The Civilian Story
Kabul, Afghanistan
On Tuesday, April 19th, a truck bomb exploded, killing 30 people and wounding more than 300. The attack was claimed by the Taliban and is the deadliest assail on the capital since 2011. The bomb went off during Kabul’s morning rush hour when the city’s streets were filled with Afghans of all ages starting their day.
This tragedy illustrates that after 14 years of fighting and a scheduled departure of US troops, the war still rages full fledged for many civilians. Much of this blog has examined the changes occurring on the front lines of the battlefield and in the Afghan national government. But the deepest scars of this war have been left on the families of the innocent people caught in a cross-fire they had no part in making. This final blog aims to tell the civilian story.
After President Obama leaves office in January 2017, 5,500 troops will remain in Afghanistan to support the Afghan Army as it continues to fight the Taliban. However, these large scale military operations don’t protect civilians against the suicide bombings that have taken the lives of so many.
Already this year, the fighting has killed or wounded 2,000 civilians and displaced over 80,000. According to Danielle Bell, the United Nations human rights director, almost one-third of these civilian casualties were children.
The Taliban currently controls 30 percent of Afghanistan, the highest since it held power in 2001(Al Jazeera America). The penetration by the terrorist group has caused 81,445 individuals to be displaced from their homes in just the first three months of 2016. The impact on young people has also disrupted the peace of many families. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that Afghanistan migrants are the second largest migrant group traveling to Europe behind Syrian refugees.
After 14 years of war, a recent report by the U.S. said that “Afghanistan is worse off today than it was before the 2001 U.S. invasion.”(Al Jazeera America) However, with America’s military presence decreasing, certain voices are getting louder and demanding change from within the Afghan community.
In an article written for Al Jazeera America, Shaharzad Akbar, the director of Open Society Afghanistan and co-founder of Afghanistan 1400, which works to encourage young Afghans to participate in the political process, speaks directly to her people when she advocates for change in looking at the problems facing the country. Akbar writes, “If 14 years of foreign intervention and billions of dollars in international aid have taught us anything, it is that answers to Afghanistan’s problems are not going to come from abroad. If we are to build a lasting and sustainable democracy, we will have to do it ourselves” (Al Jazeera America). This, Akbar argues, begins with encouraging the Afghan youth to participate in politics.
But empowering younger generations through education and having them demand the rule of law is only half the battle. The other half is giving the young people a legitimate and just government they can put their support behind. Currently, infighting within the coalition government has greatly slowed the government’s reaction to terrorist threats. Parliamentary elections have already been delayed a year. However, the country is working to become a more cohesive government by officially instituting a parliamentary government with a prime minister. Though there is suspicion that President Ghani will try to avert this outcome, there seems to be a lot of international pressure to ensure that the government transitions into this democratic framework.
This new government will be imperative in leading the battle against the terrorists that threaten its foundation. The Afghan government will be autonomous of its own narrative as the US takes a large step back.
What lies ahead for Afghanistan includes battling terrorist groups whose methods are incredibly hard to counter militarily. Much of this battle is waged on the ideological front where these organizations have successfully recruited an incredible amount of young men to join their movement. Experts and scholars acknowledge there is no consensus in understanding why people join terrorist groups. They are all motivated by different means. But it is up to the Afghan government to cut this flow by opposing their ideology.
This entails countering the militant rhetoric that has been so powerful in garnering a large following and promoting a unified Afghan identity that is stronger than the extremism. This is an example of how this is not a battle the United States neither can nor should be a part of. Many activist leaders like Akbar believe Afghanistan is capable of rising to the challenge.
What the US can do is transition into a strategic economic partner in addition to being a close ally. Opening up US markets to Afghan businesses will support the growth of its developing industries. This is just one solution to help transform the dire economic reality that has pushed so many young Afghans to leave and look for work abroad or to join an extremist group.
No one should be forced to leave their home. And while the violence will continue for some time, there is a strong network of young activists as well as international support that is putting pressure on the the members of this fight to end it; Afghans will not stand for this anymore.
President Obama and John Kerry have stated there will be a reassessment of the number of troops remaining in the country, and will take into account the opinion of Gen. John W. Nicholson who has a closer gage of the reality of what’s occurring on the ground. The story of Afghanistan’s transition will continue after this article, but hopefully the new narrative between the two countries will carry on with a promise of a peaceful future. The future of Afghanistan will hopefully not be written by a college student’s blog but in the hand of the Afghan people.
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/17/rise-in-afghan-civilian-casualties-caused-by-pro-government-forces-taliban
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2016/2/afghanistan-is-on-the-brink.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/world/asia/obama-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/world/asia/kabul-explosion-afghanistan.html?emc=edit_na_20160419&nlid=73848353&ref=cta&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/world/asia/john-kerry-arrives-in-afghanistan-with-message-of-support.html?action=click&contentCollection=Asia%20Pacific&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/world/middleeast/civilian-casualties-in-afghan-war-are-unabated-in-2016.html?action=click&contentCollection=Asia%20Pacific&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
