The Long Way Back by Chris Alexander

Author:Chris Alexander
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-02-21T07:32:56+00:00

In late 2006, the multilateral Policy Action Group overseeing Afghanistan’s southern region travelled to Kandahar under Hamid Karzai’s leadership. Governor Asadullah Khalid hosted the delegation, joined by governors of neighbouring provinces. While in Kandahar, Karzai met and prayed with elders and visited several important shrines. He spoke to students at Ahmad Shah Baba High School, invoking national heroes like the first Afghan amir, Dost Mohammad Khan, and urging the youth of Kandahar to cherish their stories. Then he turned to his main theme, defiance of terrorism. “Being martyred for the sake of learning is better than being illiterate and slaves,” he told the students.

The president urged Afghan parents to send their children to school, and children themselves not to be frightened: “We can tolerate when our children are killed on their way to school, but we cannot accept slavery and illiteracy.” He then unleashed this barb, for the benefit of the diplomats and politicians in attendance: “The government of Pakistan wants our children to serve as doormen at their hotels in Karachi instead of becoming doctors and engineers.” Afghanistan’s neo-colonial plight had never been put more bluntly.

“Pakistan is fearful of a stable and prosperous Afghanistan,” he added, “even though I have repeatedly assured [Pervez] Musharraf that stability and prosperity in Afghanistan is in the best interest of his country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world left Afghanistan at the mercy of its neighbours. . . . Pakistan, in particular, destroyed our system and our national institutions. Afghans and Pashtuns are still being killed on both sides of the border, and I tell Pakistan to cease hostilities and animosity against Afghans and Pashtuns.”

The president also had a warning: “Pakistan wants to rule a land where great empires of Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Britain and [the] Soviet Union have been brought to their knees. Great empires have not been able to occupy this land; how can Pakistan dream of doing so?”

Addressing the elders, the president said that “reconstruction projects can only be implemented when there is security. It is not only the government’s duty to protect Afghanistan’s security; it is the people’s duty too. People have a duty to defend their houses, roads, schools and clinics, and to collaborate with the security institutions in ensuring a safe environment for the implementation of reconstruction projects.”

He was ashamed of the depths to which Afghan pride had sunk: “Regrettably, those who build roads, power stations, clinics, and schools for the Afghan people are being killed. The Afghan nation defended their country during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and defeated the world’s then biggest colonial power. Today, a Canadian girl defends Panjwayi and loses her life for the sake of your security.”

Karzai was referring to Captain Nichola Goddard of the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, killed on reconnaissance in Panjwayi when her armoured car was hit with two Taliban rocket-propelled grenades. For Afghanistan’s traditional patriarchs, the idea that they required protection from female foreigners serving in combat was a bitter pill to swallow.

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