Losing Afghanistan
Believers in "body counts" and other Vietnam-era tallies may be cheered by the weekend' s reports that a NATO-led offensive in southern Afghanistan
More significant than any battlefield outcome is the United Nations finding that Afghanistan ' s opium harvest this year is at record levels, an increase of almost 50 percent over last year' s production. The bountiful opium harvest is evidence of the Taliban' s resurgent power. The Taliban, which once outlawed the opium trade for religious reasons when it was in power, now encourages and profits from opium production, which provides money as well as support from farmers.
There are many reasons why a war that once seemed won -- a war launched with overwhelming American public support against the Taliban regime that had harbored the al-Qaida plotters who hatched the 9/11 attacks -- has gone so badly amiss. American attention
and forces were diverted to an unprovoked war in Iraq U.S. Europe and elsewhere have fallen scandalously short of promises, thus increasing resentment and anti-foreigner sentiments among Afghans.
Moreover, the Karzai government (which has made
political deals of its own with warlords in the opium business) may be well-intentioned, but it has been weak and ineffective. Getting Afghanistan
The Bush administration, NATO and the U.N., in addition to meeting critically important aid obligations, should seek fresh ideas.
A former,
pre-Taliban foreign minister, Najibullah Lafraie, offered some intriguing recommendations in a recent article in the International Herald Tribune: replacing Western troops with a U.N.-directed Muslim force, focusing on training an Afghan national army and police, initiating a new intra-Afghan political dialogue, curbing interference by Pakistan
Those suggestions need more examination. But they are all more promising than Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld' s boast in 2002 that the Taliban and al-Qaida are "gone." That, obviously, wasn' t so.
"For to us will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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