Like many contemporary third world nations, Afghanistan has lived in the consequence of its wars for decades. The British invasion, the civil wars, the Taliban insurgences, the Soviet invasion, and finally the US’ search for Bin Laden in the wake of 9/11 have wreaked havoc on the infrastructure and stability of the country. Today, the nation is on its way to becoming more stable with their first presidential elections being held nearly five years ago on October 9th, 2004. Unfortunately, there are still many problems related to economic set-backs brought on by war and economic crisis. We hope that you will join us this week at Wednesday, February 4th at 7PM in CAS326 to represent the Afghani-Pakistan Loya Jirga to discuss the issues facing Afghanistan.
The Afghan Loya Jirga was created in response to the torrid events of the early 1900s due to a period of unrest in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area. The main cause of the problems involved the diversity of the Afghan population, which includes four major ethnic groups: the Pashtuns, Tajikis, Hazras and Uzbeks, as well as a number of minority ethnic groups like the Nuristanis, Baluchis, and Turkmens. The predominant religion in Afghanistan is Islam, but there are also Sikhs, Hindus and even Jews, left over from the Soviet Occupation.
Pashtuns pledge allegiance to their leader and not their country, resulting in an inability for a Pashtun government to effectively maintain stability and control. Additionally, Afghan land is not ideal for survival so nomadic tribes constantly wander through the mountainous borders separating Afghanistan and Pakistan when the weather allows for it.
The US has also made the difficult situation in Afghanistan worse with its 2001 “War on Terror” because though they were able to easily uproot the Taliban, they were not able to prevent the surviving members from regrouping. The Taliban have recently managed to further their employment of terror in the form of Kamikaze bombers, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Although poppies are only grown on 4% of Afghanistan’s arable land, revenue from opium contributes to over half of their GDP and provides over 90% of the world’s opiate supply. The government has very little ability to reduce the prevalence of this drug, although the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has recently taken steps toward helping find a solution with a recent $21 billion international aid commitment. Creating a stable, drug-free economy is one of the critical issues faced by Afghanistan, and cannot be achieved without better infrastructure; roads to distant communities would allow for easier transport of farmed goods.
Statistics show that Taliban attacks along the Pak-Afghan border have increased 40% in the past year. At the end of June, the fundamentalist militia staged a jailbreak and freed 886 prisoners who infiltrated a military village outside Kandahar. The fear now is President Karazi’s threat of sending Afghan troops into Taliban infested Pakistan areas as revenge for the jailbreak as well as the possible involvement of al-Qaeda with the Taliban. NATO has stated that not only could the old Taliban have mastered such a complex mission, but also that the Taliban insurgents have started changing their attack tactics and becoming more lethal and cunning.
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Current Issues
• How to end the violence in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. This question is a difficult one that has troubled the Loya Jirga for a very long time. During discussion for this topic, you will need to undertake open negotiations both with the resistance and with the International Community as such a task will require assistance from the will broader community, both Arab and Western.
• Border Control. This topic is very closely related to the previous one, because representatives from both nations have to be able to come together to discuss how best to protect illegal crossings of the Taliban – and other resistance members – into and out of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Permanence of the Jirga. The body is not a permanent body so during this meeting the members of the Loya Jirga need to discuss the possibility of establishing the Loya Jirga as a permanent forum for discussion and debate or whether this is unnecessary.
• How to end the violence. The topic must be discussed in two stages. The discussion must incorporate civil wars in both nations, wars between the people of both nations at the boarders, the actions of the Taliban on civilians and the clashes between foreign forces and the Taliban. This topic also encompasses the question of reform and development.
