A Way Of Life

The vicious struggle between the Taliban and the current government of Afghanistan, aided by Western forces, shows no sign of abating, and instead demonstrates the resolve of the Taliban to overwhelm both the corrupt and inept government of Afghanistan and the foreign forces stationed there to assist that government. Over time, the Taliban which was originally ousted from Afghanistan in the post 9-11 invasion, has managed to resuscitate their fortunes.

That the United States, during the original invasion, was too hasty in declaring the rousting of the Taliban a resounding success, is a weary story of incompetence and inability to clarify their vision of the future. Currently, the country remains unpacified, and more of its vast, ungoverned geography than ever is in the control of the Taliban, which has set up its own system of governance, out of the reach of Western forces.

Despite which, NATO forces remain resolute in their determination to eventually prevail in their dedication to removing the Taliban from potentially taking over the country once again. Apart from trying to hold territories previously freed from Taliban rule and then re-taken by the fundamentalist Islamists, foreign forces and their countries' diplomats and NGOs are feverishly attempting to normalize that portion of the country free of Taliban.

And that too is questionable, given that the Taliban keep demonstrating how capable they are of infiltrating crowded urban areas thought to be safe zones, to explode bombs and engage in suicide missions, killing hundreds of Afghan citizens. Last week a well-orchestrated Taliban attack mission succeeded in destroying a key government building, killing 28, injuring 50. Another such mission was apprehended more recently by police in Kandahar City.

The Afghan National Police remain notoriously corrupt, just like the politicians at every level, and indeed the society as a whole. The country's police are poorly paid, and have often enough slipped over to fight for the Taliban, with promise of more generous recompense. Suicide bombers dressed in police uniforms regularly detonate themselves inside police stations. Over a thousand police officers were killed in the past year, in far greater numbers than the better-trained and -paid national army.

Volunteer Canadian police officers from Canada, along with Canadian soldiers, have undertaken training of the Afghan police for the purpose of instilling more reliable and professional conduct in the force, battling against drug use and endemic corruption. With the hope, eventually, that the two home-grown forces will prove capable of mounting their own defences. Other NATO counterparts are busy in other parts of the country doing the same thing.

Western-type law enforcement is an unknown quantity in Afghanistan, and it is that, as much as practical arms training that remains the teaching goal. Both the police and the army have to recognize their role as providing security for the country. Complicated to some degree by tribal affiliations, different cultures, traditions, languages, and conventional suspicions. Yet it will be up to them to institute trust and good relations from within the entire vast and far-reaching communities of villages and farming regions.

The hope is, in the end, that Afghanistan will manage to succeed. Likely at some near-future date when the government itself takes a good stiff broom to sweep out all the human detritus that now pose as government officials and elected parliamentarians. The alternative is to produce what has now occurred in Pakistan. An agreement by the embattled government there, to accede to the violent demands in northwestern Swat valley where Islamic Sharia will be restored in the region.

The militant fundamentalists determined to reimpose Shariah Islamic law in its strictest form, have won their battle. "We're announcing ceasefire as a 'goodwill gesture'", magnanimously declared a spokesman for the militants. And, as another act of 'good faith' they released a Chinese hostage. They will, of necessity to their creed, demonstrate other 'good faith' and 'goodwill gestures'.

By closing down all schools welcoming girls in the region, having already destroyed over 200 girls' schools. They're on a roll.