5 May 2004, Tamim Ansary, TomPaine.com
excerpt:
Imagine the impact on the Muslim world if today, had the news from Afghanistan told of a country cleared of landmines—in which schools and clinics and hospitals had gone up in even the smallest villages, in which good highways made it possible for people to move among the cities and villages freely, in which fields and orchards had been replanted and grains and fruit were being harvested.
Imagine Afghan entrepreneurs—financed by numerous small banks with money for micro-loans—cranking out products manufactured in small workshops, sufficient to the needs of Afghanistan and some for export as well. Imagine thriving cities in which merchants were busy trading goods. Imagine that trade weaving the country into a partnership with the larger world, giving Afghans occasion to travel to India and Egypt and Germany and France and the United States on business.
Imagine the deep lakes of Bandi Amir and the beautiful cliffs of Bamian, where the world's tallest sculptures once stood, bustling with tourists and trekkers. Imagine climbers again scaling the Hindu Kush peaks and cheerful Afghan hosts sitting down with guests at the hot springs of Obeh near Herat.
Imagine if the world's most wretched country were now a testament to the power of humanity to heal.
It could have happened. Afghans were ready. Never in your life could you have imagined a world in which such a history of suffering had left so little resentment, such a cheerful willingness to start over, as I saw in Kabul in the summer of 2002.
So what's the current Afghan reality? More than 10,000 troops still stationed in the country and no end in sight—and no one even notices through the haze of smoke rising from the battlefields of Iraq. There's one American death each week, but it's not even reported because so many more are dying in Iraq. A constitution has been promulgated that says—in 50 different ways—conservative Muslims will rule this country. Anyone who questions the doctrines of the orthodox will be punished, and that punishment may include death. It doesn't say so explicitly, but it's coded into Hanafi jurisprudence which this constitution enshrines as the default law of the land.
Karzai and others huddle in the government complex in Kabul surrounded by high walls and barbed wire and guarded by American Special Forces. There, technocrats and warlords are trying valiantly to inch toward some negotiated accommodation with the forces of chaos, but without money to spend, there is so little they can do.
Elections were scheduled for June but have been postponed to September. Why? Because the registrars were unable to enroll enough voters. What if they held an election and no one came?
America does have enemies out there. Those enemies do have an agenda. Their agenda is to promote chaos. Anything they can do to disrupt ordinary life abets them. Anything they can do to increase violence promotes their cause. They are best able to prosper and flourish in chaos. Violent disorder is their petri dish. So when we move about the world trailing bloody, smoky destruction in our wake, it's not "us" we're helping, but "them."
FULL ARTICLE: 9/11: What Could Have Been
What Could Have Been
