Adventures in La-la land

29 May 2010

As the Coalition forces prepare to pull out, other Brits commit to real ‘nation-building’ — educating the next generation. Mary Wakefield reports from rural Afghanistan

How frightened are you of the Taleban, I ask K on the road to our next stop. We have a saying in Pashtun, he says: ‘Be afraid of those who do not fear death.’ How many Taleban are there here? ‘It is not that simple,’ says K. ‘Many ordinary people might fight for the Taleban.’ A German tank rolls towards us, overtaking a man on a donkey. K says, ‘If that tank runs over a child, his parents might become Taleban. If a drone kills farmers going to the market [as they did this week] more Taleban are recruited. And if we hear of military plans to withdraw soon, ordinary Afghans lose the will to resist. Will they leave soon?’ he asks.

A report in my bag states quite clearly that the international forces are gearing up to get out, that the mission is now to create the illusion of a successful transfer. I stay schtum.

‘Well,’ says K. ‘It will take 24 hours for the Afghan army and police to collapse after America leaves. No, wait, that’s not fair,’ he consults his friend in the front seat, then reports back: ‘We think maybe 48 hours.’ They laugh.

Outside Taloqan the mountains are reflected, fragmented, in the pools on the paddy fields. America’s commitment to sponsoring gangsters is reflected in the ‘poppy palaces’, vast mansions with mirrored windows, built by thugs with profits from the opium trade and from the CIA. Everyone knows about Rumsfeld’s misguided love-in with the warlords. Now McChrystal’s at it too — a sure sign of defeat. If there’s one thing that annoys an Afghan more than Hamid Karzai, it’s his brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, the ‘king of Kandahar’. McChrystal once agreed Wali Karzai must go — if you really mean it about nation-building, you spend time fostering relationships with locals, not with the mafia. But according to senior Nato sources, he’s once again in favour as a purveyor of quick-fix intelligence for raids on the Taleban, and the CIA-trained Kandahar strike force have become his personal death squad. The word for poppy in Dari is ‘La-la.’ La-la land. That sounds right.

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Minnie Ovens

May 28th, 2010 12:21pm Report this comment

I hqave not heard of Sara Fane before but I have the utmost respect for her and her motives.
I also find Ms Wakefields article somewhat short but to the point and very accurate.
Thanks to both of you but the key statement is that of K when remarking that it will only take 24 hours for all policing to collapse after a pull out.
Unless the whole country has the will and the leaders then it is all for nought. You might as well have been in Burma!
As John Paul Vann found out in Vietnam, unless you have basic pan country structure you haven't a hope in hell.
But a very thoughtful article.

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