conflicts. Someone they trust.” This is a society emerging from 30 years of war with in some parts of the country, a culture of revenge. There are lots of conflicts over land, water, property, ethnic rivalries and tribal scores to settle. Governance for many rural Afghans equals a simple form of justice. This is exactly the vacuum the Taliban are filling. They dispense justice. It is cheap, quick, transparent and very cruel.

Afghans are concerned that the international timetable dictates the operations on the ground. They express frustration at the announcement of yet another review of the strategy by President Obama in December and statements by the British PM Mr. Cameron that British troops are in Afghanistan for Britain’s own national security interests. “Everyone is fighting their own war in Afghanistan. The US and Iran, India and Pakistan, the war against terror, China and India.”

My last meeting is with the director of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. After my meeting two Afghan students of 19 and 20 years old wait for me in the waiting area. Can I help them to get a scholarship abroad? Their parents are in Pakistan and want to take them back from their studies because of the worsening security situation. They fear that they will be married off and never have a chance to finish their studies. They have tried to get a scholarship but without connections and money they have no chance.

The plane to Dubai is full of private security contractors and Afghans living or working abroad.  By the time we get to Dubai, turbans and scarves have disappeared.