Let me start by saying this post might be slightly controversial. Not in the way that I have been controversial before (calling out corruption in my country and even village,) but potentially controversial in the eyes of many of my fellow Americans. I hope that you not only read this post, that you distribute it to your friends and family via emails, links, and word of mouth.
This post is due in part to me reading an article in Foreign Policy, a magazine/online publication about exactly that… Foreign Policy. You can find the article here. It is titled, most appropriately “Women and Islam: The real test of our values.”
To summarize the article, David Rothkopf argues that if the US and the Allies leave Afghanistan, we will be turning essentially a blind eye to the extreme Human Rights issues that are occurring in Afghanistan (Read: Women’s Rights.) While I am certainly going to reiterate his points, I will also bring it back here to Morocco.
In short, and in my opinion, David Rothkopf is absolutely 100% correct.
Yes, on the surface, the war in Afghanistan was about terrorism (against the west), and the fight to stop it’s spread. We did the same in Iraq (and actually might have been successful, but still to be determined.) As the prolonged and drawn out fight in the AFPAK region (Afghanistan-Pakistan) continues, we seem to be at a stalemate, which for the US and Allies (more-so for the Allies) is not acceptable. Calls by many to pull out troops and leave it be (turn tail and run if you will) have been widespread. Recently the Dutch have pulled out, with other Allies set to follow suit.
Let me say this though: While the initial invasion and fight against terrorism was a good thing, it is now NOT the top priority. The top priority in Afghanstan is restoring human rights.
My critics would quickly point out that the US should not be human rights police of the world, and this should be left to the USAIDs, Peace Corps, Human Rights Watchs, (insert development organization here) etc. of the western world. To this point I agree with completely. Any human rights injustices in the world should not be dealt with militarily, as that may be just a temporary solution.
BUT…
We (the US and Allies) got into this mess, or were pulled into this mess by the Taliban (however you want to look at it,) and with it EVERYTHING that came along with it. This includes women’s rights, and the broader human rights. We are neck-deep in the proverbial quicksand or oil spill (to be more recent) known as Afghanistan, and we are trying to clean the mess up.
The critics of this argument would point out that we are sending our troops to be killed. According to iCasualities, there have been 1983 Allied troops (US and others) killed in the years since 2001, when we first got into this mess.
My argument is the same used by not only Rothkopf, but a recent Time magazine cover/article: “”Do we leave if by leaving we sentence women to decades or centuries more of enslavement, compromise and debasement in the name of religion and cultural history?”
We got ourselves into this mess, and now we need to get out of it. For us to pick up and leave (turning a blind eye) would be a human rights violation itself. It would be telling the Taliban, along with any extreme faction and brand of Islam that it is okay to continue as you were, and in the end, would make the extremism that much stronger.
Rothkopf points out that “We can’t be a moral society and turn a blind eye to this. Nor can we call ourselves honorable and ally ourselves to those who tolerate or empower the abusers.” Once again he is correct.
Also, the author Rothkopf points out to the recent time magazine cover that has been hotly contested…warning… (seen here, as well as an argument AGAINST continuing to stay in Afghanistan) that depicts a Afghani woman that has been mutilated (essentially her nose has been cut off.) It is a striking issue that tugs at the heart strings. Very controversial, and the author of the counter-argument states at the end that:
“We were not responsible for these evils when they were perpetrated for years before 9/11. And we are not responsible now. After ten years, I’d say the American soldier’s burden in trying to alleviate the awful consequences of Jihadist rule is completed.”
While Mr. Sullivan makes a valid argument, to pull out troops right now would be premature. We need them there for stabilization, so that eventually development organizations can take root, and the central government becomes stronger and self-relient (they are fairly corrupt at the moment.) While he does not in the article, Mr. Sullivan could take this argument one step further and say that the US is not the “Human Rights Police” of the world, and there are countries all over the world that display gross Human Rights violations (Mali, Niger for example), that we do not go into. This is true, but we did not initially enter into Afghanistan for Human Rights reasons.
I look at Iraq, where we are set to pull out most troops very shortly. There has been much progress, and the allied troop loss this year is 43, very low, and declining each year since 2007. While the brand of religious extremism is not as extreme, you can look to Iraq, and the plight of her women similarly. There were many abuses, and still are (just as there are abuses in many countries)… but progress has been made, and women are holding key roles in government, and many more young women are being educated. Don’t get me wrong, the job in terms of development is not done, but there is progress in the human rights arena.
Living in Morocco, I see women’s rights issues occurring before my eyes. For example, a young women (11) living in a small town (my training village) was the smartest in her class of boys and girls. She however one day was distraught. When questioned why, she said she was sad that she was going to be not allowed to continue school, because her father said it she needed to learn how to become a housewife and learn all there is to learn about that profession (yes I called it a profession.) It was a tough pill to swallow, as this young women wants so badly to learn, and is so incredibly smart (3 languages fairly fluent, and working on a 4th) but due to a combination of money (this certainly is a factor to get her to school) and culture, she will likely not be able to continue her education when she finishes at her local elementary school. Likely, she will be married when she is about 15-17, the age many women in her village get married… which is technically illegal here in Morocco, but continues to occur due to legislative loopholes. There are other similar stories that I hear from time to time.
I will also say that in my experiences here, in a very liberal Islamic country, women enjoy many many rights when compared to the women of other middle-eastern countries (definitely Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq). This is day and night. But these inequalities of human rights for men vs women is one of the reasons I am here.
I hope that someday, Iraq and Afghanistan will be further along and open to many more development organizations (I do not say Aid, because it reminds me of my term “Band Aid”… which means bad aid.) Even now, USAID is conducting development work in Afghanistan. It is a start. Military presence is still needed, so that the country of Afghanistan does not implode, taking with it brother Pakistan.
At your leisure, check this link out about an Canadian organization called Little Women for little Women. This organization helps provide funds to support education in Afghanistan, and trying to hire teachers and send children to school, to help empower the younger generation.
In summary, we got ourselves into this mess, and in my opinion we need to finish the job. The focus should not be on fighting terrorism (that should be secondary now after 10 years), but in helping to restore the human rights of a country. If we pull out, we will make any current loses of life (troops, Afghanis) be in vain. Progress is being made, if very slowly, almost in a two steps forward one or even one and a half steps back sort of way.
I hope this post encourages discussion, and please if you have comments or thoughts let me know.
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