Ask any student at Kabul University if the West lost the war in Afghanistan, and you will get an emphatic no. Given an opportunity, they have grabbed it ‐ they are the first generation in 30 years to have aspirations beyond struggle, death and martyrdom.Don't be tellin' da Champ.
The university is humming with new life, interest and hope. Afghanistan's demography is weighted toward the young, and they are impatient for change. In this supposedly traditional society, male and female students mix in a relaxed way. In a media studies class, 20-year-old Massouda spoke of her hopes for the future and of how much had already changed. "Life for women is now very different," she said.
On every patch of open ground young men play soccer and cricket in enormous, sprawling games in which it is hard to tell where one sport ends and the other begins. The Afghan cricket team is a source of huge national pleasure and pride, and traditional pursuits banned by the Taliban are also back with an exuberance all their own.
Or maybe Champ figures this is what happens when American ceases to interfere.
Beyond the mess, dust, mud, poverty and insecurity, this is a nation that has taken its soul back from the bandits and the Taliban, and is reveling in the experience.
Afghanistan is challenging the prevailing view in much of the West that intervention has failed and that a return to power by the Taliban is inevitable. Of course, there are major threats to deal with: mass unemployment, conflict and precarious geography. The Taliban could threaten the nation for some time to come, but they will only return to power if the West loses patience and cuts funds
Preoccupied with their status? Make me think of another politician. Several, in fact.
Even Helmand is not the failure that many suppose. But the poppies and the war have been pushed to the margins of this huge province. The main populated zone remains mostly poppy-free and secure. Better roads and improved public services mean it is becoming prosperous. For the first time, there are girls in school here, and the first big civil engineering projects are under way in the complex network of canals and waterways to drain clogged channels and restore fertile farmland.
Another significant development is that Afghan soldiers are increasingly likely to come from the Pashtun south. In the early years after the Taliban were removed, the army was exclusively drawn from the north, and in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, its soldiers were seen as foreign invaders, just as U.S. and U.K. forces were. Despite taking high casualties, the Afghan army has no problem with recruitment, and the troops are well-motivated.There are other questions, though, about whether this force can be sustained, beyond its high casualty rate. Last year, NATO increased its funding for Afghan forces to $5.1 billion. Hard questions remain about where this money is going and whether it is being spent well. The amount is about equal to the funding of Turkey's armed forces, but Afghanistan has none of the sophisticated weaponry, or ability, of that midsize NATO country.
A country with extraordinary opportunities in agriculture, tourism and trade in crafts and carpets is marking time ‐ it is not embroiled in an all-out war, but it is not exactly at peace either. If its politicians were as good as its generals and its cricket team, things might be different.
| Let us hope Mr. Loyn is correct in his assessment. |