Seven Questions: Saving Afghanistan
David Bosco
Foreign Policy Magazine
06/13/2006
An emboldened Taliban could make for a bloody
summer in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai’s government
is struggling to fight back. NATO troops are arriving in the
country’s southern badlands to help keep order. Will they
be enough? FP spoke with Said T. Jawad, Afghanistan’s
ambassador to the United States, about the challenge of securing
peace in a war-torn land.
FOREIGN POLICY: Is the Taliban reasserting control
over parts of Afghanistan?
Said T. Jawad: We are definitely facing serious
security challenges in the south. One reason is the support
that the Taliban is receiving from the outside and the encouragement
they are getting from the success of some terrorist activities
outside Afghanistan. The terrorists are trying to see how committed
and how powerful the NATO troops are. The international community
has been slow in providing the Afghan government with adequate
resources to provide protection to the civilians in the countryside.
Narcotics play an important role in [fostering] insecurity.
We are seeing clearly that in the five provinces where we are
facing most security challenges, these are also the provinces
where we have most of the narcotics.
FP: Are some Afghans sympathetic to the Taliban’s
cause?
STJ: No. They have never been sympathetic to the
ideology of the Taliban. That’s why the Taliban fell from
power so quickly after the international community moved in.
The problem is that the people have not seen the dividend of
peace. Reconstruction—especially in some of the deprived
provinces where we are facing security challenges—has
hardly taken place. In some of the provinces, nothing has actually
taken place. Gradually, people are becoming disillusioned or
disinterested in the process [of democracy], and that’s
exactly what the terrorists would like to see.
FP: Is there solid evidence of links between militants
in Iraq and Afghanistan?
STJ: We do see a lot of foreign fighters in Afghanistan.
A significant number of the suicide bombers in Afghanistan are
foreigners. The Taliban are linked with facilities in Iraq and
there have been exchanges of fighters between the two sides.
This [trend] has increased in the last six or seven months.
The Taliban have acquired more sophisticated explosive devices,
and also their know-how has changed. Suicide bombing is a completely
new phenomenon in Afghanistan. Religiously, suicide bombing
was regarded as a sin, something that the teaching of Islam
would not permit, and that’s why Afghans—who are
really moderate Muslims—have never committed it.
FP: Is NATO up to the challenge of securing southern
Afghanistan?
STJ: The Afghan government has been given assurance
that NATO forces will perform as well as the U.S. [troops].
We welcome their presence. But in fighting terrorism effectively,
the perception of the people is also very important. The people
of Afghanistan will make up their minds about the commitment
and capability of NATO when they see the [forces] in action.
If NATO is coming to Afghanistan, it should come ready to fight.
FP: Is Afghanistan satisfied with the level of
cooperation it is receiving from Pakistan?
STJ: We appreciate what Pakistan is doing. We
consider terrorism to be a threat to [both countries] and, therefore,
we expect sincere cooperation on behalf of Pakistan. Pakistan
could do a lot more in controlling the infiltration of Taliban
into Afghanistan, shutting down some of the terrorist training
grounds, and making it [more] difficult for the Taliban leadership—who
are living semi-openly in Pakistan—to operate out of Pakistan.
FP: How would you assess the capability of Afghan
security forces?
STJ: The [Afghan National Army] is doing well.
The challenge we are facing is with the Afghan national police
force. While its [ranks] have increased substantially, its quality
is very poor. Training is falling short and they lack equipment,
including basics such as uniforms and shoes. When you look at
the statistics of police officers killed, it’s very tragic.
These people are really committed and they’re trying to
defend their country, their homes, their villages. But they
are completely exposed. They don’t have armored vehicles,
they have almost no protection…most of them are using
old AK-47s that were collected as part of the demobilization
campaign. We have instances where terrorists [killed police
at] point blank because their guns jammed.
FP: President Hamid Karzai has criticized U.S.
military tactics that endanger civilians. How is his relationship
with U.S. military commanders?
STJ: The common objective is to win the
war against terror. You can win it only through the support
of the population. As a soldier, when you fight a difficult
and dangerous war, you may take actions that will damage your
mission and your image. We are trying to work with the United
States and their coalition partners to ask them to be more sensitive
on cultural issues. In military operations, in order to avoid
mistakes, it’s often better to take local people with
you when you conduct operations. Keeping the goodwill of the
people and ensuring that there won’t be unnecessary damage
to their homes and villages is an important objective. We cannot
win the war if [America] loses the population.
