Speaker discusses peace prospects for Afghanistan

Roshan Noorzai, Afghanistan native and Ph.D. candidate in the School of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University, spoke at Alden Library last Thursday about the possibility of peace in his country. In a lecture sponsored by People for Peace and Justice, he shared his vision for the country's future, and the role of the U.S. in bringing about peace.

He grew up during the Soviet Union's occupation and war in Afghanistan, and spent parts of his childhood in refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan. After leaving to pursue an education, his work with the United Nations brought him back to Afghanistan to collaborate with various communities in different provinces.

Noorzai said one of the main problems Afghanistan faces is the cultural and educational divide between rural and urban citizens. Afghan citizens from rural areas he has spoken with think the war is between America and the Taliban, and dislike the American troops because they cause unrest between warring tribes. However, in the cities, he said, they have more knowledge of the extent of the conflict, and the people he has spoken with are happy with what America has helped them accomplish.

When asked by an audience member about President Barack Obama's motives in Afghanistan, he replied that he believes Obama's focus is on internal stabilization and locating al Qaeda without necessarily leaving a democratic system as the U.S. did in Iraq.

"It's not a main concern in Afghanistan anymore," he said.

The regional conflicts are too diverse to accomplish any form of coherent national structure, he noted. For example, when the national government tried to Westernize the country in 1978, many local tribes simply refused to abandon their traditions for new systems and institutions, he said.

"When something works in one part (of Afghanistan), it might not work in another part," he said.

He said that in his country, as well as the rest of the world, groups use each other to achieve their own corrupt goals. For example, in local government agencies, money that is meant for rural communities dwindles before it reaches them, and government officials must be bribed to get anything done.

"Before it reaches the people, it is distributed among those stakeholders," he said. "If you want a passport, it will take two or three weeks if you don't have money. If you have money, you can get it in one day."

He explained it's important to understand the complex tiers of international, national and local conflict in Afghanistan and how they overlap. The perceptions of the power struggle in Afghanistan vary between rural and urban areas because the country has been the center of geopolitics for centuries, he said.

"Because of the location of Afghanistan, they have been invaded time and again," he said.

Different countries supply troops to rival local tribes, which worsens the strife between them. He suggested that the best thing for Afghanistan would be if outside forces removed their troops and left individual tribes to deal with their feuds. Without the pressure of outside influence, the rural communities can work through their differences as they have for centuries.

"They understand local conditions very well," he said.

He gave examples of the internal security in Afghanistan observed over several years of visits to his family to show the impact that international forces have on daily life. In 2002, the road he used was relatively safe to travel, although the lack of modern transportation made 300 miles a two-day trip. When he returned in 2006 traveling the same route, his family cautioned him to remove all the "contacts" in his phone that linked him with anyone in American government or the United Nations.

"There were incidents where the Taliban were blocking the roads, and if they find anything with you, they might kill you," he said.

The lack of security on the roads when he made a trip in 2008 made traveling by plane his only option.

He said that America and the U.N. would be better served focusing their efforts on providing necessities such as health, education and transportation to increase the quality of life in Afghanistan, and just leave the tribes to deal with their own issues.

Obama is expected to announce his plan for going forward in Afghanistan in the near future. His options range from pumping thousands more troops into the country to admitting that it's a losing cause and starting to plan an exit. Within those options is a debate over whether to focus more on combat operations or helping the people with security, schools, health and transportation.