Daily Times

From the atrocities perpetrated by US kill-teams to night raids, all acts by US and NATO soldiers have turned the Afghan population against their unnecessary presence in the country. Every night, in eastern and southern Afghan provinces, small groups of US special operations forces attack Afghan homes and kill children, women and young people on the pretext of crushing Taliban insurgents. These unwanted night raids have brought changes to the attitudes of Afghan women, police and army officers. On September 19, 2011, Lianne Gutcher reported the reservations of an Afghan female police officer in USA Today: “We want to leave our job,” a Tajik officer told her NATO mentor, US Major Maria Rodriguez, saying that all Afghan women police officers understand that they are risking their lives for very little money ($ 220) per month.

This prevailing hate culture among the Afghan army and police officers against the US’s war tactics in Afghanistan raises many questions. The US’s consecutive killings of Afghan civilians either by drone attacks or by night raids have enraged the entire population of the country. These flawed war strategies have not been an effective way of countering the Taliban insurgency since 2001. Recently, two Canadian military experts conducted a review of the war in Afghanistan, which revealed that NATO has not functioned well either militarily or politically. The Times (London) recently reported the fear among coalition soldiers that their Afghan partners might kill them.

These harsh realities are a sign of the distrust between the guardian and the guards. The distrust, according to a senior police mentor in Zabul province, spilled over to the ranks of the Afghan security forces and their American advisors. They hate each other and look at each other with suspicion. This persistent environment of misgiving and the US misperception of Afghan society and mindset have further widened the distance. Last week, an American rogue soldier was accused of killing Afghan citizens and planting weapons on the heads of civilian bodies to make it look like they were fighters. The story of his inhuman behaviour came to light when his colleague, Justin Stoner, exposed the kill team.

The US’s business of killing does not end here. In May 2010, 12 US rogue soldiers faced trial over the killing of Afghan civilians for sport. On October 17, 2010, US soldier David Lawrence walked into Mullah Muhibullah’s prison cell and shot him in the face. During the last 10 years, NATO, US and ISAF killed thousands of innocent Afghan civilians in different parts of the country. From 2001 to 2003, during Operation Enduring Freedom, bombings and attacks by US soldiers killed more than 3,600 Afghan civilians. The Guardian reported some 20,000 Afghans killed during the first four months of the US’s air strikes.

In 2005, ISAF forces killed 1,700 civilians, including 600 policemen. In 2006, 4,400, in 2007, 7,700 and in 2008, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that 2,118 civilians were killed. On February 12, 2009, the director of the Australian military prosecutor charged special forces commandos with the killings of five Afghan children. Moreover, on November 1, 2011, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the killing of civilians at the hands of Australian soldiers. In retaliation, however, an Afghan soldier shot and wounded three Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan. This distrust between the Afghan security forces and the Australian forces perhaps disturbed Prime Minister Julia Gillard enough to make a surprise visit to Afghanistan. In 2009, US forces killed 2,412 civilians, in 2010 and in 2011 over 4,000 innocent civilians were killed.

Two weeks ago, the Pentagon released an Afghan report claiming that the security in Afghanistan had improved while accusing Pakistan of providing safe havens to the Haqqani network. The recent Kabul attack that killed 13 US soldiers exposed the Pentagon’s peace plans for Afghanistan. Taliban attacks in Afghanistan are on the rise while the coalition has lost public support. Afghan politicians are more critical of this unpopular war. Poor governance in cities and rural areas reflects the Kabul regime and US military command as inefficient, ineffective and alien in the eyes of the local populace. Inter-ethnic relations have not yet improved. Ethnicity has been an important factor in Afghan politics and relations between the Sunnis and Shias have been complex.

The news of Kuchi atrocities against the Hazara population and the killings of their children is not old. Zones of ethnic groups have already remained a cause of tension and political subjugation, which have led to resentment in the country. Everything has become worse and nothing is moving in the right direction. Education, health, housing and public works are in tatters while the police and army are not able to stop the violence. Distrust is like a cancer that is spreading throughout government institutions. People complain that neither NATO nor the Afghan government have addressed ethnicity, sectarianism, factionalism, poverty and unemployment. In these circumstances, the danger of partition of the state on ethnic lines cannot be ruled out.

The recent formation of a new coalition in the country may further exacerbate ethno-political tension. Leader of the coalition, Ahmad Zia Massoud, criticised the present government and said that Karzai had lost public support. The last destabilising factor in Afghanistan has been the media. Newspapers, radios and TV channels have played their roles in expanding the geographical scope of ethnic and sectarian conflicts. The Afghan media has fuelled resentment.

In Nicholas Freeman’s research report (2009), the author raised some important points relating to the causes of insecurity in Afghanistan. In his comprehension: “Warlord supremacy has been consolidated.” Finally, the perception that Afghan cities are becoming increasingly divided on ethnic and sectarian lines has further exacerbated the alienation of civil society from the government. The state in Afghanistan has failed and is becoming a constant threat for its neighbours.

The writer is the author of Afghanistan Beyond 2014 and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com