Article

2003-05-03 Afghanistan

Afghan scholars body says must enforce Islamic law

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Posted by Fred Pruitt 2003-05-03 11:26 am|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Can't wait to hear some lefty female professor of sociology tell us that we need to understand that all cultures are equally valid, and all morally relative. To think less of the Arab/muslim honor/shame culture is not just wrong, but bad. The response should be to tell her to stfu, get her burqa back on and get thee three paces back of our asses. Oh and make us lunch. Think that would change her thinking? These Ulemas should be flayed as the prehistoric crap they are by Karzai. Think they have jobs? Do anything productive for Afghan society?

Posted by Frank G 2003-05-03 12:30:44|| 2003-05-03 12:30:44|| Front Page Top

#2 These guys must have a chain on their collective legs holding them back in the 8th century. Afghanistan, in order to become a healthy society, will literally have to be dragged kicking and screaming forward to the 21st century. In some ways it is all about oiiiiillll. Oil money we give to and spent by these Islamic nutcases finances our own destruction. So we have to change them or get rid of the money/oil/terror exchange or both. And in many parts of Iraq, we have the same situation with these mouthy mullahs screaming jihad and issuing fatwas by the firkin, which keeps their own larders well stocked and them comfortable.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2003-05-03 14:42:20|| 2003-05-03 14:42:20|| Front Page Top

#3 Use your heads! The "faith based" Bush government has done absolutely nothing to promote liberal interpretations of shariah in Afghanistan. He insisted on armistice arrangements with the Islamofascists, when the Northern Alliance was prepared to annihilate these wild animals. In the Pashto area of Afghanistan, Karzai's sovereignty doesn't exist outside of his shoes. Blame the US President who doesn't believe in separation of church and state.

The Afghanistan mission will fail unless the fundamentalists are identified as Islamofascists, and put down with extreme force.

Posted by Anonon 2003-05-03 15:39:46|| 2003-05-03 15:39:46|| Front Page Top

#4 I see it differently, and I think Bush does, too, and it has nothing to do with being "faith-based." It was in our interest to throw the Talibs out of Afghanistan, and it was coincidentally in the interests of the Afghans. It was in our interest and theirs to give them the opportunity to become a modern, functioning state. But we can't change Afghanistan from being one of the world's most backward states. That's their culture, and it's not susceptible to being changed by us infidels overnight. It's tough luck that their backwardness is the product of having a mullah on every street corner, even while they don't have any streets.

So they had the opportunity, and they haven't grabbed at it. Their warlord culture's kept the central government bottled up in Kabul, and rather than lining up for aid and assistance they've seen fit to rob and loot the aiders and assisters. That's not our fault. You know what they say about leading horses to water and the amount they actually consume.

If I was in charge, I'd be negotiating individual alliances with Dostum and Ismail Khan, plus any other warlords who are secure in control of their territories and will give us what we want. I'd write the Karzai government off as a bad investment, wait until the Pashtuns run him out of town or kill him, and then do my best to isolate the follow-on regime. If it became necessary to clobber it again when the Arabs came back to set up shop at the same old stand, there wouldn't be any loya jirga nonsense this time. It'd be a military government and "yes, sir" and "no, sir" or the boneyard.

That's not to say there's no hope for them at all. Assuming Karzai and company hang in there long enough, something fairly stable could come down the road. It'll still be primitively Islamic, of course. But if the rest of the Islamic world changes around them, they might find themselves drawn into something resembling a modern state - "modern" in this case being post-17th century or later. The key to Islamism isn't in Afghanistan; it's in Pakistan and Soddy Arabia, with the larger portion being in Arabia because that's where the money is. That's why Afghanistan will remain a holding action in this game.

But I'm still sorry they blew their chance. Most of us were hoping they wouldn't, even while expecting they would. Perhaps if Massoud had lived, they wouldn't have.

Posted by Fred 2003-05-03 16:07:10|| 2003-05-03 16:07:10|| Front Page Top

#5 Incidentally I found this article from a few months back an interesting take on why the warlords really can't do much to help us in a civilian sense (including disarm even if they wanted to).

Posted by someone 2003-05-03 21:21:54|| 2003-05-03 21:21:54|| Front Page Top

#6 puleeze fred--ismail khan is the worst--a true islamist--dostrum you can buy with guns, booze and moola but the other dude. no way--he's got a special pipeline to allah-----only true solution is bismakian/garibaldian/ataturkian--one strongman/ststesman with a secular bent ripping all of them new assholes until some sort of unity/national purpose prevails--extremely iffy--our role should be to grase the wheels but if the old rust comes back then it is to make sure our enemies don't take hold and multiply in this rancid petrie dish of a country

Posted by HULUGU 2003-05-03 21:23:13|| 2003-05-03 21:23:13|| Front Page Top

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