Secretary Rice’s Trip to Afghanistan in the midst of “Exceptionally Good” Afghan Security

Jan Qarabaghi
March 20, 2005

            On Wednesday, March 17, 2005, a day before the U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Condoleezza Rice, visited Kabul, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, told reporters that the security situation in Afghanistan is “exceptionally good” and the “Taliban were essentially in disarray.” The euphoria over this “exceptionally good” news, died out when the next day, that is, the day on which Ms. Rice’s C-130 Hercules landed in Kabul, two bombs killed five civilians and injured at least another 34 in the southern city of Kandahar. Ironically, it was only a few days ago when a British aid worker was assassinated (allegedly by people connected to the disgruntled warlords) during broad day in Kabul, and two physicians (husband and wife), who were running the only health clinic in the Gulistan district of Farah, were kidnapped and killed by the district’s police chief (another man was shot and killed when the district’s police fired at demonstrating locals demanding the arrest of the police chief). With events such as these occurring daily and hourly all over Afghanistan, one shouldn’t be surprised if people like friends and family of the British citizen killed in Kabul, and the orphans left behind by the physician couple in Nimruz, disagree with General Myers assessment of the Afghan security situation.

The fact of the matter is, however, that both General Myers and those who disagree with his rosy assessment of the security situation in Afghanistan may be right. As the old adage goes, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It is true that for VIPs such as General Myers, Secretary Rice and Pres. Hamid Karzai, and for the American forces driving around in armored Humvees, the country is safe and secure, at least so far (thanks to Ronald Regan’s compassionate reaping of Afghan goodwill for his support of anti-Soviet resistance). But for the millions of ordinary Afghans, whose fate has been left in the hands of unfettered warlords, profiteers, extortionists, local militias, thieves, and armed bandits and hooligans, roaming and plundering the land without any fear of law and punishment, security is still a sweet thought that can only be dreamed of.

For those unfortunate souls who lose their children to the savagery of organ traders, for those who have become slaves to the drug barons, because they cannot pay the debts they owe, for those whose under-aged daughters are forced into unwanted marriages by men of wealth and power, for those who lose their dear ones because they cannot pay the warlord-related kidnappers, for those who have to pay “taxes” to the “government” every time they produce something or sell something, or even want to cross a road, for those who die from cold and hunger in the bombed out ruins of Kabul suburbs, for those who freeze to death in the hunger-stricken villages of Ghour and Bamyan, for those whose dear ones languish in U.S.-military and warlord-run private prisons, for these people and for millions of other Afghans who have been left out of the generosity of the “Afghan Marshall plan”, security is far from “exceptionally good;” it is not only abysmal and crumbling, it is actually, in many cases, non-existent.

During her short stay in Kabul, Secretary Rice emphasized that the United States has learned a lesson from abandoning Afghanistan in the past, implying that that mistake will not be repeated this time around. One wishes that Ms. Rice had the opportunity to go outside Kabul and interface with the ordinary people of Afghanistan, millions of whom already feel neglected, abandoned, and disenfranchised. Has the American foreign-policy establishment truly learned a lesson from its policy of neglect toward Afghanistan in the past? For the good of America, I wish I could answer this question affirmatively. For the long-run, it is not the military presence of America that will bring security to the Afghans; it is rather the American contribution toward implementation of fairness, justice, and rule of law that will make Afghans feel secure and thankful to America. It is Secretary Rice’s turn to decide which route to take.