Just this week, the district governor of the Kunduz province, Wahid Omarkhel, was assassinated in his office along with six other people, by a suicide bomber. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the Taliban has taken responsibility for the assassinations and they reportedly have a stronghold in the Kunduz province where the murders occurred. The Kunduz province is located in the north of Afghanistan, but the Taliban has been typically known to have stronger support in the south and the east of the country. This very recent assassination is evidence that this insurgency has the ability to attack far outside of its strongholds.
The Taliban has also been known to consistently target members of government like Omarkhel with either threats or attacks, making it increasingly difficult for Karzai and his administration to show the country that they are in control. Furthermore, with so many politicians being threatened, Karzai’s administration is unable to employ the most qualified and experienced politicians. Taliban insurgent exist in strongholds, like the one in Kunduz, all over the country, and while the assassination of Omarkhel is tragic, the real issue that it raises is who really holds the power in Afghanistan; the government or the insurgent Taliban groups?
While the Karzai administration is backed by the U.S. government and is meant to foster stability and democracy, many people view it as a mock of real democracy which holds no real power over its people. Judging by the attacks and harm that insurgent Taliban groups have caused recently it seems that the real power, and support, lies in the hands of these insurgencies. This would explain Karzai’s desire to include members from the old Taliban regime in upcoming peace talks. However, do the people of Afghanistan really want the Taliban back or would they prefer the Karzai administration? This is a question that keeps coming back to me, and I’m not exactly sure what the answer is, but I think it's possible that the people might not want either of the aforesaid options. Perhaps the people really just want change, which they inspire and which works in the favor of human rights and economic stability.
The Taliban, when in power, was a brutal regime with harsh laws and severe punishments, and I’m not sure that the people truly want to bring that back. However, the Karzai administration has thus far not proved itself to be a strong or effective government and people often feel fed up with it. In fact, many people believe the administration to be a government full of puppets for president Karzai and the U.S. which therefore does not hold the well-being of the people first and foremost. I think that instead of choosing between either the Karzai administration or the Taliban, the people want to create for themselves the system that works best for them in their home. I believe that the impetus for change and democracy needs to come from within the country and that the people need to carry out their ideas. I know many people who would disagree with me and claim that Afghanis would not be able to handle that situation nonviolently or that it would ultimately lead to another radical, religious movement. However, I think that that belief ultimately puts down the Afghanis and makes them out to be incompetent people, which they definitely are not.
I know that most of what I have written seems like speculation, but I honestly believe that there is some truth behind many of my ideas. I also realize that all of my other posts have been summaries of other articles or videos and this time I really wanted to present some thought-provoking ideas that are my own.
Thank you for reading, and here's a link to the article from the LA Times: Afghanistan suicide bomber kills district governor, 6 others
could you, perhaps, explain a way in which the Karzai government could become more effective in governing Afghanistan? You mentioned it was a puppet to the US, and you mentioned that a major issue for the government was the apparent inability of Karzai and the US to bring in good government workers. Before answering the already-stated question, ask yourself this: Is it believable? Is it believable that, rather than be severely incompetent, the Government backed by the US's own very capable government cannot actually recruit the right people for fear of terrorist attacks? Fatima, I believe that "the right people" to run the country would run it without being constantly, publicly scared of terrorist attacks on their lives. They would realize that the country's survival is more important than their own (lesser point), and that showing their fear in public is a sign of national weakness, which gives power to the Taliban. Just some things to think about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kazan, to a point. It seems clear that in order to govern well, one needs to be able to govern without fear of coming under violent attack. I´m not so sure that anybody is up to that task if the current security situation doesn´t improve. So the fear, I suppose, is less a factor of those in power than of the context in which they find themselves.
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