One day I asked him, “Karim, why doesn’t the violence in Shindand and Afghanistan end?” He replied, “Because you foreigners don’t want to end it!” He went on to say that the usual suspects, Pakistan, India, Iran, US, the Russians, the Jihadists, use Afghanistan to wage their wars against each other. He said the worst part is not only that the Afghans suffer the brunt of this violence in terms of loss of life but it also fragments and divides the population. These scuffles and the games played by various powers push individuals and groups to become agents of these governments and do their bidding. It becomes a daily game of survivals for the ordinary Afghan. Karim went to on to say, throw in a weak Afghan government, which is corrupt, lacking resources and politicians who are incapable and at times not interested to unify their people, and that is why this cycle of violence, instability and war continues. He ended by saying, “Let’s forget about these things, lets drink some tea and listen to Naghma (Afghan singer)!”
What Karim told me that day is believed by many Afghans and non-Afghans. Afghanistan is located at the cross-roads of civilizations. Its a place where competing powers come to settle their scores. It was England vs. Russia, US vs. USSR, Pakistan vs. India, US vs. Al-Qaida and so on. Throw in the Afghan struggle to run its own affairs, create a modern state with its own national identity and a society in the era of globalization, and you can appreciate why peace, security and stability continues to elude this ancient land.
So what is the solution? Today, as the violence continues, the Afghan government has tried to engage the Taliban and their main sponsor Pakistan in peace talks. Though that’s a start, the fact is, those talks have not yielded any concrete results. The senseless killing continues.
To bring peace, the Afghan government must make its own population, its main partners in the peace process. Afghan traditional local peace councils must be re-established from the Kabul-level to the village-level. Those who are part of this violence and its enablers, both as Talibs or other groups in each community must be invited to lay down their arms and brought back into the fold. And unlike other attempts made previously, those who come back must see their acceptance back by their community as a reward. In other words their bad behavior is forgiven, they are now again a full member of the community and should in no way be rewarded by been given land or any other resources.
It’s time the Afghan government turned to its own population to bring peace to the land. Pakistan or any country will not give peace to Afghanistan, it’s only the Afghan government along with its population that can demand it and bring it. This action if taken by the leaders of Afghanistan will strengthen nationalism and unity and create an avenue for those gone wayward to return to their communities. Prioritizing peace will ultimately and in the long run bring all the business and development needed to pull Afghanistan out of the poverty that ails most of its population.
For those of you, who want to know what happened to Karim Afghan. Karim was killed a couple of years ago by the Taliban while on his way to his shop. Let’s work for peace in Afghanistan for Karim Afghan’s sake and the millions that have been killed senselessly during the past decades.
