Peter Hain has given an interview in today’s Times, much of which – though by no means all – I agree with. It focuses on Afghanistan and the issues of governance and democracy that bedevil that country and will sadly continue to do so, notwithstanding the confirmation of Hamid Karzai as president.
In particular, I agree strongly with the following analysis:
For too long Afghanistan was misunderstood by the West, he says. “Mistakes were made in the past. In Iraq they had a state run by an evil dictator but Afghanistan has always been feudal. They don’t have a state, they have never had a state. We have to build a system of government that is more organic. We can’t just have a besieged government in Kabul — not just in terms of terrorist and security threats, but contempt from the people.”
Earlier this week, I spent a fascinating hour in the company of an Afghan tribal chief, elected to that position earlier this year, He and a number of other tribal leaders have combined to create an overarching local authority, with a view to improving security in their home areas and liaising with the US and British military commanders. I found him an inspirational man, and a brave one, too; he has survived a number of attempts to take his life.
The tribes, it seems to me, offer one avenue of real hope for the Western powers to find a way through the Byzantine complexity of Afghan social and political structures and engage with the local population. How the Karzai government can be accommodated in that process is a matter that remains to be worked out.
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This is the third time Britain has tried to interfere in Afghanistan for her own interests over the years, and up to now, failed. Can anyone explain to me what right we (The “democratic” west) have to decide another nation’s future? The current terrorist threat won’t wash, as these people recognise no borders. Think of the recent home grown killers produced in America and Britain.
People forget that when the Russians were trying to sort Afghanistan out, American and Britain were arming and encouraging the tribes who were the Taleban and Al Qaeda. Why? because the enemy was Russia, not Al Qaeda then. In the same way Saddam Hussien was tooled up by us when the enemy was Iran. What short memories we have.
I agree with Peter Hain that we don’t understand Afghanistan, but he still talks of what we “must build,” what we “can’t have” in Afghanistan. Who is he to decide on this? The same man who tries to decide who should, or should not be allowed to appear on Question time.
If it is right to be in Afghanistan, then it must also be right to be in every other failing country. An impossible task. The Afghanis must be left to decide their own future, and we should have a short time table for out.