War is sad, constant reality in Middle East
Although the six-year anniversary of the United States intervention in Iraq may have passed unnoticed by most people, guest speaker Stephen McNeil reminded those in the small crowd that war is still a sad reality to inhabitants of the Middle East in more places than one.
The speech, “Understanding Afghanistan” was the second of a two-part presentation by McNeil, and just one of the many programs in the event, “The Wars Is Over! Right?”, sponsored by Cache Valley Peace Works as well as the USU journalism and communications department.
“We hope students will come away with a better understanding that the war is not over yet. There’s still a lot of men and women over there fighting in our name,” said Cache Valley Peace Works Organizer Brenda Chung. “We want to make sure that doesn’t slip in the public’s consciousness. Also, the war in Afghanistan is heating up even more so now, so we want to raise awareness of that.”
McNeil, board member of the American Friends Service Committee and volunteer for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, spoke largely in part about the agony the war has caused among Afghan civilians, and presented a variety of ideas on what the U.S. government and military could do to better the situation for both sides. Having lived in the Kabul region for quite some time, McNeil said he understands the full effect the war has had on the country from the civilian side of the conflict.
“The only meaningful way to stop the insurgence is to withdraw our troops,” McNeil said. “We need to end the bombings and house raids, and stop killing civilians.”
Currently, the Taliban have the upper hand against the U.S. because they define the battle, McNeil said. U.S. goals and tactics are somewhat mixed and need to be clarified in order to be consistent with a military withdrawal, he said.
McNeil also believes it is the duty of our country to lead with more diplomacy. He said he hopes President Obama’s appointment of Ambassador Richard C. Hollbrook will provide a stronger link between the two governments, and ultimately convince Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to speak to leaders of the Taliban.
“The Afghan government eventually has to talk to the Taliban, (but) it’s a very tricky thing because it depends on who engages in the talks. Diplomacy will have to occur in order to get nations talking,” McNeil said.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Study suggests that the U.S. and Afghan governments split up the country into three zones: a strategic area, which consists of the cities and areas that are within U.S. control; a buffer zone, which will act as a no man’s land and the opposition’s territory to the south, in which a large part of the insurgence will eventually have to take place, McNeil said. This will bring more organization to the insurgence and hopefully speed up the engagement of the Taliban in order to bring troops home faster.
Among the U.S. occupied territory, McNeil believes an Afghan police force needs to be established and strengthened to ensure a rule of law and security. McNeil said the reason why the Taliban have such success in the region is because they provide a sense of security to the people. Inevitably, he said he believes this tactic will make the situation less costly and more effective towards ridding the area of Taliban influence.
“What’s needed much more than military influence is money and resources going into peaceful prevention of conflict before it occurs, possibly a U.N. police force that’s able to go into the situation before it deteriorates into something like we see in Darfur,” McNeil said. “If the mission of the U.S. military is to defend the United States then it should be to defend the territorial integrity of the U.S. as well.”
Sophomore Laura Hawkins and freshman Jeff Parker, who were both present at the speech, said they were enlightened by McNeil’s speech. Both expressed their concerns for the parts of the insurgence that are yet to come.
“It was pretty eye opening,” Parker said. “I have a brother who is training in the Army National Guard right now and he is guaranteed deployment, and there’s a good chance he could be deployed to Afghanistan. After seeing everything today, I hope and pray that when the choice comes down to following orders or choosing the right, he’ll pick the latter.”
McNeil said he now urges students and all others to become more aware of the current Afghan diaspora and complexities within Afghan society. There are many organizations, primarily along the U.S. eastern coast, who participate in providing aid to Afghan refugees, and constantly do their most to create a wider group of volunteers.
“Talk and work with them,” McNeil said. “Reaching out is not a bad way to learn and become part of these tactics to help Afghanistan.”
–steven.crass@aggiemail.usu.edu