"Kandahar For Dummies"
It's an unfortunate descriptive but after all, what else term a set of conditions and realities that intelligent people should arm themselves with before setting out to a foreign destination? You venture off the beaten track, go beyond a society that reflects the mores and traditions of your own so it only makes good sense to avail yourself of information that alerts you to helpful data to ensure you don't step on toes by behaving in a manner certain to insult the locals.Now, the head of an Afghan landowners group, Ayub Rafiqi, has taken it upon himself to put together some useful information to assist foreigners coming into the country have a basic understanding of the history, traditions, religion, social values of Afghanistan. Mr. Rafiqi has had social adjustments of his own to make in the past, so he is well placed to understand the need for people to orient themselves to their new, if temporary environment.
All the more so, when troops under the NATO umbrella are stationed in his country to aid in the reconstruction of that war-torn environment, and to assist in rousting the Taliban from its territory. He feels his organization will have served its purpose if it succeeds in acting as a bridge between foreign forces and the people of Kandahar province. Which is where Canadian troops are now located, bearing the brunt of the Taliban insurgency.
Some of his criticisms relate to the fact that compensation for landowners for property damage as a result of fighting and road construction has been late in coming, from foreign officials. He also is critical of the sense he has that foreign forces view area tribes as potential adversaries and treat them as such, instead of viewing them as the bedrock of their tribal groups.
There's certainly the proverbial "two sides" to every apprehension. Canadian troops have long been sensitized to the need to approach local tribal councils with respect and to deal directly with them in the interests of working together for the betterment of the Afghan people. On occasion, in all innocence and trust, Canadian troops have discovered that some of those individuals whom they have taken for allies have turned out instead to be anything but.
Since few foreign troops in the country have members who possess the linguistic skills to speak directly with village elders, Mr. Rafiqi recommends that instead of relying completely on translators, local radio stations could be used to play back messages of interest to the people. Alternately, approaches to local mullahs might result in a co-operative approach to ensuring that the local populations understand the role and the purpose of foreign troops.
Proper respect for local customs and areas that are held to be sacred to the locals should be encouraged, since innocently-ignorant trampling by foreign troops of either can lead to grievances and ultimately sufficient anger to ensure there will be no co-operation between the troops and the village inhabitants. Above all, the locals need to be convinced that foreign troops are there by invitation of their own government, to protect them from insurgents.
One issue that has truly embittered many people, including Mr. Rafiqi, is the district leaders and government officials whose backgrounds have been identified as former drug and war lords. Many of these were local thugs who were used by U.S. forces during the 2001 invasion to maintain order. Their special status with the U.S. authorities emboldened these men who took up positions as drug and war lords, then later joined the new government of Afghanistan.
These former social-rights abusers and murderers now in position of authority are known by reputation to members of the NATO alliance, who try to keep them at arms' length, while performing their duties of assistance to the legitimate government of Afghanistan some of whose members of parliament now include women who were themselves victims of these former war lords.
Members of the Canadian reconstruction team and the military staff, along with CIDA representatives admit that "Especially in the first year of our operations here, we were working without full preparation for all the intricacies of what this society is about," according to Adrian Walraven, a CIDA officer at the Kandahar camp.
Those Canadians now stationed in Kandahar have become familiar with the cultural and political background of southern Afghanistan, acquiring a working knowledge and understanding of the country and its people. Further collaboration with an Afghan insider can only serve to ensure that misunderstandings are kept to a minimum.
The people of Kandahar deserve due respect; Canadian troops deserve every opportunity possible to make their jobs a little less burdensome and dangerous.
Labels: Political Realities, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, May 31, 2007
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