Insight into Afghanistan: Part 3

Since deducing in previous commentaries that Afghanistan has fundamental problems ethnically, hence linguistically and culturally, the Taliban has fallen and the Northern Alliance achieved its short-term goal of gaining lost territory and power. What is becoming more apparent to the western eye, though, are not just ethnic rivalries, but actually intra-ethnic rivalries and even intra-tribal rivalries. Often, this extends to family feuds.

Out with the more national and regional wars, pockets of resistance have not subsided since the days of Genghis Khan; thus, territorial battles continue to this day. As John C. Griffiths, author of Afghanistan: A History of Conflict, states, Afghans are stuck between medieval times and the 21st Century. It’s not just about the overall goals of the country, more the unseeming agendas of tribal leaders and territorial warlords.

In the past, Kabul saw most of whatever riches previous Afghan governments had at their disposal; little was fathomed out to other regions of what is, basically, a secular country. And, so, the well-kept secret of the Pathans – (the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan) that they saw themselves as the deserved receivers of any Afghan riches – is equated to all else. There is little difference between the different ethnic groups’ ulterior motives; however, only the Pathans’ bore fruit, probably due to their superior numbers, though nothing to do with their togetherness, of which there was, and is, little. You only have to look at the way some of the Taliban fighters dropped their weapons and joined forces with the opposition – the Northern Alliance – for evidence.

It is this braze nature – easy going, but self-contained mindset – that will continue to dog Afghanistan’s regeneration. It is true that communication is difficult to maintain given Afghanistan’s treacherously mundane landscape, particularly in winter months. This has been made all the more insurmountable since the war on terrorism brought its philosophy and joined Afghanistan’s long line of woes. Before then, the Soviet built roads offered hope of a united nation; sadly, though, this infrastructure will have to be re-built. But even those Soviet roads had a legacy. The new ones, when they materialize, will bear something similar: a symbol of the bloody past.

To this end, any aid from western nations should be aimed at restoring this one true lifeline, something that will bring down the ethnic borders and form, once and for all, Afghanistan. This time the roads, unlike the ones built by the Soviet Union, should come condition-less. Meanwhile, maybe Afghans will begin to bear allegiance to something they do not yet know: unity – with their neighbors, both locally and nationally. For once, without the weight of imperialism or the label of “buffer zone”, this might just be possible.

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