Future Afghan leaders dispel 'doom and gloom'

Discussions on Afghanistan are mired in a "doom and gloom" approach, were the words of the UN Secretary General’s special representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, depicting the UN mission to rebuild the country as a dead cause.

Students from the American University of Kabul, while recognizing the viciousness of the Taliban and the perplexing underdevelopment of their country, argued that achievements mattered to them and greater efforts in the right direction might save their country.

“For a post conflict country it is very to important just to have a state. We did not have a government for thirty years in the first place, people are not used to it at all,” Mohammad Behroozian told the Hürriyet Daily News at the third annual NATO-Afghan Student Forum, organized in the southwestern French city of Biarritz over recent weeks.

“Now I go to work, to university, and what I study will help me better plan my future, which I did not have under the Taliban,” Behroozian maintained.

“The Afghan National Army is becoming a veritable force, and the attitude of the National Police against civilians is nowhere like what it was five years before, though they definitely need more training,” stated Siddique Ahmed, who also works in a multimedia studio in the Afghan capital Kabul – an unimaginable occupation during the Taliban regime.

“There are more education facilities than during the Taliban’s time,” Zakia Soleiman, who is working for Counterpart International, an initiative to promote Afghan civil society, told the Daily News. Five million children have enrolled in schools since 2002, according to national statistics, but the hundreds of Taliban attacks against schools counter-balance that effect. “There are death threats against families who send their daughters to schools, and of course, against girls,” she noted.

The Afghan national education system has also been hit by a lack of teachers and a badly outdated curriculum. “Geography books available, state that the Afghan population is 16 million. Despite recent improvements, much needs to be done,” Ahmed stated.

Ali Ghulam is a case in point for youth who believe their homeland was worth fighting for. He left his university education in the U.S., where he lived for more than ten years, and chose to attend the American University of Kabul as, “here is where the leaders of Afghanistan are educated. We now have the opportunity to progress, to get a job. We are now recognized by the international community, whereas under the Taliban we were not,” Ghulam said.

[HH] ‘Blunders, not Taliban are the real threat’

However, sustainability of any development is contingent upon security, Professor Jean-Pierre Massias from University of Bayonne told the Daily News. “I believe the future of Afghanistan is for the Afghans to build, but with the help of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission,” he said.

The Afghan government’s security agenda is crowded and eradicating the cultivation of opium, which accounts for 80 % of world production, is one of them. Heavily concentrated in the south of the country, opium fields are home to organized crime groups, including the Taliban, which have an interest in perpetuating insecurity.

The Taliban also benefits from a mix of blunders by international troops and intimidation tactics. “International troops are so scared of suicide attacks that they keep civilians away from them,” Behroozian said. “I was almost killed by an international military car, when the soldier prepared to fire at us because our car was driving too close,” Soleiman said.

Ghulam pointed to the contrast he noted with the Turkish troops who operate in the Afghan capital Kabul. “Turkish troops have a warm approach to the public. They communicate well with the local population, which I can not say about other troops,” he said.

Students asserted that the Taliban’s intimidation tactics against civilians undermined nation-building efforts. “They check the last calls of people they catch with cell phones, and kill if they find any evidence that you connected with foreigners,” Soleiman said. “If I am caught with my university identity, I will be killed,” Behroozian said. “It is a pity. If I felt protected, I would be confident in supporting my government,” he said.

Perhaps a greater danger lies in civilian losses, estimated to be over 400 in 2008, inflicted by air strikes against the Taliban and insurgents, who use civilians as shields.

“Most people in Kabul will tell you they hate the Taliban. But they cannot help but compare today with the relative stability back then,” Ghulam noted.

The possibility of negotiating with the Taliban has also been raised by high level UN and NATO officials in the field. “I do not like the idea of talking to the Taliban, but it is clear that there is no purely military solution to this,” Ghulam said.

Despite all the odds, Soleiman says the sense of normalcy is a big step forward. “I think we have moved on so much in five years that our progress is gigantic. I want to start my own NGO, and work for the Education Ministry,” Behroozian said.

Mustafa Oguz, Hurriyet Daily News

Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect NATO’s views.