tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/afghanistan-war-31978/articlesAfghanistan War – The Conversation2024-03-14T15:25:28Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254512024-03-14T15:25:28Z2024-03-14T15:25:28ZBoth sides in the Russia-Ukraine war are using new and old technologies for warfare<p>When it comes to technology, the war in Ukraine is a war of juxtapositions. On the one hand, this is the first major war in which a variety of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/unmanned-aerial-vehicle">unmanned aerial vehicles</a> (UAVs) — or drones — have played such a prominent role. On the other hand, this new technology has played a major part in forcing infantry to dig lines of trenches reminiscent of the First and Second World Wars.</p>
<p>Some of the technology in the war in Ukraine, <a href="https://www.iiss.org/research-paper/2023/10/russias-war-in-ukraine-ballistic-and-cruise-trajectories/">such as the guided missiles being used by both sides</a>, isn’t fundamentally all that new. Modern guided missiles trace their origin back to early developments during the <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/hitlers-precision-guided-bombs-fritz-x-hs-293">latter part of the Second World War</a>. </p>
<p>Modern precision-guided weapons may be increasingly accurate in hitting their targets, but there is <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2022/03/04/americas-last-drone-strike-in-afghanistan-and-the-necropolitical-language-of-drone-warfare/">all too often considerable human error in allocating targets for them</a>.</p>
<p>What is new in the war in Ukraine is that it isn’t like many of the “<a href="https://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/what-is-a-small-war">small wars</a>” of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, in which one side had an almost overwhelming technological advantage. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taliban">Taliban in Afghanistan</a> didn’t have access to satellite imaging, large drones and <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11353">precision-guided munitions</a>, or even weapons to counter these, so they had to fight an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/asymmetrical-warfare">“unconventional” or “asymmetrical” war</a>. </p>
<p>In the war in Ukraine, both sides have access to and are developing new and not-so-new technologies, with neither side having an overall technological edge.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a plane-shaped drone flies over forested hills" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581757/original/file-20240313-30-r82ze1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Iranian Shahed kamikaze drone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Drones and warfare</h2>
<p>Large drones have been in use in war for a number of years now. The United States in particular made heavy use of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/15/mq-9-reaper-what-is-the-us-drone-that-collided-with-a-russian-jet-and-how-is-it-used">large drones such as the Reaper</a> in Afghanistan, both for reconnaissance and targeted killings. Russia made use of large drones for <a href="http://cast.ru/eng/products/articles/russian-uavs-in-syria.html">reconnaissance in Syria</a> when its forces were supporting the Assad government there.</p>
<p>What is different in the war in Ukraine is the sheer number and range of drones being used. Large drones are still being used — including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/02/deadly-cheap-and-widespread-how-iran-supplied-drones-are-changing-the-nature-of-warfare">Iranian-developed “suicide” or “kamikaze” drones like the Shahed</a> being used by Russia — that can strike targets deep inside enemy territory. However, smaller drones are being used by both sides — often nearer to the frontline — for reconnaissance, artillery spotting and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-62225830">as kamikaze drones</a>.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian side had an advantage in drone warfare — that advantage <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/some-ukraine-drone-pilots-fear-early-advantage-over-russia-now-lost-2023-11-09/">has now arguably passed to Russia</a>. Russia has been able to produce and import huge numbers of drones and develop some <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/drones-fighting-cat-mouse-battles-behind-russian-front-lines-ukraine-2023-11-01/">effective local countermeasures against Ukrainian drones</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ukraines-drones-sinking-russian-warships-1876608">Ukrainian naval drones</a> have, however, been a particular problem for the Russian navy. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2jeCwHViFGw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Footage appearing to show the sinking of the Russian warship Sergei Kotov.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The recent sinking of the large patrol ship Sergei Kotov with naval drones is a case in point. Modern warships are <a href="https://defencyclopedia.com/2016/05/02/analysis-importance-of-naval-guns-on-a-modern-warship/">not bristling with the sort of anti-aircraft guns</a> that their Second World War counterparts had to stop <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/october/countering-kamikaze">kamikaze pilots</a> for example. </p>
<p>But quite possibly they will soon be bristling again, because such guns are ideal for dealing with drones at close range. Even the <a href="http://www.gwpda.org/naval/nets.htm">humble torpedo net</a> from the late 19th century may make a return to try to stop drones reaching ships at anchor.</p>
<h2>Missile technology</h2>
<p>While in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. and other western powers made heavy use of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/missile">guided missiles</a>. What is different in Ukraine is that both sides have access to them. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.militarytoday.com/missiles/iskander.htm">Russian Iskander</a> and <a href="https://www.militarytoday.com/missiles/storm_shadow.htm">Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles</a> have proven highly effective at striking targets deep in the enemy rear. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/03/09/a-russian-drone-spotted-a-ukrainian-patriot-air-defense-crew-convoying-near-the-front-line-soon-a-russian-hypersonic-missile-streaked-down/">Often targets for such missiles have been located using drones</a>.</p>
<p>Many tanks are being destroyed not only by or with the help of drones, but with anti-tank missiles such as the <a href="https://www.militarytoday.com/missiles/kornet.htm">Russian Kornet</a>, or much vaunted <a href="https://www.militarytoday.com/missiles/javelin.htm">U.S.-supplied Javelin</a> on the Ukrainian side. </p>
<p>Anti-tank missiles are not new — the Egyptian armed forces for example made good use of recently developed <a href="https://www.militarytoday.com/missiles/malyutka.htm">Soviet anti-tank missiles</a> during the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Yom-Kippur-War">Yom Kippur War</a> in 1973.</p>
<p>The anti-tank missiles being used in Ukraine today are however much more sophisticated. Back in 1973, anti-tank missiles often had to be connected to the operator through a <a href="https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Wire-guided_missile">fine wire that was reeled out by the missile as it flew</a>! Today’s missiles typically have more sophisticated and reliable targeting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="black and white photograph of a man in military uniform crouching beside a missile." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581675/original/file-20240313-24-3e8rfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Israeli Defense Forces soldier with an anti-tank guided missile, captured from Egyptian forces during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nli.org.il/en/images/NNL_ARCHIVE_AL990040053080205171/NLI#$FL45740532">(Dan Hadani Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New and old technologies</h2>
<p>A lot of drone use is for reconnaissance to help both sides carry out much lower technology tasks, <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2024/03/drones-are-transforming-the-battlefield-in-ukraine-but-in-an-evolutionary-fashion/">such as targeting conventional artillery</a> or guiding infantry.</p>
<p>While new technology has transformed the fighting in Ukraine, there are still many elements that would be easily understood by soldiers in the First World War. </p>
<p>Firstly, regardless of all the technology, ultimately the “<a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100336987">poor bloody infantry</a>” has to move in and occupy territory — and fight for it at close quarters. Soldiers still often have to kill other soldiers while in close proximity to each other.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="black and white photograph of a balloon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581756/original/file-20240313-20-h207ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A British observation balloon from 1908.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Imperial War Museum)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Typically, the technology of today may be new, but the function isn’t. We could, for example, see drones playing a role like the <a href="https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/roasting-a-sausage-balloons-their-crews-and-those-who-shot-them-down/">observation balloons of the First World War</a>. These were used in particular for directing artillery fire. </p>
<p>Balloons stopped being used in war because of the development of weapons that could easily shoot them down, from aircraft to high-powered anti-aircraft guns.</p>
<p>When a new technology comes along, the race begins to counter it. The Russian armed forces have already had some success in <a href="https://ca.yahoo.com/news/jamming-electronic-warfare-reshaping-ukraine-173948128.html">jamming the link between drone operators and their drones</a>. </p>
<p>In the constant technological battle, what is next? <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/us/politics/ai-drones-war-law.html">Autonomous drones using AI</a> are in many ways a nightmare idea, but they are being worked on. Autonomous anti-drone drones would no doubt follow. </p>
<p>One thing is certain — <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vikrammittal/2023/10/18/the-challenges-of-counter-drone-technology-as-seen-in-recent-conflicts/?sh=286b45ee7013">new technologies will be developed, to be followed by countermeasures</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/oct/15/dangerous-rise-of-military-ai-drone-swarm-autonomous-weapons">New hi-tech ways</a> of killing or facilitating it will continue to serve alongside the old methods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Hill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Russia-Ukraine war highlights developments in modern warfare, which uses new weaponry alongside traditional methods of fighting.Alexander Hill, Professor of Military History, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004112023-10-05T12:34:13Z2023-10-05T12:34:13ZThe splendid life of Jimmy Carter – 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511714/original/file-20230222-26-wdgm71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C54%2C2027%2C1377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cuban President Fidel Castro watches former U.S. President Jimmy Carter throw a baseball on May 14, 2002, in Havana, Cuba.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cuban-president-fidel-castro-watches-former-us-president-news-photo/73894798?phrase=jimmy%20carter%20fidel%20castro&adppopup=true">Sven Creutzmann/Mambo Photography/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In <em>Mark 8:34-38</em> a question is asked: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”</p>
<p>Jimmy Carter never lost his soul. </p>
<p>A person who served others, Jimmy Carter did more to advance the cause of human rights than any U.S. president in American history. That tireless commitment “to advance democracy and human rights” was noted by the Nobel Committee when it honored Carter with its <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2002/summary/">Peace Prize</a> in 2002.</p>
<p>From establishing the nonprofit <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/">Carter Center</a> to working for <a href="https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/build-events/carter-work-project">Habitat for Humanity</a>, Carter never lost his moral compass in his public policies. </p>
<p>Over the years, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories exploring the legacy of the nation’s 39th president – and his blessed life after leaving the world of American politics. Here are selections from those articles. </p>
<h2>1. A preacher at heart</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.asbury.edu/about/directory/david-swartz/">As a scholar</a> of American religious history, Asbury University Professor David Swartz believes that a speech Carter gave on July 15, 1979, was the most theologically profound speech by an American president since <a href="https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm">Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address</a>, on March 4, 1865.</p>
<p>Carter’s nationally televised sermon was watched by 65 million Americans as he “intoned an evangelical-sounding lament about a crisis of the American spirit,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-jimmy-carters-truth-telling-sermon-to-americans-97241">Swartz wrote</a>. </p>
<p>“All the legislation in the world,” Carter proclaimed during the speech, “can’t fix what’s wrong with America.”</p>
<p>What was wrong, Carter believed, was self-indulgence and consumption. </p>
<p>“Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns,” Carter preached. But “owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.”</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-jimmy-carters-truth-telling-sermon-to-americans-97241">Revisiting Jimmy Carter's truth-telling sermon to Americans</a>
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<h2>2. Tough-minded policies on human rights</h2>
<p>Though Carter was considered a weak leader after <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/11/04/the-iranian-hostage-crisis-and-its-effect-on-american-politics/">Iranian religious militants</a> seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, his overseas policies were far more effective than critics have claimed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy-human-rights-focus-helped-dismantle-the-soviet-union-113994">wrote</a> Gonzaga University historian <a href="https://www.gonzaga.edu/college-of-arts-sciences/faculty-listing/detail/donnelly">Robert C. Donnelly</a>, especially when it came to the former Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Shortly after the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">Soviet invasion of Afghanistan</a> in 1979, for instance, Carter imposed an embargo on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/639149657/farmers-caught-up-in-u-s-trade-war-s-remember-80-s-grain-embargo">U.S. grain sales</a> that targeted the Soviet Union’s dependence on imported wheat and corn to feed its population. </p>
<p>To further punish the Soviets, Carter persuaded the U.S. Olympic Committee to refrain from competing in the upcoming Moscow Olympics while the Soviets repressed their own people and occupied Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Among Carter’s critics, none was harsher than Ronald Reagan. But in 1986, after beating Carter for the White House, even he had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/06/us/reagan-acknowledges-carter-s-military-buildup.html">acknowledge Carter’s foresight</a> in modernizing the nation’s military forces, a measure that further increased economic and diplomatic pressure on the Soviets. </p>
<p>“Reagan admitted that he felt very bad for misstating Carter’s policies and record on defense,” Donnelly wrote. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy-human-rights-focus-helped-dismantle-the-soviet-union-113994">Jimmy Carter's lasting Cold War legacy: Human rights focus helped dismantle the Soviet Union</a>
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<h2>3. Carter’s unexpected liberal foe</h2>
<p>Reagan’s win over Carter in the 1980 U.S. presidential race was due in part to Carter’s bitter race during the Democratic primary against an heir to one of America’s great political families – Ted Kennedy. </p>
<p>Kennedy’s decision to run against Carter was “something of a shock to Carter,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-lion-of-the-senate-roared-like-a-mouse-39826">wrote</a> <a href="https://www.bu.edu/cgs/profile/thomas-whalen/">Thomas J. Whalen</a>, a Boston University associate professor of social science. </p>
<p>In 1979, Kennedy had pledged to support Carter’s reelection bid but later succumbed to pressure in liberal Democratic circles to launch his own presidential bid and fulfill his family’s destiny. </p>
<p>In addition, Whalen wrote, Kennedy “harbored deep reservations about Carter’s leadership, especially in the wake of a faltering domestic economy, high inflation and the seizure of the American Embassy in Iran by radical Muslim students.”</p>
<p>In response, Carter vowed to “whip (Kennedy’s) ass.” </p>
<p>And did. </p>
<p>But that win over Kennedy came at a high cost. </p>
<p>“Having expended so much political and financial capital fending off Kennedy’s challenge,” Whalen wrote, “he was easy pickings for Reagan in that fall’s general election.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-lion-of-the-senate-roared-like-a-mouse-39826">When the Lion of the Senate roared like a mouse</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>4. A quiet fight against a deadly disease</h2>
<p>Guinea worm is a painful parasitic disease that is contracted when people consume water from stagnant sources contaminated with the worm’s larvae. </p>
<p>Clemson University Professor Kimberly Paul has <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yb246-8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">worked as a parasitologist</a> for over two decades. </p>
<p>"I know the suffering that parasitic diseases like Guinea worm infections inflict on humanity, especially on the world’s most vulnerable and poor communities,” she <a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-worm-a-nasty-parasite-is-nearly-eradicated-but-the-push-for-zero-cases-will-require-patience-199156">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>In 1986, it infected an estimated 3.5 million people per year in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. </p>
<p>Since then, that number has been reduced by more than 99.99% to 13 provisional cases in 2022, in large part because of Carter and his efforts to eradicate the disease. Those efforts included teaching people to filter all drinking water.</p>
<p>Over time, Carter’s efforts proved tremendously successful. On Jan. 24, 2023, The Carter Center, the nonprofit founded by the former U.S. president, <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2023/2022-guinea-worm-worldwide-cases-announcement.html">announced</a> that “Guinea worm is poised to become the second human disease in history to be eradicated.”</p>
<p>The first was smallpox. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-worm-a-nasty-parasite-is-nearly-eradicated-but-the-push-for-zero-cases-will-require-patience-199156">Guinea worm: A nasty parasite is nearly eradicated, but the push for zero cases will require patience</a>
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<h2>5. Carter’s brave step in Cuba</h2>
<p>In 2002, long after his departure from the White House in 1981, Carter became the the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/post-revolution-cuba/">1959 Cuban Revolution</a>. Carter had accepted the invitation of then President Fidel Castro.</p>
<p><a href="https://chrd.gsu.edu/profile/jennifer-mccoy-2-4/">Jennifer Lynn McCoy</a>, now at Georgia State University, was director of <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/index.html">The Carter Center’s Americas Program</a> at the time and accompanied Carter on that trip, on which he <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc517.html">gave a speech in Spanish</a> that called on Castro to lift restrictions on free speech and assembly, among other constitutional reforms.</p>
<p>Castro was unmoved by the speech but instead invited Carter <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/cuba-and-the-united-states-play-beisbol-diplomacy/">to watch a Cuban all-star baseball game</a>. </p>
<p>At the game, McCoy <a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carter-in-cuba-46109">wrote</a>, “Castro asked Carter for a favor” – to walk to the pitcher’s mound without his security detail to show how much confidence he had in the Cuban people.</p>
<p>Over the objections of his Secret Service agents, Carter obliged and walked to the mound with Castro and threw out the first pitch.</p>
<p>Carter’s move was a symbol of what normal relations could look like between the two nations – and of Carter’s unwavering faith. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carter-in-cuba-46109">Jimmy Carter in Cuba</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Beloved in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter became the 39th US president and used his office to make human rights a priority throughout the world.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116232023-09-19T12:14:56Z2023-09-19T12:14:56ZUS policy of ‘pragmatic engagement’ in Afghanistan risks legitimatizing Taliban rule<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548369/original/file-20230914-15-hde5rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C29%2C4911%2C3257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters celebrate the second anniversary of Taliban rule on Aug. 15, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/taliban-supporters-parade-through-the-streets-of-kabul-on-news-photo/1601157436?adppopup=true">Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For two decades, the conflict in Afghanistan <a href="https://theconversation.com/calculating-the-costs-of-the-afghanistan-war-in-lives-dollars-and-years-164588">occupied international attention and U.S. resources</a>. But ever since <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2573268/biden-announces-full-us-troop-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-by-sept-11/">American troops withdrew</a> in 2021, the conflict has seemingly been viewed in Washington more as a concern <a href="https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/afghanistan-after-us-withdrawal-five-conclusions/">localized to the region of Central and South Asia</a>.</p>
<p>This is due in large part to <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/shifting-priorities-the-us-and-the-middle-east-in-a-multipolar-world/">the U.S.’s shifting global priorities</a>. The invasion in Ukraine and Chinese ambitions in the Pacific have meant that Afghanistan is no longer a top priority for the U.S. administration.</p>
<p>Naturally, the U.S.’s exit from Afghanistan has left the Biden administration with weaker leverage in the country. Indeed, some observers are now <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/23/afghanistan-biden-taliban-akhundzada-haqqani/">calling for the U.S. to diplomatically recognize</a> the Taliban government – something the Biden administration has stated it has <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-afghanistan/">yet to make a decision on</a>.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/international-studies-and-programs/about-us/directory/sherjan-ahmadzai.php">expert on international relations and Afghanistan</a>, I would argue recognizing the Taliban without pushing for a political road map and guarantees from them would be a mistake. As a partner in the Doha agreement – the peace deal <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf">signed by the U.S. and the Taliban in 2020</a> leading to American troop withdrawal – Washington has an obligation to hold the Taliban to account over its side of the bargain: Preventing terrorists from operating in Afghanistan and engaging in intra-Afghan talks to end decades of conflict.</p>
<p>Yet over the past two years, the U.S.’s <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-afghanistan/">policy of “pragmatic engagement</a>” in Afghanistan – which amounts to working with the Taliban on limited security concerns while urging a course correction on human rights – has done little to discourage Taliban policies that have <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/south-asia/afghanistan/report-afghanistan/">degraded the rights of Afghan citizens</a>. Nor has it pushed the Taliban to long-promised talks with other factions and parties in Afghanistan aimed at ending decades of turmoil.</p>
<h2>Evolving US interests</h2>
<p>America was drawn into Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack on the U.S mainland. Its goal was to <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan">dismantle and destroy al-Qaida</a> and its affiliate groups. But at the same time, it was considered to be in the U.S.’s interest to also assist Afghans in <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/17/bush-on-nation-building-and-afghanistan/">creating a more equal and just political system</a> after decades of civil war and instability. The vision was for a government that respected human rights, guaranteed access to education for all and promoted democracy. </p>
<p>Some of those ideals made it into the Doha agreement and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-16/afghanistan-taliban-spokesperson-says-they-respect-women/100298394">public statements by the Taliban delegation before the deal was signed</a>. Yet, more than three years after the agreement was inked in the Qatari capital, the Taliban appears to show no intention of following through on its promises. It has <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/afghanistan-un-experts-say-20-years-progress-women-and-girls-rights-erased">restricted the rights of women and girls</a> to education and <a href="https://www.iranintl.com/en/202308317600">rejected the idea of an inclusive government</a> with input from other Afghans. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/31/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-end-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/">U.S. government’s policy of pragmatic engagement</a> amounts to combating terrorism through an “<a href="https://mwi.westpoint.edu/over-the-horizon-counterterrorism-new-name-same-old-challenges/">over-the-horizon” strategy</a> directed from outside the country and intervening in Afghan affairs only through the Taliban itself, an unconventional partner for the U.S. in this effort.</p>
<p>In July 2023, President Biden implied that working with the Taliban in counterterrorism efforts <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/06/30/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-supreme-courts-decision-on-the-administrations-student-debt-relief-program/">had borne fruit</a>: “I said al-Qaida would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban.”</p>
<h2>Taliban failing on pledges</h2>
<p>Yet, after <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/02.29.20-US-Afghanistan-Joint-Declaration.pdf">vowing in the Doha agreement</a> to send a “clear message” to groups such as al-Qaida that “threaten the security of the United States and its allies,” the Taliban <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-after-the-fall-of-kabul-talibans-false-commitments-on-terrorism-have-been-fully-exposed-188132">has yet to publicly sever ties</a> with the group <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan">or banish militants</a> from Afghanistan. </p>
<p>The Taliban has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65382277">killed a few individuals</a> identified as being threats to the U.S., notably by targeting the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-isis-k-two-terrorism-experts-on-the-group-behind-the-deadly-kabul-airport-attack-and-its-rivalry-with-the-taliban-166873">terrorist group ISIS-K</a>. But it has been less helpful in cracking down on al-Qaida members. Indeed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-was-ayman-al-zawahri-where-does-his-death-leave-al-qaida-and-what-does-it-say-about-us-counterterrorism-188056">al-Qaida leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri</a> was hiding out in Kabul – something that couldn’t have happened without the involvement of high-ranking Taliban officials – until a U.S. operation in July 2022 killed him.</p>
<p>In maintaining contacts with the Taliban for counterterrorism goals without pressuring the group on human rights issues, the U.S. might serve to legitimatize the Taliban’s leadership of the country at times when the group <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/25/taliban-dissolves-afghanistan-election-commission">still lacks an internal mandate</a>.</p>
<p>Despite these concerns, the U.S. is seemingly pushing ahead with this policy of “pragmatic engagement.”</p>
<p>In July 2023, A U.S. delegation led by Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West and Rina Amir, the special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights, <a href="https://www.state.gov/meeting-of-u-s-officials-with-taliban-representatives/">met with the Taliban</a> foreign minister in Doha. A State Department press release <a href="https://www.state.gov/meeting-of-u-s-officials-with-taliban-representatives/">framed the meeting</a> as a confidence-building exercise, noting positive developments such as growth in trade, a “decrease in large-scale terrorist attacks” and a “reduction in opium cultivation.”</p>
<p>Mention was made of the U.S. urging the Taliban to “reverse policies responsible for deteriorating human rights.” But as <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-meeting-with-taliban-puts-high-gloss-on-dismal-conditions-in-afghanistan/ar-AA1eJzbi?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=a3af02c159b04490a661e7cb28c5ba85&ei=268">one critic noted</a>, such language “fall(s) atrociously short of describing the Taliban’s vast inhumanity toward Afghans.”</p>
<h2>Lack of regional consensus</h2>
<p>The void left by the U.S. is being <a href="https://www.mei.edu/events/iran-russia-and-china-post-us-withdrawal-afghan-landscape">filled by regional powers and countries that share a border</a> with Afghanistan: China, India, Russia, Pakistan and Iran.</p>
<p>But every one of these countries has its own interests in Afghanistan. Sometimes these are directly conflicting, such as with Pakistan and India, which have <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/01/india-pakistan-rivalry-afghanistan">long been suspicious</a> of the other’s influence in Afghanistan. Historically, all border countries have <a href="https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/game-old-empire-return-proxy-wars-afghanistan">looked upon warring Afghan factions as proxies</a> to further their own aims – a tactic that has only added to the instability of the country.</p>
<p>The result is a lack of coordination between regional players on Afghanistan’s path forward and little pressure on the Taliban to continue down the political road map as set out by the Doha agreement.</p>
<h2>Repeating past mistakes</h2>
<p>This failure to hold the Taliban accountable risks repeating past mistakes in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In the 50 years since the last <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/18/archives/afghan-king-overthrown-a-republic-is-proclaimed-afghanistan-king-is.html">Afghan monarch was dethroned in 1973</a>, the country has been ruled by a succession of single-party governments that have excluded other political groups. In 2001, the international community excluded the Taliban from the <a href="https://inss.ndu.edu/Media/News/Article/693627/a-review-of-the-2001-bonn-conference-and-application-to-the-road-ahead-in-afgha/">Bonn Conference</a>, which set the pathway to governance for the country after the U.S. invasion.</p>
<p>Masoom Stanekzai, a former chief peace negotiator for the Afghan government, <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/10/missteps-and-missed-opportunities-peace-afghanistan">called the exclusion of the Taliban</a> “a strategic mistake” – and for good reason, I believe: History has shown that excluding factions in Afghanistan has led only to civil strife.</p>
<p>Since 2021, the Taliban has been allowed to continue Afghanistan down this path of single-party governance. As Andrew Watkins, senior expert on Afghanistan for the U.S. Institute of Peace, noted, the Taliban <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/08/one-year-later-taliban-reprise-repressive-rule-struggle-build-state">has shown in its governance one intent</a>: “To establish uncontested and unquestioned authority over Afghanistan’s state and society.”</p>
<p>With such ambitions, the Taliban leaves little room for the intra-Afghan dialogue needed for Afghanistan to move forward. </p>
<h2>The US role</h2>
<p>By signing the 2020 deal with the Taliban, the U.S took on joint responsibility for the delivery of promises made in the agreement. The pledge by Washington to withdraw forces has been fulfilled. But two years on from that, the Taliban has yet to deliver on its commitments. </p>
<p>This leaves the Biden administration with a choice: Try to keep the Doha deal alive by pressuring the Taliban into intra-Afghan talks, or accept that the deal is now dead. Either way, “pragmatic engagement” with the Taliban has shown itself to be wanting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sher Jan Ahmadzai is affiliated with Afghan-American Foundation. </span></em></p>The Biden administration has not ruled out diplomatic recognition of the Taliban. Doing so risks legitimizing the group’s rule without holding it accountable.Sher Jan Ahmadzai, Director, Center for Afghanistan Studies, University of Nebraska OmahaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2067592023-06-01T06:08:12Z2023-06-01T06:08:12ZA win for the press, a big loss for Ben Roberts-Smith: what does this judgment tell us about defamation law?<p>At the heart of the spectacular defamation trial brought by decorated Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith were two key questions. </p>
<p>Had the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times damaged his reputation when they published in 2018 a series of explosive stories accusing him of murder and other crimes while in Afghanistan? </p>
<p>And could the newspapers successfully defend their reporting as true?</p>
<p>Today, in Sydney, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko found the newspapers were indeed able to establish the “substantial truth” of key allegations around killing of unarmed Afghan male prisoners. </p>
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<p>An <a href="https://twitter.com/Kate_McClymont/status/1664130451869663232">appeal</a> may still be on the cards, but this is a high-profile loss for a very prominent person. The costs will be substantial. The usual rule is that the losing party pays their own costs and those of the winning party.</p>
<p>So, even though people say defamation law in Australia has a reputation for favouring plaintiffs, this case shows even plaintiffs do sometimes lose defamation cases in Australia.</p>
<p>More broadly, this case shows how hard it is to use defamation law to repair any perceived damage to your reputation. Once a case begins, you never can control what will be said in court.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-defamation-suits-in-australia-are-so-ubiquitous-and-difficult-to-defend-for-media-organisations-157143">Why defamation suits in Australia are so ubiquitous — and difficult to defend for media organisations</a>
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<h2>What was this case about?</h2>
<p>The case centred on several defamatory meanings (or, as they’re known in defamation law, “<a href="https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/ben-roberts-smith">imputations</a>”) that Roberts-Smith said the papers had made against him.</p>
<p>Among these were that he’d <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/110-days-41-witnesses-and-15-key-questions-to-answer-what-the-ben-roberts-smith-case-was-about-20230209-p5cjdp.html">killed</a> unarmed Afghan male prisoners and ordered junior soldiers to execute others in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.</p>
<p>Roberts-Smith denied wrongdoing, but the newspapers had pleaded a defence of truth. That means to win this case, they needed to prove the meanings conveyed by their reporting – even if those meanings were unintended – were true.</p>
<p>Besanko, reading a summary judgment today, said the newspapers were able to establish the substantial truth of some of the most serious imputations in the case. </p>
<p>For other imputations, Besanko found the newspapers were able to establish “contextual truth”. </p>
<p>Substantial truth means what is sounds like – that the allegation published was, in substance, true. Defamation law does not require strict, complete or absolute accuracy. Minor or inconsequential errors of detail are irrelevant. What matters is: has the publisher established what they published was, in substance, true?</p>
<p>Contextual truth is a fallback defence. The court has to weigh what has been found to be true against what has been found to be unproven. If the true statements about the plaintiff were worse than the unproven statements, then the plaintiff’s reputation was not overall damaged by the unproven statements, and the publisher has a complete defence.</p>
<p>In other words, Besanko found most of the imputations to be true. And, when considered against those which were not proven to be true, the remaining unproven imputations did not damage Roberts-Smith’s reputation.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lachlan-murdoch-could-well-have-won-his-crikey-lawsuit-so-why-did-he-drop-it-204279">Lachlan Murdoch could well have won his Crikey lawsuit, so why did he drop it?</a>
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<h2>What does this case tell us about defamation in Australia?</h2>
<p>The court heard several explosive claims during the course of this trial, including that evidence on USB sticks had been put into a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/13/court-hears-ben-roberts-smiths-ex-wife-dug-up-usb-sticks-from-family-backyard">lunchbox and buried</a> in a backyard and that Roberts-Smith had allegedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/13/woman-who-says-ben-roberts-smith-punched-her-sustained-an-injury-in-a-fall-earlier-on-same-night-defamation-trial-hears">punched a woman</a> in their hotel room.</p>
<p>Roberts-Smith said he didn’t bury the USBs or withhold information from a war crimes inquiry and denied that he had punched the woman. </p>
<p>But the fact this widely scrutinised case yielded such astonishing testimony, day in and day out, shows how risky it is to use defamation law to restore perceived injury to one’s reputation.</p>
<p>Defamation law is seeking to correct people’s views about the plaintiff. But it’s open to doubt that defamation law is actually any good at securing its own stated purpose of changing people’s minds about the plaintiff.</p>
<p>The problem is the law is a very blunt instrument. It’s very hard to get people to change their minds about what they think of you.</p>
<p>All litigation involves risk and defamation trials are even riskier. You never can control what can come out in court, as this litigation demonstrates so clearly.</p>
<p>Roberts-Smith has sued to protect his reputation, but in doing so, a range of adverse things have been said in court. And whatever is said in court is covered by the defence of absolute privilege; you can’t sue for defamation for anything said in court that is reported accurately and fairly.</p>
<h2>The 2021 defamation law reforms</h2>
<p>The law that applies in the Roberts-Smith case is the defamation law we had before major reforms introduced in July 2021 across most of Australia.</p>
<p>These reforms introduced a new defence known as the public interest defence. To use this defence, a publisher has to demonstrate that they reasonably believed the matter covered in their published material is in the public interest.</p>
<p>As this defence didn’t exist prior to 2021, the publishers in the Roberts-Smith case used the defence of truth.</p>
<p>If a case like this were litigated today following these reforms, it is highly likely the publisher would use the new public interest defence. </p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lachlan-murdoch-could-well-have-won-his-crikey-lawsuit-so-why-did-he-drop-it-204279">Murdoch versus Crikey</a> case was settled, we may yet wait some time to see what’s required to satisfy the public interest test in a defamation case.</p>
<p>But as today’s decision demonstrates, sometimes the truth alone will prevail.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/high-court-rules-media-are-liable-for-facebook-comments-on-their-stories-heres-what-that-means-for-your-favourite-facebook-pages-167435">High Court rules media are liable for Facebook comments on their stories. Here's what that means for your favourite Facebook pages</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rolph has received funding in the past from the ARC. </span></em></p>More broadly, this case shows how hard it is to use defamation law to repair any perceived damage to your reputation. Once a case begins, you never can control what will be said in court.David Rolph, Professor of Law, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030432023-04-20T20:02:10Z2023-04-20T20:02:10ZLess than illustrious: remembering the Anzacs means also not forgetting some committed war crimes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521466/original/file-20230418-18-f96w6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C14%2C4923%2C3594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Captured German trenches near Messines, June 1917.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daily Herald Archive / Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>It was observed […] that the English had slain wounded and captured German prisoners.</p>
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<p>So reads a disturbing war diary entry of the Bavarian 18th Regiment from June 7 1917, quoting one Schütze (Rifleman) Jakob Eickert of the 2. Machine Gun Company.</p>
<p>Another Bavarian soldier, Karl Kennel, was nearly one of those slain. He later wrote to the Red Cross that he and his friend Friedrich Christoffel were wounded when enemy troops bombed their dugout. </p>
<p>They emerged, belts unbuckled in surrender, and begged for mercy. Christoffel was on his knees with hands raised when a soldier pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger. Kennel escaped death by rolling into a shell hole.</p>
<p>The Bavarians were fighting the New Zealand Division that day in 1917, at the very bloody Battle of Messines. Both Eickert and Kennel were describing New Zealand soldiers’ actions – then, as now, war crimes.</p>
<p>These days, New Zealanders and Australians tend to place their soldiers on pedestals on Anzac Day. We are led to believe these mostly volunteer civilian soldiers were an exceptional body of fighting men (something the men themselves also believed). But this reputation came at a price.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521469/original/file-20230418-17-9nxbf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Luckier than some: wounded German soldiers captured at Messines arrive at the New Zealand field hospital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexander Turnbull Library</span></span>
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<h2>‘It was quite common’</h2>
<p>Anzac soldiers should have known such killing of enemy prisoners was forbidden. The British Manual of Military Law, which codified the <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/hague-conv-iv-1907">1907 Hague Convention</a> on land warfare, forbade soldiers from killing or wounding an enemy who had surrendered at their own discretion. “This prohibition is clear and distinct”.</p>
<p>Furthermore, officers and men alike were expected to know these regulations. Yet as I show in my book, Taking the Ridge: Anzacs and Germans at the Battle of Messines 1917, New Zealand soldiers’ diaries and memoirs confirm that killing prisoners and the wounded was a feature of the fighting at Messines, and likely elsewhere.</p>
<p>Some diary entries were matter of fact: “Our fellows used the steel [bayonet] a great deal so there were not so many prisoners as there might have been,” wrote one soldier. “Lots of Germans were bayoneted on the ground, wounded men. It was quite common,” wrote another.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-urgent-rethink-is-needed-on-the-idealised-image-of-the-anzac-digger-107003">An urgent rethink is needed on the idealised image of the ANZAC digger</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One wrote of speaking to a German he took prisoner: “He was like the rest, full of the tales of British cruelty to prisoners. They all expect to be killed and I am afraid I saw some very dirty work done, which might account for the tales they hear.”</p>
<p>Others simply distanced themselves from such actions: “I’m proud to say it never entered my head to [kill wounded men] or shoot down people with their hands up,” wrote one.</p>
<p>There are also examples of compassion and soldiers comforting wounded Germans. But other actions were contingent on the circumstances – a case of “them or us”. When Rifleman Edward Miller and his officer struck a dugout of “Fritzes”, for example, they took prisoner a solitary German. But they took no chances with another group of Germans, one holding up a white handkerchief – they were “finished off”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521733/original/file-20230418-20-a8a1m6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The past on a pedestal: commemoration service at the Messines Ridge (British) Cemetery in 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffrey McNeill</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Officially sanctioned’</h2>
<p>The New Zealanders sent some 300 prisoners to the rear in the battle. But that is only half the number the adjacent British 25th Division took prisoner. The discrepancy suggests particularly savage fighting by the New Zealanders.</p>
<p>Individuals must bear responsibility for their actions, but so must their commanders. The New Zealanders’ senior officers’ support for killing prisoners tended to be tacit. A bloodcurdling lecture on bayonet use by the Scottish firebrand Major Ronald Campbell to the New Zealanders before the Somme attack in 1916 gives some insight. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anzacs-behaving-badly-scott-mcintyre-and-contested-history-40955">Anzacs behaving badly: Scott McIntyre and contested history</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Campbell had discouraged taking prisoners. Rather, soldiers should bayonet surrendering enemy soldiers when they put they hands up – “that’s your chance to stick him in the soft part of the belly where the bayonet goes in easily and comes out quickly”, Campbell instructed.</p>
<p>The New Zealand Division’s commander, General Andrew Russell, approved: “Lecture by Major Campbell on bayonet fighting – very good indeed.” Captain Lindsay Inglis, a law clerk before the war and a brigadier in the next war, did not. He wrote in his diary:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It would be interesting to know to what extent [these lectures were] responsible for deeds of the kind which even in war amount to nothing less than brutal murder […] We were astonished that it should have been officially sanctioned.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-anzac-legend-has-blinded-australia-to-its-war-atrocities-its-time-for-a-reckoning-151022">The Anzac legend has blinded Australia to its war atrocities. It's time for a reckoning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Lest we forget</h2>
<p>Airing this dirty laundry may seem inappropriate for Anzac Day, especially as many men did not commit war crimes. But knowing what happened in battle provides a more complete understanding of their experience. </p>
<p>War is brutal. Despite headlines at the time proclaiming Messines a great New Zealand victory “for extraordinarily light losses”, some 3,700 New Zealanders were killed or wounded in the battle. Around 3,600 of the Bavarians opposite them were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Only three officers and 30 men of the three Bavarian front-line battalions returned.</p>
<p>And war is still brutal today, with similar consequences. Investigations into the behaviour of Australian and New Zealand troops in Afghanistan in recent decades only underline the contemporary relevance of older misdeeds. </p>
<p>This includes the inquiry into the conduct of New Zealand SAS troops during <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/operation-burnham-soldiers-operating-overseas-given-new-orders-for-handling-detainees/NDOHKTNOJJF6LIOFXDHY7GUNIQ/">Operation Burnham</a>, and the Australian <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook47p/BreretonReport">Brereton Report</a>, which found serious breaches of ethical, legal, professional and moral responsibilities by Australian Defence Force soldiers. </p>
<p>By acknowledging this kind of behaviour has occurred during past wars, the public will perhaps be less reluctant to accept evidence that it can still happen. It should also mean the military itself will work to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey McNeill is the author of Taking the Ridge: Anzacs and Germans at the Battle of Messines 1917 (Rifleman Press, 2022) from which some of the material in this article is drawn.</span></em></p>Evidence shows New Zealand’s first world war soldiers killed both surrendering and wounded German soldiers. Their actions, condoned at the highest level, cast a long shadow.Jeffrey McNeill, Senior Lecturer in Resource & Environmental Planning, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982732023-01-26T13:23:47Z2023-01-26T13:23:47ZPrince Harry’s kill count revelation could spark important discussions about war’s effects on soldiers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506197/original/file-20230124-8245-bm9pg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prince Harry's new book "Spare" is stirring discussion about whether he should have revealed the number of warfighters that he killed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prince-harry-presents-12-pilots-from-course-17-02-of-the-news-photo/932885722?phrase=prince%20harry%20pilot&adppopup=true">Anwar Hussein / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When Prince Harry revealed in his new book, “<a href="https://princeharrymemoir.com/">Spare</a>,” that he killed 25 Taliban fighters as an Apache helicopter pilot, he compared their deaths to “chess pieces removed from the board.” His comments have drawn ire from critics, such as Anas Haqqani, a member of the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/04/haqqani-network-taliban-relationship-afghanistan-pakistan-terrorism/">Haqqani Network</a>, which is an Afghan Sunni Islamist militant organization and part of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Haqqani shot back that those slain fighters “<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/implications-prince-harry-saying-killed-235502482.html">were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return</a>.” But others have questioned whether Prince Harry should have spoken about his body count at all.</em></p>
<p><em>Here, <a href="https://www.usafa.edu/facultyprofile/?smid=14215">L. William Uhl</a>, an assistant professor of philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy, provides insight on what airmen are taught and told when it comes to the sensitive topic of taking lives in the line of duty.</em></p>
<h2>1. How often do airmen have to discuss the kills they did in battle?</h2>
<p>Reporting kills is actually a routine part of an airman’s duty. It comes up as part of what is called battle damage assessment. This assessment is necessary to determine how much of the enemy’s physical and functional capabilities remain.</p>
<p>Some airmen’s annual performance reports will include the number of enemy combatants they have killed. These numbers become part of these airmen’s permanent records and are used to demonstrate how they have contributed to their units’ missions. It is possible to determine how many have been killed, for example, if certain weapon imaging systems are used or enemy combatants are out in the open. </p>
<p>Prince Harry himself says, “So, my number: Twenty-five. It wasn’t a number that gave me any satisfaction. But neither was it a number that made me feel ashamed. Naturally, I’d have preferred not to have that number on my military CV [curriculum vitae], on my mind, but by the same token I’d have preferred to live in a world in which there was no Taliban, a world without war.” </p>
<p>It is one thing to destroy a facility and not dwell on the people inside, another to witness one or more deaths directly or through some form of imaging.</p>
<h2>2. With whom should airmen discuss their kills?</h2>
<p>After airmen deploy to combat areas, they are required to talk to counselors when they redeploy home. But I know from experience that sometimes they cannot wait until then.</p>
<p>While I was deployed to Baghdad International Airport in 2004 – one year after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein – Iraqi insurgents ambushed a convoy returning to Baghdad from Balad. During the firefight, American forces lost one captain but managed to kill some of the insurgents. A friend who was a chaplain told me that from the time these troops had returned to base, many had sought him out for counseling, even into the wee hours of the morning. They struggled with the realization that they had killed people in the performance of their duties. </p>
<h2>3. Is there any reason not to disclose the number of kills during or after one’s service?</h2>
<p>Richard Kemp, a former British Army colonel, has said that Prince Harry’s providing the number of kills could <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/implications-prince-harry-saying-killed-235502482.html">provoke attacks from the Taliban and their followers</a> on the United Kingdom. Tobias Ellwood, a member of Parliament and a former British Army captain, said that “there is the <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/implications-prince-harry-saying-killed-235502482.html">unwritten assumption</a> that nobody publicly discusses kill counts for the principal reason that it can have security repercussions.” They are responding not only to Prince Harry’s notoriety as a member of the royal family but also to his connections with the British military and the <a href="https://www.royal.uk/invictus-games">Invictus Games</a>, the charity he launched to help wounded British service members recover from their injuries. </p>
<p>Few, if any, American service members will rise to Prince Harry’s level of notoriety. Nevertheless, while in service or after leaving the service, those who wish to publish their memoirs in one form or another should contact the public affairs office of their military branch for guidance. Memoirs about wars fought many decades ago, such as World War II, Korea or Vietnam, will most likely not raise as many security concerns as accounts about more recent conflicts.</p>
<p>Discussing numbers of people killed or thought processes about killing can elicit strong reactions from anyone, but especially from those who consider the United States and its allies to be the enemy. Without realizing it, active-duty service members and former service members who have left active duty since Desert Storm may put lives at risk by revealing information about current operations, weapon system capabilities or deployment locations.</p>
<h2>4. How do service members view such disclosures?</h2>
<p>When teaching my cadets about the moral issues of killing in war, I find that these young future officers wrestle with taking on the daunting responsibility: most people their age will never have to reckon with killing if called upon to do so. </p>
<p>In class I teach about what Michael Walzer refers to as “naked soldiers” in his book “<a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/michael-walzer/just-and-unjust-wars/9780465052707/">Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations</a>.” The book recounts five examples from World War I, the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In each example, a soldier refrained from killing an enemy soldier because he realized that the enemy soldier was just like him: another human being.</p>
<p>Upon discussing this book, many of my cadets have told me about conversations they have had with relatives who have seen combat. In most cases, my cadets say their relatives leave out the specifics of having killed or don’t talk about their combat experience at all.</p>
<p>In the first few years after the 9/11 attacks, some military units would show, for various purposes, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbs_0WM2P8">videos</a> that were set to heavy metal music and contained footage from the weapon’s point of view as it was about to impact the target. I would say that these videos were a way of not only expressing Americans’ anger about the 9/11 attacks but also of motivating airmen to take the fight to the enemy.</p>
<p>Cadets I have recently taught have said that while they understood the purposes of the videos they have seen, they were bothered knowing that as these munitions zeroed in on their targets, people were only a few moments away from dying.</p>
<p>Each semester, cadets enrolled in our core philosophy course attend a lecture on an issue related to <a href="https://ethics.org.au/ethics-explainer-just-war/#:%7E:text=Just%20war%20theory%20is%20an,of%20different%20forms%20over%20time.">just war theory</a>, a framework of ethics used to determine when it is permissible to go to war. In 2019, Karl Marlantes, a Marine lieutenant during the Vietnam War, spoke about what it was like for him to kill a young Vietnamese soldier at close range. He also spoke about what he has done “<a href="https://groveatlantic.com/book/what-it-is-like-to-go-to-war/">to make peace with his past</a>.” I still recall the dead silence from the audience as they listened to Marlantes’ account. </p>
<h2>5. Should Harry get some sort of consideration because of the public or media interest in his life?</h2>
<p>Many people have criticized “Spare” because they believe that Prince Harry has revealed details about not only his own life but also royal family life that probably should remain undisclosed. In many instances, I tend to agree. But I also think that, given his notoriety, he addresses a very important question: How do service members maintain their moral integrity and well-being after having taken lives in the performance of their duties?</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/us/drones-airstrikes-ptsd.html">The Unseen Scars of Those Who Kill via Remote Control</a>,” Dave Philipps discusses the stress that drone pilots experience. These pilots may observe targets for a long time before finally receiving the order to kill them. What bothers many of these pilots is that they come to see these targets as ordinary human beings with families. The difference is when their shifts are over, these pilots go home to their own families and do the very same activities they observed their targets doing with theirs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I am an active-duty Air Force officer assigned to the United States Air Force Academy.</span></em></p>A US Air Force professor of philosophy weighs in on Prince Harry’s decision to disclose his ‘body count’ from his service in Afghanistan.L. William Uhl, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, United States Air Force AcademyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1922352022-11-11T13:13:21Z2022-11-11T13:13:21ZThis course examines how images of veiled Muslim women are used to justify war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489092/original/file-20221011-26-p5xwvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C18%2C2038%2C1355&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Photographs capture images of women in war-torn regions of the world.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/file-picture-showing-an-afghan-woman-passing-by-a-french-news-photo/55712325?phrase=afghan%20women%20war&adppopup=true">SHAH MARAI/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Course Title:</h2>
<p>“Women and War”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>When I was on a fellowship at the Library of Congress finishing my first book, “<a href="https://sararahnama.com/research">The Future is Feminist</a>,” I had the opportunity to connect with other scholars. One of those scholars, <a href="https://marthasjones.com/">historian Martha Jones</a>, encouraged me to design a class based on my research interests. With that in mind, I designed a new freshman seminar, “Women and War.” The seminar bridges my research on gender and Islam in French colonial Algeria with my new project, a history of girlhood in the 1970s Middle East.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>The course looks at how particular depictions of Muslim women – as <a href="https://veil.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/306/2012/04/moorish-women-promenade-1000.jpg">veiled</a>, <a href="https://veil.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/306/2012/04/yachmak.jpg">oppressed</a>, <a href="https://media.newyorker.com/photos/59d26c8527eccc3d6d6ada7e/master/w_1600,c_limit/Sentilles-Colonial-Harem_1.jpeg">constrained</a> and yet <a href="https://veil.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/306/2012/04/dance-of-the-veil-1.jpg">sexually alluring</a> – have been used to legitimize political intervention and wars in three contexts: colonial Algeria, Iran before and after the Iranian Revolution, and Afghanistan since 2001. </p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>Tensions over gender and Islam reappear regularly in the news. Examples include developments in the Middle East, such as the case of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-iran-protests-over-dress-codes-stoked-broader-public-anger/2022/10/11/d73a5b96-497d-11ed-8153-96ee97b218d2_story.html">died in police custody in Iran</a> after being detained for violating the country’s dress code. Other examples include new laws in Europe that <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/top-eu-court-rules-hijab-can-be-banned-at-work">curtail Muslim women’s right to wear a veil</a>. Yet, these discussions are often disconnected from political and military intervention in the Middle East. </p>
<p>I begin the course with a look at how in 2001, former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4645885/user-clip-rep-carolyn-maloney-wears-burka-house-floor">wore a burqa on the floor of the House of Representatives</a>. She did so to <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2021/08/26/maloney-defends-wearing-burqa-amid-criticism-from-challenger">argue in favor</a> of United States military intervention on behalf of Afghan women. She assumed the public would read the burqa as a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/afghanistan-burqa-congress-speech-b1904142.html">visible marker of women’s subjugation</a> – and many people did. This gives students a concrete example of the themes we discuss in the course and their ongoing relevance.</p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>One example is how, from the very beginning of the French colonial rule in Algeria, French photographers <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/colonial-postcards-and-women-as-props-for-war-making">produced postcards that depicted Algerian women</a>, usually either fully veiled or in various states of undress. These photographs evoked both notions of oppression and exotic allure. The images also helped make the colonization of Algeria a more popular enterprise, with people at home both fascinated by Algerian women and convinced that they needed intervention to emancipate them from the shackles of their oppressive religion. </p>
<p>Later, we examined how even as the French empire was struggling to survive in Algeria during the Algerian War of Independence, the French army targeted Algerian women through <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/04/13/frances-ban-veil-looks-far-more-sinister-historical-context/">unveiling campaigns and veil-burning ceremonies</a>.</p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>The class has used a wide range of materials, from an <a href="https://apexart.org/falecka.php">art exhibition</a> that showcases the women who participated in Algeria’s war of independence, to the 1971 book “<a href="https://www.iranchamber.com/personalities/ashariati/works/fatima_is_fatima1.php">Fatima is Fatima</a>,” written by the Iranian leftist revolutionary <a href="https://merip.org/1982/01/ali-shariati-ideologue-of-the-iranian-revolution/">Ali Shariati</a>. It describes how Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, could be a model of revolutionary action for Iranian women.</p>
<p>We have also looked at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877920957348">vintage Iranian photographs</a> on social media. In <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CivKubYMwCA/">one montage</a> that has garnered almost 100,000 likes on Instagram, color photographs of women in bikinis and miniskirts during the time of the shah transition to black-and-white photographs of women in black chadors in Iran after 1979. The first two photographs were actually Mexican American women. Still, such images could be subbed in such montages for Iranian women and used to convey a shorthand: Freedom means the freedom to be unveiled, while veiling can only mean restriction and oppression. </p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>The course prepares students to critically engage with news from the Middle East by being able to identify and analyze the recurrent <a href="https://ajammc.com/2017/09/06/weaponization-nostalgia-afghan-miniskirts/">misogynistic</a> and <a href="https://fair.org/home/please-stop-using-woman-in-chador-walks-by-anti-us-mural-stock-photo-for-every-article-about-iran/">Islamophobic</a> ways the region and its peoples are represented.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Rahnama previously received fellowship funding from the John Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. </span></em></p>Pictures of women in war play a pivotal role in the battlefield of political ideas, argues a feminist historian who examines how images and attire are used and seen in war zones and occupied lands.Sara Rahnama, Assistant Professor of History, Morgan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1883292022-08-17T12:38:13Z2022-08-17T12:38:13ZPACT Act providing health care to burn pit victims caps decades of denied benefits for veterans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479205/original/file-20220815-10469-kn4fyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=799%2C161%2C5189%2C3825&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden applauds Brielle Robinson, daughter of the late Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson, after signing the PACT Act on Aug. 10, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-applauds-and-acknowledges-brielle-news-photo/1242419232?adppopup=true">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During a 13-month stint in Iraq that began in 2006, <a href="https://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/story/news/2020/05/08/pickerington-veteran-39-dies-of-lung-cancer-blamed-on-burn-pit-exposure/3094619001/">Heath Robinson served as a medic</a> with the Ohio National Guard. Like thousands of others soldiers stationed there, he was routinely exposed to toxic smoke emanating from what are <a href="https://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/exposures/ten-things-to-know-fact-sheet.pdf">known as burn pits</a>. </p>
<p>Located near military bases, some of these pits were nearly as large as three city blocks and were <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/burn-pits/2022/03/29/what-are-military-burn-pits-and-why-are-veterans-worried-about-them/">used by the military to incinerate</a> chemical weapons, computer hardware, human remains, medical waste, asbestos, pesticides, paint cans, fuels, rubber and other materials. </p>
<p>A decade after his deployment, Robinson was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. He was unable to prove that his cancer was caused by the exposure to the poisonous fumes from the burn pits, and <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/ohio-nurse-widow-burn-pit-193301094.html">the Veterans Administration denied</a> him health care benefits associated with his disease. </p>
<p>In May 2020, Robinson died from his illness, leaving behind a widow and an 8-year-old daughter. He was 39 years old.</p>
<p>Robinson was not the only serviceman denied benefits for burn pit exposure-related diseases by the Veterans Administration. Between 2007 and 2020, <a href="https://www.stripes.com/veterans/va-has-denied-about-78-of-disability-claims-from-burn-pits-1.646181">nearly 80%</a> of those claims were denied. Of the 12,582 claims for these benefits during that time period, only 2,828 were approved, <a href="https://ruiz.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/after-nearly-two-decades-war-va-still-denies-78-veterans-burn-pits-claims">according to the Veterans Administration</a>. </p>
<p>The denial of services is expected to come to an abrupt halt now that President Joe Biden on Aug. 10, 2022, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/us/politics/biden-burn-pits.html">signed into law</a>
legislation that will require the Veterans Administration to provide health services to soldiers suffering from more than 20 diseases associated with burn pits, including several forms of cancer and lung disease. </p>
<p>Officially called “The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022,” the law is known as <a href="https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/">the PACT Act</a>. It also requires the Veterans Administration to expand health care to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during service in Vietnam, the Gulf War and global war on terrorism.</p>
<p>Most important, <a href="https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5815">the PACT Act</a> removes the burden of proof and gives veterans the benefit of doubt at a time of desperate need.</p>
<h2>The GOP backlash</h2>
<p>For the past 12 years, <a href="https://jasonhiggins.vt.domains/home/">I have been doing oral history interviews</a> with veterans from the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. In our research for our book “<a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781625346537/service-denied/">Service Denied</a>: Marginalized Veterans in Modern American History,” historian <a href="https://cas.okstate.edu/department_of_history/faculty_bios/kinder.html">John M. Kinder</a> and I uncovered a long record of rights and benefits denied to military veterans between 1900 and 2020.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A solider is patrolling near a large pit that contains trash thrown out by U.S. military and set on fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479204/original/file-20220815-11-747n7n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The remnants of a burn pit near a U.S. military base in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/soldier-in-the-afghan-national-army-walks-past-a-burn-pit-news-photo/168329521?adppopup=true">Andrew Burton/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a moment, the <a href="https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-117HR3967RH-RCP117-33.pdf">PACT Act</a> looked like it was about to be defeated. </p>
<p>The Senate had approved the bill on June 16, 2022, but during a second vote over a minor technicality, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/30/23284976/senate-republicans-pact-act-veterans">Republican senators blocked its passage</a> less than two weeks later. Some claimed the legislation, estimated to <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58177">cost US$285 billion</a>, created a “<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3586430-these-11-gop-senators-voted-against-the-honoring-our-pact-act/">slush fund</a>” of billions of dollars.</p>
<p>In a video that went viral on social media, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was seen congratulating his GOP colleagues <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/gop-fistbump-pact-senate-military-ted-cruz-steve-daines-1729031">with fist bumps</a> after they sank the bill. </p>
<p>The bill’s defeat drew instant outrage. </p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/veterans-started-camping-capitol-steps-gop-blocks-burn-pit-bill-rcna40981">60 veterans organizations</a> spoke out in support of the PACT Act. At least 15 veterans <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/burn-pits/2022/07/30/vets-holding-around-the-clock-protest-outside-capitol-to-push-for-new-toxic-exposure-bill/">camped out</a> on the steps of the Capitol. </p>
<p>They protested the denial of care to veterans and talked about the rates of suicide, <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/veterans-prison-survey-prison-inmates-2016">incarceration</a> and <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG720.pdf">invisible wounds</a> such as <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967#:%7E:text=Post%2Dtraumatic%20stress%20disorder%20(PTSD)%20is%20a%20mental%20health,uncontrollable%20thoughts%20about%20the%20event.">post-traumatic stress disorder</a>, affecting more than 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUW3-dzmRZc">Comedian and veterans activist Jon Stewart</a> stood outside the Capitol on July 28 and condemned the actions of the GOP senators.</p>
<p>“I’m used to the hypocrisy,” Stewart said, “but I’m not used to the cruelty.”</p>
<p>Less than a week after Senate Republicans rejected the PACT act, the legislation <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/02/1115325176/pact-act-veterans-burn-pits-toxins-passes-senate">passed 86-11</a> on Aug. 2, 2022, without revisions – and was sent to Biden for his signature. </p>
<p>“Toxic smoke, thick with poison spreading through the air and into the lungs of our troops,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/08/10/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-s-3373-the-sergeant-first-class-heath-robinson-honoring-our-promises-to-address-comprehensive-toxics-pact-act-of-2022/">Biden said after signing the bill</a>. “When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same. Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer.”</p>
<h2>The burden of proof</h2>
<p>The callous disregard of veterans is a shameful and overlooked tradition in American history.</p>
<p>In my research, I found that the denial of medical care to veterans suffering from diseases acquired during their service – and the fight to acquire it – is nothing new. </p>
<p>During the Spanish American War, for instance, where U.S. soldiers fought in both Cuba and the Philippines between 1898 and 1902, more than 5,000 U.S. troops died from diseases likely associated with typhoid and malaria. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fever-scourge-spanish-american-war/">Of the 171,000 personnel</a> who served abroad in that war, 20,700 contracted typhoid alone and more than 1,500 died. </p>
<p>Historian <a href="https://womenfaculty.afia.ucf.edu/profile/barbara-gannon/">Barbara Gannon</a> writes about how these veterans fought, during the Great Depression era, for acknowledgment of their service-connected disabilities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/economy-act-1933">The Economy Act of 1933</a> cut the pensions of hundreds of thousands of veterans, including 74,000 disabled Spanish American War veterans and 387,000 World War I veterans, prompting many to commit suicide.</p>
<p>In that moment, veterans learned an important lesson about uniting across multiple generations to receive care.</p>
<p>Long before the official recognition of PTSD in 1980, veterans quietly suffered with uncompensated disabilities related to combat stress known as <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/06/shell-shocked">shell shock</a> for much of their post-military lives.</p>
<p>Most recently, Vietnam veterans exposed to <a href="https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/">Agent Orange</a> and other <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209597/">chemical herbicides</a> that were used to defoliate dense jungles in Vietnam have fought for Veterans Administration benefits and health care since 1977. One such benefit was monthly compensation if a veteran was unable to work as a result of their illness acquired from their service. </p>
<p>In 1979, Congress ordered the Veterans Administration to investigate the carcinogenic effects of dioxins, a major ingredient in Agent Orange and other defoliants used in Vietnam, according to the <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R43790.pdf">Congressional Research Service</a>. But nearly a decade later, neither the Veterans Administration nor the Centers for Disease Control could prove a connection between Agent Orange and sick veterans. </p>
<p>The lack of scientific consensus delayed treatment to sick Vietnam veterans. Veterans were required to prove a direct exposure to Agent Orange, and when they couldn’t, most were denied disability claims. </p>
<p>At the urging of the <a href="https://vva.org/">Vietnam Veterans of America</a>, Congress passed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/house-bill/556">Agent Orange Act in 1991</a>, requiring the Veterans Administration to provide care for <a href="https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/">certain diseases</a> associated with exposure to dioxins such as those found in Agent Orange. </p>
<p>But even then, Vietnam veterans still had to prove they served <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/agent-orange-act-was-supposed-to-help-vietnam-veterans-but-many-still-dont-">in-country,</a> and many could not, thus disqualifying thousands of vets exposed to Agent Orange who had never set foot in Vietnam. </p>
<p>Finally, in 2019, Congress passed the <a href="https://vva.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/AgentOrangeGuide.pdf">Blue Water Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019</a>, extending <a href="https://benefits.va.gov/benefits/blue-water-navy.asp">Veterans Administration benefits</a> to 90,000 “Blue Water Navy veterans” exposed to Agent Orange on ships off the coast of Vietnam.</p>
<h2>An endless fight</h2>
<p>The PACT Act brought together a groundswell of veterans from multiple generations in support of expanded health care and disability benefits for veterans.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man wearing a baseball cap and t-shirt holds a microphone and speaks to a crowd holding flags and waving posters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479208/original/file-20220815-20-r0gpd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comedian and activist Jon Stewart speaks during a rally to call on the Senate to pass the PACT Act on Aug. 1, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/comedian-and-activist-jon-stewart-speaks-during-a-rally-to-news-photo/1242247731?adppopup=true">Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What seemed to be a spontaneous backlash against GOP senators had, in fact, been decades in the making.</p>
<p>On Capitol Hill, representatives from the <a href="https://vva.org/">Vietnam Veterans of America</a>, <a href="https://www.vfw.org/">Veterans of Foreign Wars</a> and <a href="https://www.dav.org/">Disabled American Veterans</a> joined forces with <a href="https://iava.org/about/">Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America</a> to support the PACT Act, which was first introduced in June 2021.</p>
<p>Given the long history of denial, Biden was not understating the importance of the PACT Act.</p>
<p>“This is the most significant law our nation has ever passed to help millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during their military services,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/08/10/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-s-3373-the-sergeant-first-class-heath-robinson-honoring-our-promises-to-address-comprehensive-toxics-pact-act-of-2022/">Biden said</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason A. Higgins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Joe Biden signed into law the most expansive health care package for military veterans in recent history – despite initial GOP opposition.Jason A. Higgins, Post-doctoral fellow in digital humanities, Virginia TechLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1883522022-08-09T20:04:57Z2022-08-09T20:04:57ZFrom future lawyer to betrothed to a Taliban fighter: August in Kabul shows how life changed overnight for so many in Afghanistan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478009/original/file-20220808-15-so3g8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C0%2C7438%2C4929&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taliban fighters ride through the streets of Kabul on a captured police humvee hours after president Ashraf Ghani fled the Afhgan capital on 15 August 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Quilty</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On page 79 of August in Kabul, Andrew Quilty introduces us to Nadia Amini, a 19-year-old student of Tajik descent who attends a madrassa, or religious school, in the Afghan capital. She is completing her third-semester exams with ambitions to become a lawyer.</p>
<p>None of that came to pass as the Taliban swept into Kabul in mid-August, 2021. In the process, Nadia’s own life disintegrated.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: August in Kabul: America’s last days in Afghanistan – Andrew Quilty (MUP)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Her father had promised her as a bride to a Taliban fighter to buy protection for his family. She resisted. Her brother beat her while her father looked on. Her mother was unable or unwilling to intervene.</p>
<p>She abandoned the family for an uncertain future.</p>
<p>Nadia’s personal story is a thread that runs through Quilty’s account of the last chaotic days of a failed American nation-building exercise that began with an assault on al-Qaeda strongholds and ended in disaster.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478175/original/file-20220809-11-ffr1dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a Saudi humanitarian aid group in Kabul earlier this year. The Taliban has ordered all women wear the burqua in public.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ebrahim Noroozi/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>America’s retaliation for al-Qaeda’s attack on the American homeland on September 11, 2001, had run its course in shambolic scenes from Karzai International Airport as desperate Afghans clung to the undercarriage of a departing aircraft, only to fall to their deaths.</p>
<p>In his own reconstruction of what happened in the last days of the American and NATO-supported regime in Kabul, Quilty takes us inside a military command post guarding the approaches to the capital where Captain Jalal Sulaiman was making a heroic stand against a Taliban encirclement.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478002/original/file-20220808-21-ben45q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Quilty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MUP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Running low on ammunition and water, without the sort of air cover provided by the departed American and NATO forces, Sulaiman’s ability to withstand the Taliban advances crumbled.</p>
<p>As a professional soldier he had tried to make a fight of it, but the cause was hopeless. These scenes were repeated across Afghanistan as provincial capital after capital fell to the Taliban, often without a shot being fired.</p>
<p>The regime in Kabul, without American and NATO military support and with its own army unwilling to fight, had been exposed for what it was – an empty shell.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-a-year-after-the-taliban-occupation-an-ongoing-war-on-human-rights-187728">Afghanistan a year after the Taliban occupation: An ongoing war on human rights</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>End of a bloody affair</h2>
<p>August in Kabul is a reporter’s attempt to make sense of the overnight disintegration of a regime in which the US and its NATO partners had invested billions of dollars and thousands of lives. </p>
<p>Quilty’s tortured, decade-long love affair with Afghanistan, in which he exhibited extraordinary bravery as a frontline photo-correspondent, tumbles over itself in a densely-written book that would have benefited from thinning out in places.</p>
<p>A dramatis personae to identify the main players would also have been helpful.</p>
<p>On occasions, the contents of a reporter’s notebook spill onto the page in a way that requires quite a bit of concentration to keep up. That said, this is a book worth persevering with as a record of a longtime observer’s reactions to the end of a bloody affair, not in weeks, or days, but in hours, even minutes.</p>
<p>Quilty witnessed a moment when it all fell apart.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478004/original/file-20220808-24-ipikol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hundreds of Afghans wait outside a perimeter gate on the northwestern side of Hamid Karzai International Airport as a military transport plane departs during the mass-evacuation operation that saw a reported 120 000 non-combatants airlifted out of the Afghan capital in the last two weeks of August. 24 August 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Quilty</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a way, what is surprising is that reporters and analysts were surprised at the speed with which Afghan resistance disintegrated. Once American air power was withdrawn and the Trump administration engaged the Taliban in what was known as the Doha process, the game was pretty much up.</p>
<p>Doha was the location of negotiations aimed at ending the US involvement in Afghanistan. These concluded with what was known as the Doha Agreement in early 2020. Effectively, the Trump administration legitimised the Taliban. A Taliban victory was probably inevitable. This made it virtually certain.</p>
<p>Nearly 2,000 Americans died in combat in Afghanistan. Forty one Australians lost their lives. This was America’s longest war, longer than both world wars, longer than Vietnam, longer than Iraq, at a cost of trillions of dollars.</p>
<p>Quilty picks out moments when it should have been clear the Afghan war was a losing proposition. One of these was in 2009 when US President Barack Obama announced a surge of troops and in the same speech revealed when the military offensive would end.</p>
<p>He quotes David Kilcullen, the Australian counter-insurgency expert, as saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We basically told the Taliban exactly how long they needed to wait until we’d be gone.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Low frequency disquiet’</h2>
<p>Early in his book, Quilty uses an expression familiar to correspondents in war zones. He speaks of </p>
<blockquote>
<p>low frequency disquiet that distinguishes a city that while not at war per se, hosts regular, isolated acts of war.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This had been his experience over nine years as resident of a city that had experienced “low frequency disquiet’’ punctuated by random acts of violent terrorism since the US and its NATO allies had put the Taliban to flight in 2001.</p>
<p>The Americans and their friends then found themselves enmeshed in an unwinnable war in a country that had defied efforts to pacify it over centuries. Afghanistan’s history might’ve been better understood.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-joe-biden-failed-the-people-of-afghanistan-and-tarnished-us-credibility-around-the-world-166160">How Joe Biden failed the people of Afghanistan — and tarnished US credibility around the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In his efforts to explain why it all went wrong, Quilty spends quite a lot of his book inside the presidential palace among advisers to the President Ashraf Ghani whose fate it was to be in power when the Taliban were at Kabul’s gates last August.</p>
<p>Staffers like Hamed Safi, media adviser to the president, provide an insider’s perspective on the last days of the doomed Ghani regime, and all the moral dilemmas that attach themselves to participants in the dying moments of a failed enterprise.</p>
<p>Do I run, or do I stay? How do I ensure the safety of my family? Will our armed forces be able to hold out against the Taliban, even for a few days?</p>
<p>The answer to the last question came emphatically on August 15 when a few shots in the air in the vicinity of the presidential palace and the ministries sowed panic. Police were removing their uniforms. They were abandoning security posts at the airport. Looting had begun.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477997/original/file-20220808-20-2d5wcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People struggle to enter the airport to flee the country in August 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stringer/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Taliban were claiming victory.</p>
<p>In a cameo that reveals the extent to which President Ghani was detached from the reality of the disaster happening around him, his youthful national security advisor, Mohib Hamdullah went to Ghani’s residence to tell him to leave the country.</p>
<p>"Mr President, it’s time to leave,” Hamdullah told Ghani who was preparing for a meeting at the Ministry of Defence.</p>
<p>The game was up.</p>
<p>In three helicopters, Ghani fled to nearby Uzbekistan. He was president no longer. Afghanistan had fallen to the Taliban in days.</p>
<p>Ashraf Ghani would become a footnote in history.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477995/original/file-20220808-18-tt5qf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul after President Ghani fled the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zabi Karim/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, Nadia Amini had taken refuge in the safe house provided by an aid worker for women at risk from the Taliban. She helped out, and when she left the house she carried a razor blade.</p>
<p>“The next time that I am captured by the Taliban, I can defend myself. Kill myself,’’ she told Quilty.</p>
<p>These are raw moments.</p>
<p>On 6 April, 2022, Nadia secured a safe passage out of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Andrew Quilty might yet tell us what happened to her.</p>
<p><em>Correction: this article originally said 38 Australians lost their lives in combat in Afghanistan. The article has now been updated with the correct figure, which is 41 deaths in combat.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new book by Australian photo-journalist Andrew Quilty records the last chaotic days of the failed American nation-building exercise in Afghanistan.Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor's fellow, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853912022-06-30T19:49:47Z2022-06-30T19:49:47ZFriday essay: why soldiers commit war crimes – and what we can do about it<p><em>The following essay contains disturbing images and language.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In 2020, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force released the <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/IGADF-Afghanistan-Inquiry-Public-Release-Version.pdf">Afghanistan Inquiry</a> into Australian Defence Force Special Forces atrocities in Afghanistan. The report – commonly known as the Brereton Report – resulted in a flurry of analysis debating how and why Australian soldiers could have committed war crimes. </p>
<p>Some commentators <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/special-forces-issues-have-deep-historical-roots/">focused on</a> “high operational tempos” that increased soldiers’ dependence on their teams. Others emphasised how operational independence among “elite” forces allowed “charismatic leaders” to influence teams with a “warrior hero” culture. A <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/IGADF-Afghanistan-Inquiry-Public-Release-Version.pdf">common thread</a> was that counterinsurgency warfare made it difficult to differentiate allies, civilians and enemies among the local population.</p>
<p>While these factors are important, analyses focusing on unit problems tend to treat culture as a static and internal problem, rather than an ongoing practice influenced by broader society. Similarly, the stress on counterinsurgency warfare negates the fact that similar crimes are also <a href="https://granta.com/products/an-intimate-history-of-killing/">well documented</a> in trench warfare and in occupations in conventional wars. </p>
<p>For policymakers, military leaders and the general public, a deeper understanding of the nature of war crimes is crucial if we want to prevent them from happening again.</p>
<p>War crimes reflect social prejudices. They are shaped around wartime laws and policies, and are facilitated by cultural veneration of the military. Historical comparisons between general infantry forces in Vietnam and special forces in Afghanistan show that atrocities have at least as much to do with broader social, political and cultural fabrics as they do with tempo, leadership and internal culture. </p>
<p>Military leaders, policymakers and civilians should recognise that atrocities, far from being aberrations, are likely outcomes of warfare. By proactively tackling troop prejudices, anticipating the manipulation of policies in the field, and encouraging civilian engagement with the realities of warfare, we can reduce the likelihood of war crimes in the future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fit-for-service-why-the-adf-needs-to-move-with-society-to-retain-the-public-trust-159924">'Fit for service': Why the ADF needs to move with society to retain the public trust</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Trained to dehumanise the enemy</h2>
<p>Military recruits are commonly trained to dehumanise the race or ethnicity of their enemy forces. This dehumanisation facilitates combat and strengthens the collective identity among soldiers. By <a href="https://granta.com/products/an-intimate-history-of-killing/">portraying</a> an enemy group as fundamentally different – less valuable, less human – the group establishes unity within the “Self” and justifies violence towards the “Other”. </p>
<p>American and Australian Vietnam veterans, for instance, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9891453-bomber">remembered</a> their training as “bastardisation”, where “the loathing was hammered in”. They were “taught to hate the gooks, to see them as less than human. You can’t kill a Vietnamese, but it’s easy to blow away a gook or a slope”. </p>
<p>Troop racism is often an intensified version of prejudices apparent in broader societies. After 9/11, for example, Islamophobia in Australia <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/eighty-per-cent-of-muslims-in-australia-say-they-have-experienced-discrimination/od64j7jmr">became</a> more pronounced, with overt discrimination, suspicion and violence towards Muslims. </p>
<p>Suspicion of Afghans flows through the Brereton Report into Australian war crimes in Afghanistan: “local nationals were presumed to be hostile”, and Special Forces aimed to “‘clear’ the battlefield of people believed to be insurgents, regardless of the Law of Armed Conflict”. This suggests that the soldiers viewed the entire population on “the battlefield” – that is, Afghans living on their own lands – as the enemy. </p>
<p>Racism in the larger Australian military <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/IGADF-Afghanistan-Inquiry-Public-Release-Version.pdf">allowed</a> atrocities to continue unchecked: Australian Defence Force officers responded to Afghan complaints about Special Forces conduct with “a presumption, not founded in evidence, to discount local national complaints as insurgent propaganda or motivated by a desire for compensation”.</p>
<p>Similarly, militaries from patriarchal societies <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-43170-7_15">find</a> misogyny among their ranks, manifesting in both institutional violence and war crimes. </p>
<p>Historian Christian Appy <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/433286.Working_Class_War">found</a> that in US basic training for Vietnam, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the model of male sexuality offered as a military ideal in boot camp was directly linked to violence […] Drill instructors repeatedly described war as a substitute for sex or as another form of sex.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sexualised descriptions of warfare are prolific in Vietnam War <a href="https://www.vashonbooks.com/product/59407/Drowning-out-the-Drums-a-Marine-Comes-Home-John-Akins">memoirs</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>killing is sexual. Death too […] Someone once asked me to describe up-close combat in a nutshell. How about this? Pure pussy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These links between masculinity, sex, violence and military authority produced atrocities. Journalists and scholars reported that the rape and murder of women was so widespread in Vietnam that soldiers <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250045065/killanythingthatmoves">coined</a> the term “double veteran” to glorify perpetrators. In a war where combat soldiers felt vulnerable to guerrilla attacks, mines and booby traps, rape was frequently used to assert control, reinforcing soldiers’ sense of masculinity and authority.</p>
<p>Underlying gendered and racialised atrocities is a psychological drive to conquer through violence. Australia, like other Western nations involved in “the War on Terror”, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18335330.2016.1231414">saw</a> a resurgence of white male supremacy in the 21st century. Indeed, <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/clash-ignorance/">the agendas</a> of neo-colonial “West versus the rest” foreign policies “supercharged” white male supremacist movements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471353/original/file-20220628-25-lzkh13.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">US marines pose with the SS flag.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This resurgence is particularly apparent in the military, with groups of deployed soldiers bearing white supremacist symbols, including the Nazi and Confederate flags, Ku Klux Klan hoods and the Crusader’s Cross. </p>
<p>White male supremacy helps to explain atrocities that intentionally degrade victims: torture, rape and war pornography. For soldiers who <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Colonial+Present%3A+Afghanistan+Palestine+Iraq-p-9781577180890">see themselves</a> as “crusaders” fighting a war for “civilisation” against “barbarism”, racialised and gendered violence are logical steps in maintaining racial and gender hierarchies. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471546/original/file-20220629-18-9xvqfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detainee in Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq, 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public domain/Wikimedia commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Political scientist Laleh Khalili <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-international-studies/article/abs/gendered-practices-of-counterinsurgency/7226869010B937A9A36D15DFCD92041F">notes</a> that in the War on Terror, torture practices were frequently shaped around religious humiliation and emasculation, based on “an orientalist understanding of what is considered honourable or shameful in ‘Muslim culture’”. Similarly, the common tendency for soldiers to <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250045065/killanythingthatmoves">document their atrocities</a> reflects a desire to exert total control over the Other. </p>
<p>Finally, degrading war crimes are often collective practices. Perpetrators enact and share power with one another, reinforcing values and establishing loyalty within the group.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/owning-up-australia-must-admit-its-involvement-in-afghanistan-has-been-an-abject-failure-166213">Owning up: Australia must admit its involvement in Afghanistan has been an abject failure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How military policies shape war crimes</h2>
<p>Soldiers who commit atrocities are responding to military policies: Laws of Armed Conflict (international law) and Rules of Engagement (country-specific policies). Some soldiers who commit war crimes interpret Rules of Engagement in contradiction to Laws of Armed Conflict. Some deliberately exploit the former to violate the latter. In both situations, crimes are shaped by the policies set out to prevent them.</p>
<p>There is strong evidence to suggest that military frameworks prevent soldiers from recognising violations of international law. Veterans often use techno-strategic language to describe torture during interrogations, corpse desecration, forced displacement and small-group civilian killings in free-fire zones, indicating that they learned these crimes as lawful tactics. </p>
<p>For example, in both Vietnam and Afghanistan, Australian soldiers desecrated corpses. One Vietnam veteran <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781741987638/">remembered</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I blew up bodies […] It saved time digging a hole. They used to call it an engineer’s burial. I was well aware of the psych ops angle of it because they’d always try and take their dead away with them. If you understand the Asian mind, you know they all want to go to the happy hunting ground in one piece and have a proper burial.</p>
<p>So, by blowing the body to shithouse, it will piss off the ones that are still alive.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The veteran’s choice of words here – “they used to call it” – indicates this was not an isolated incident. Another veteran <a href="https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=vietnamgeneration">remembered</a> a </p>
<blockquote>
<p>policy of dumping VC [Viet Cong] bodies in town market squares or dragging them behind Armoured Personnel Carriers, in sight of the village children, both methods supposedly meant to draw out further VC sympathisers. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, the ABC’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/killings-of-unarmed-afghans-by-australian-special-forces/8466642">Afghan Files</a> revealed that in 2013, an SAS corporal severed hands from the bodies of three Afghan insurgents. When questioned, the corporal explained that it was “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/afghan-files-shed-light-on-notorious-severed-hands-case/8496654">a tactical necessity</a>” to collect fingerprints.</p>
<p>Vietnam veterans were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108972987">also trained to think</a> that mistreating and killing civilians was lawful under certain circumstances. The US-led pacification strategy to isolate rural civilians from revolutionary forces involved the forced displacement of civilians. </p>
<p>To secure the Australian base at Nui Dat, the nearby villages of Long Tan and Long Phuoc were destroyed and the villagers resettled by “clearing patrols”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>we’d put up huts and then we’d go into a village and say, “right, we are going to shift you into this lovely beaut place you’re going to live in”. And you’d take them out of there, take everybody out. Then you’d burn them [the villagers’ huts]. And then you start to hear screaming. And then they’d all come out, because some of them were Viet Cong.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Once the area was “cleared”, it was designated a “free-fire” or “restricted” zone, which soldiers were instructed to treat as “enemy territory”. </p>
<p>Free-fire zones are not a legal instrument of war. Nor is displacing civilians and destroying their property. Yet through these policies, soldiers justified mass killings and total destruction. “I flew infantry on helicopters,” one US veteran recalled, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>and we did search-and-destroy missions. We would fly into a village, enemy village, and we would kill everything and every pig and chicken and water buffalo and burn down every hooch in the place, just because it’s enemy territory.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Killings in free-fire zones are the kinds of acts commonly referred to as “fog of war” incidents. Recent investigations into Australian war crimes deliberately avoided all “fog of war” accounts, because ambiguity around intention made them nearly impossible to prosecute.</p>
<p>Yet examining more ambiguous actions reveals that military policies can produce atrocities. Social anthropologist Heonik Kwon <a href="https://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520247963.001.0001/upso-9780520247963">argues</a> that displacement and “free-fire” policies led directly to massacres. </p>
<p>While Australian and American military understood that any Vietnamese in “free-fire” zones were the enemy, displaced civilians monitored the situation in their homes carefully, petitioning local authorities for visitation rights and travelling back and forth to tend to family farms. </p>
<p>“Safe” villages attracted returning civilians, but could be quickly recategorised as “free-fire” zones by military command without the villagers’ knowledge. In the case of the 1968 My Lai massacre, the villagers “considered the US soldiers in [nearby] My Khe to be friends”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/accidental-napalm-turns-50-the-generation-defining-image-capturing-the-futility-of-the-vietnam-war-175050">'Accidental Napalm' turns 50: the generation-defining image capturing the futility of the Vietnam war</a>
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<p>Soldiers also exploited ambiguity around “fog of war” incidents to commit atrocities. US Vietnam veterans described a policy whereby Vietnamese were deemed enemy forces if they ran away. Soldiers would shoot near civilians to “test” them, and kill them when they jumped or fled: “they were killed for being frightened. And of course they were frightened, because they knew they might be killed.” </p>
<p>Similarly in Afghanistan, the Brereton Report <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/SOCOMD-Culture-and-Interactions-Insights-and-Reflection-Jan-16_0.pdf">alleges</a> that soldiers developed an expansive interpretation of Rules of Engagement around “spotters” and “squirters” – people suspected of relaying information to the Taliban, or believed to be running to or from a weapons cache – to justify killing. In doing so, they instilled fear among the local population, giving Afghans good cause to flee and allowing soldiers to claim further killings of “squirters”.</p>
<p>Military lawyers were aware of these “sanctioned massacres”, and tried to limit soldiers’ ability to kill by changing the Rules of Engagement, but soldiers “just got more creative in how they wrote up the incidents”. </p>
<p>Civilian murder is a direct result of “body count” or “kill count” measures of victory, where military success is equated to the number of enemy killed. In both Vietnam and Afghanistan, soldiers competed to outscore other patrols in the count and deliberately planted “throwdowns” (weapons or equipment) on dead bodies to document them as legal killings. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1972/01/22/coverup">My Lai massacre</a>, for instance – in which over 500 civilians were slaughtered, with many tortured and raped – was initially reported by the US military as a “fierce fire fight”, in which US soldiers killed 128 “enemy”, justified by the recent “free-fire zone” designation and three planted weapons.</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, the Brereton Report concluded that Australians’ frequent use of “throwdowns” originated as a “strategy of avoiding scrutiny” when a killed Afghan “turned out not to be armed”. It then <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/four-corners-sas-allegations-war-crimes/12028522">morphed into</a> a deliberate practice to conceal calculated murder, with soldiers allegedly carrying a backpack with materials to plant on non-combatants. The practice was widespread enough that soldiers “use[d] to joke about how the same serial number [of a gun] was in every single photo of a dead Afghani [sic]”.</p>
<p>The torture and murder of prisoners also demonstrates deliberate subversion of Laws of Armed Conflict. </p>
<p>Sociologist Samantha Crompvoets <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/SOCOMD-Culture-and-Interactions-Insights-and-Reflection-Jan-16_0.pdf">found</a> “corroborated accounts” that Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan would detain men and boys in guesthouses in villages and torture them, depriving them of food, water and medicine, “do anything at all they wanted to”, and then kill them. These practices were <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Torture_and_Democracy/-L8GtJY_J00C?hl=en&gbpv=1">justified</a> as “interrogation”, an institutional as well as individual defence by Western forces in the War on Terror. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-line/id1560743789">common justification</a> for the murder of prisoners is “medical termination”. An Australian Vietnam veteran described killing a wounded enemy in his memoir, and when later challenged <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/military/All-Guts-and-No-Glory-Bob-Buick-with-Gary-McKay-9781865082745">claimed</a> it was a “mercy killing”. More recently in Iraq, US Navy SEAL medics <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/eddie-gallaghers-shocking-claim-seals-intended-detainee-die/story?id=77462164">admitted</a> that they killed a captured militant by doing “medical scenarios on him until he died”. UK and US soldiers confirmed no one they fought with ever wanted to save a wounded enemy combatant.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-investigating-potential-war-crimes-in-afghanistan-just-became-much-harder-and-could-take-years-171412">Why investigating potential war crimes in Afghanistan just became much harder – and could take years</a>
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<h2>Culture, national myths and war crimes</h2>
<p>The occurrence of these atrocities contradicts <a href="https://www.americanheritage.com/secret-soldiers-who-didnt-shoot">a widespread belief</a> that combat soldiers exhibit an unwillingness to kill. Many civilians want to believe that soldiers can fight effectively, honourably and unwillingly out of duty. This belief allows civilians to revere soldiers who do the nation’s “dirty work”. Underpinning this admiration is a view that international law is abstract and idealistic, and that soldiers have their own “moral code” grounded in the realities of warfare.</p>
<p>“War is a messy business,” <a href="https://www.2gb.com/war-is-a-messy-business-brendan-nelson-backs-under-fire-war-hero/">according to</a> the former Australian War Memorial Director Brendan Nelson, who “question[s] whether the national interest is in trying to tear down our heroes”. A petition to “<a href="https://www.change.org/p/scott-morrison-stop-the-witch-hunt-support-the-sasr-and-ben-roberts-smith?redirect=false">stop the witch hunt</a>” against Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith described how Special Forces “deploy to the hottest hot spots [… to] do a job that the vast majority of people cannot do”, and claims that “you want men like this defending the country”. </p>
<p>Our cultural approach to war tacitly approves ultraviolence while avoiding any discussion of what it actually entails, entrenching the idea that combat and killing impart special knowledge and setting soldiers beyond civilian judgement. Ironically, the belief that “good” soldiers use violence unwillingly promotes the idea that killing is the key to military legitimacy.</p>
<p>Military veneration produces soldiers who are attracted to service because it allows for “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-03/instagram-account-from-australian-special-forces-mocks-killings/12595062">state-sanctioned violence</a>”. In post-Vietnam “professional” Western militaries, violence is linked to status: the most elite soldier is one whose work “outside the wire” is dangerous and taboo.</p>
<p>In 2018, the Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Angus Campbell, had to issue <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-19/army-bans-troops-from-wearing-skulls-death-symbols/9673242">a ban</a> on “death symbols” among deployed troops who expressed their military identity with “violent, murderous and vigilante symbolism”. </p>
<p>Fascination with violence manifests in atrocities that perform brutality: stomping, beating, or “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2020/one-last-mission/">crushing the life</a>” out of people; collecting body parts as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/01/photo-reveals-australian-soldier-drinking-dead-taliban-prosthetic-leg">trophies</a>” of military prowess; “blooding” new soldiers with the murder of a prisoner to achieve their “<a href="https://theconversation.com/allegations-of-murder-and-blooding-in-brereton-report-now-face-many-obstacles-to-prosecution-145703">first kill</a>”. </p>
<p>Blooding establishes killing as a rite of passage for a military elite, binding perpetrators into a code of silence. Crimes that perform brutality <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/SOCOMD-Culture-and-Interactions-Insights-and-Reflection-Jan-16_0.pdf">reinforce</a> military veneration and fascination with violence: Australian perpetrators were “equated with being good and effective soldiers”.</p>
<p>National narratives that celebrate “good” soldiers as the pinnacle of national identity also shield perpetrators of war crimes. In Australia, a central theme of the Anzac legend is that Australian soldiers are innately superior to those of our allies. This narrative is frequently deployed to deflect allegations of Australian atrocities. </p>
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<p>During <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/02/how-the-good-war-went-bad-elite-soldiers-from-australia-uk-and-us-face-a-reckoning">an admission</a> of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, one soldier added that “whatever we do […] I can tell you the Brits and the US are far, far worse”. Another theme is <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Australias-War-1914-18/Beaumont/p/book/9781863734615">the idea</a> that Australian soldiers are so good at warfare – so formidable, yet honourable – that other groups recognise and respect them. </p>
<p>Media coverage of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan emphasised that Australians were “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2020/one-last-mission/">feared red beards fighting a fierce but just campaign</a>”, idolising soldiers even as they reported alleged atrocities. The term “red beards” <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/11/03/one-reason-you-shouldnt-go-to-afghanistan-with-a-beard">is actually</a> used by Afghans as a pejorative for special forces across Western militaries, because of their mistreatment of civilians. </p>
<p>In this reverent cultural context, war crimes allegations in Australia just don’t seem to stick. Afghans have repeatedly accused Australian soldiers of atrocities throughout the 20-year War on Terror, <a href="https://afghanistaninquiry.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/SOCOMD-Culture-and-Interactions-Insights-and-Reflection-Jan-16_0.pdf">but</a> although “many atrocities have been documented in the media”, they “seem to disappear shortly after they surface”. Cultural mythologisation of Australian warfare allows soldiers to get away with murder.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-forgotten-australian-veterans-who-opposed-national-service-and-the-vietnam-war-158958">The forgotten Australian veterans who opposed National Service and the Vietnam War</a>
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<h2>De-radicalising the armed forces</h2>
<p>Soldier atrocities reflect the social and cultural fabric of their home nation, and crimes are shaped by military policies intended to prevent them. These factors are often interlinked; the process of the blooding of a soldier (cultural) requires both the dehumanisation of the local population (social) and the exploitation of Rules of Engagement to cover it up (policies).</p>
<p>What can we do about war crimes? The first step is acknowledging that they have happened throughout history, and that they are happening now. </p>
<p>Ongoing impunity suggests that these actions are not only considered justified in the context of war, but morally acceptable. Civilians and journalists should critically evaluate how the historical narratives they deploy around Australian war-fighting erase wrongdoing and perpetuate fascination with violence.</p>
<p>The military also needs to learn from the devastating results of dehumanising enemies in past conflicts. They need to urgently implement de-radicalisation in recruitment and training processes. This must go beyond <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/ielapa.663593082615132">ineffective cultural sensitivity training</a>. Prospective defence members should be screened and soldiers continuously evaluated for prejudices.</p>
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<p>These prejudices must be taken seriously, with the connection between prejudice and atrocity made explicit to soldiers. More broadly, Australians ought to question foreign policies that reflect and encourage racism in our communities, which will inevitably be reflected in our institutions.</p>
<p>To avoid future atrocities, military leaders must anticipate that strategies and tactics will be subverted in the field to commit crimes. They should explore “fog of war” incidents to understand how military policies can produce atrocities, drawing lessons from war crime allegations. Leaders should pay attention to how psychological operations against “the enemy” engender brutality against “the people”.</p>
<p>The history of war crimes shows us that atrocities are a likely outcome of warfare. The Brereton Report claimed that “few would have imagined some of our elite soldiers would engage in the conduct that has been described”. Yet for anyone who had paid attention to the unfolding War on Terror, the allegations came as no surprise. </p>
<p>If preventative actions seem beyond the scope of possibility, we must question whether our military can serve its purpose. The Brereton Report acknowledged that in Uruzgan province, where Australians were based with the mission of “improving the conditions of the Afghan people”, Australian Defence Force operations were counterproductive: “it is plain that [raids] were a terrifying experience for villagers.” </p>
<p>Violent counterinsurgencies engender deep resentments, undermining local authorities who cooperate with occupying forces and weakening resistance to insurgent movements. Long-contested territory in the War on Terror, Uruzgan was among the first provinces to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-14/taliban-nears-kabul-as-insurgents-take-more-cities/100377048#">fall to the Taliban</a> in August 2021. The “fear and terror” our soldiers instilled in the local population surely played a role. </p>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://unsw.press/books/lessons-from-history/">Lessons from History: Leading historians tackle Australia’s greatest challenges</a>, edited by Carolyn Holbrook, Lyndon Megarrity and David Lowe (NewSouth).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185391/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mia Martin Hobbs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Soldier atrocities are shaped by our society, culture, and political fabric. Preventing them will require a comprehensive rethinking of policies, attitudes, and approaches to war.Mia Martin Hobbs, Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852942022-06-23T20:07:10Z2022-06-23T20:07:10ZFriday essay: if growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia do?<p>Should Australia join the United States in a war against China to prevent China taking the US’s place as the dominant power in East Asia? Until a few years ago the question would have seemed merely hypothetical, but not anymore. </p>
<p>Senior figures in the Morrison government quite explicitly <a href="https://theconversation.com/peter-dutton-says-australia-should-prepare-for-war-so-how-likely-is-a-military-conflict-with-china-182042">acknowledged</a> that the escalating strategic rivalry between the US and China could lead to war, and their Labor successors do not seem to disagree. That is surely correct. Neither Washington nor Beijing want war but both seem willing to accept it rather than abandon their primary objectives. </p>
<p>There can be no doubt that if war comes, Washington would expect Australia to fight alongside it. Many in Canberra take it for granted that we would do so, and defence policy has shifted accordingly. Our armed forces are now being designed primarily to contribute to US-led operations in a major maritime war with China in the Western Pacific, with the aim of helping the United States to deter China from challenging the US, or helping to defeat it if deterrence fails. </p>
<p>In fact, the risk of war is probably higher than the government realises, because China is harder to deter than they understand.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/china-does-not-want-war-at-least-not-yet-its-playing-the-long-game-160093">China does not want war, at least not yet. It's playing the long game</a>
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<h2>The biggest war since WWII</h2>
<p>If war comes, Australians would face a truly momentous choice. Any choice to go to war carries special weight, because the costs and risks that must be weighed against the potential benefits are qualitatively different from those involved in other policy choices. A nation’s leaders must decide whether those exceptional costs and risks are justified by the objectives for which the war is fought. </p>
<p>That is a big responsibility even for the relatively small wars which Australia has joined in recent decades in <a href="https://theconversation.com/war-that-never-ended-ten-years-on-iraq-remains-bloodied-12840">Iraq</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-occupation-of-afghanistan-was-colonialism-that-prevented-afghan-self-determination-167615">Afghanistan</a>. But a war with China would be nothing like those. Once fighting began, there would be little chance of avoiding a major war, because the stakes for both sides are very high, and both have large forces ready for battle. </p>
<p>This would be the first serious war between two “great powers” since 1945, and the first ever between nuclear-armed states. It would probably become the biggest and worst war since the second world war. </p>
<p>If it goes nuclear, which is quite probable, it could be the worst war ever. A decision to fight in that war would be as serious as the decisions to fight in 1914 and 1939, which were arguably the most important decisions Australian governments have ever made.</p>
<p>It is important to be clear what the decision would be about. If war comes, it will be sparked by a dispute between the United States and China over something like <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-taiwan-rely-on-australia-when-it-comes-to-china-new-poll-shows-most-australians-dont-want-to-send-the-adf-164092">Taiwan</a> or the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-is-the-south-china-sea-such-a-hotly-contested-region-143435">South China Sea</a>. </p>
<p>But the specific dispute would not be the reason we would go to war with China, any more than we went to war in 1914 over the fate of Belgium or in 1939 over the fate of Poland. On both occasions the decision for war was driven by our concern to help prevent a defeat in Europe which would destroy British power in Asia, which we then relied on for our security. </p>
<p>We would go to war with China to preserve the US strategic position in Asia on which we depend for our security. That is not quite the same as saying that we would fight to preserve our alliance with the US. Many people assume that that would be our primary objective, because the US might abandon its commitments to us if we failed to support it. </p>
<p>But Washington’s disappointment with us does not threaten our US alliance nearly as gravely as Washington’s defeat by China. As long as they have strategic ambitions in Asia, Washington will have good reasons to help defend Australia. What would destroy the alliance would be American defeat and withdrawal from Asia.</p>
<p>Australia would be profoundly affected by a US–China war whether we joined the fighting or not. That might tempt some to think that our decision didn’t matter much one way or the other. </p>
<p>That obviously overlooks the consequences for those who actually serve, and the possibility that Australia itself could be targeted. But more importantly, it overlooks the possibility that Australia’s decisions would influence decisions elsewhere – including in Washington. </p>
<p>Recent scholarship has highlighted the remarkable weight given to Australia’s attitudes by British policymakers in the crises of 1914 and 1938–39. Douglas Newton has <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/hell-bent-9781925106060">shown how</a>, at a critical moment, Britain’s choice for war in 1914 was nudged by Australia’s eager support, while David Lee and David Bird have shown the influence of <a href="https://theconversation.com/issues-that-swung-elections-the-bitter-dispute-that-cost-pm-stanley-bruce-his-seat-in-1929-115129">Stanley Bruce</a> and Joseph Lyons on Britain’s innermost councils in 1938 and 1939.</p>
<p>The possibility that Australia’s choices might help to shape the ultimate decisions for war or peace in Asia over the years ahead make it all the more important that we weigh those decisions carefully.</p>
<p>Choices for war are profoundly shaped by historical analogy. Often this is the primary driver of a decision, in part because there is so little else to go on – nothing like the kind of data that can guide decisions on, say, tax policy or health policy. </p>
<p>We decide whether to go to war or not largely by looking at what our predecessors did in previous crises. Much depends, then, on which earlier crises we choose to consider, on how well we understand them, and on how closely yesterday’s crisis resembles today’s. </p>
<p>As Australia considers whether to join a US-China war, it is natural and prudent to look for guidance to the two previous occasions when we have faced comparably serious choices: 1914 and 1939. When we do this, we find an acute contrast between the way these two choices are now understood.</p>
<h2>Two world wars, two lessons</h2>
<p>Today, no one seriously doubts that we – Australia and its allies in the British Empire – were right to go to war in 1939 against Nazi Germany, nor that we were wrong not to go to war over the Czech crisis of 1938. </p>
<p>This was also the seemingly universal view of those who lived and fought through the war. In 1961 the historian A.J.P. Taylor <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-origins-of-the-second-world-war-9780140136722">noted</a> how little interest there was in contesting the accepted view of these momentous decisions. The same is true <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/551557/appeasement-by-tim-bouverie/">today</a>. The second world war is seen as a war that had to be fought.</p>
<p>The contrast with 1914 could hardly be starker. No one today seems seriously to doubt that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/world-politics-explainer-the-great-war-wwi-100462">first world war</a> should not have been fought. Again, today’s judgment matches the verdict of those who lived and fought through the war itself. </p>
<p>Throughout the troubled decades from 1919 to 1939 there was an almost universal belief that the war had been a ghastly mistake and should never have been fought. Ever since, and despite lively debates about details of the debacle that led to war, especially how much of the blame lay with Berlin, the clear consensus has endured that war came that long-ago summer through the collective folly, weakness and ineptitude of the statesmen involved. </p>
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<p>The British wartime Prime Minister, Lloyd George, writing soon after the war ended, said the nations of Europe “slithered over the brink” into a war that none of them intended. <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-sleepwalkers-9780141027821">Sleepwalkers</a>, the title of Christopher Clark’s notable recent account of how it all happened, suggests how little those essential judgements have changed.</p>
<p>The intriguing thing about these very different verdicts is that the underlying reason for Britain and the empire going to war was much the same on both occasions. It was to prevent the domination of Europe by a single power that would then be strong enough to threaten Britain itself, and hence Britain’s capacity to defend its empire, including Australia. </p>
<p>Both times Germany threatened to upset the balance of power between the European Great Powers, on which Britain had relied for centuries to safeguard its security across the Channel and thus allow it to project power around the globe to build and defend its <a href="https://theconversation.com/british-empire-is-still-being-whitewashed-by-the-school-curriculum-historian-on-why-this-must-change-105250">empire</a>. After 1918 this seemed a wholly insufficient reason to go to war. And yet when the same strategic logic drove Britain and its empire to war again in 1939, this seemed entirely justified.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/world-politics-explainer-the-great-war-wwi-100462">World politics explainer: The Great War (WWI)</a>
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<p>Why the difference? One important reason concerns who did most of the fighting. In the first world war the hardest fighting was done by Britain and France on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-infinity-of-waste-the-brutal-reality-of-the-first-world-war-106593">Western Front</a>. In the second world war it was done by the Soviet Union against Germany in Europe, and (as we all too easily forget) by the Chinese against Japan in Asia. That is why, for all its horrors, the second world war was less horrific for Britain and Australia than the first. </p>
<p>But the main reason is of course the nature of the Nazi regime. During the first world war many lurid things were believed about the evils of Prussian militarism, and some of them no doubt were true. </p>
<p>But no one would compare them with the truly astonishing evil of Nazi Germany, which turned out after the war to be far worse even than most people had imagined. As the liberation of Europe in 1944 and 1945 revealed the reality of life under Nazi rule, it was hard to doubt that this was a challenge that must be defeated.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the lessons that have been drawn from 1914 and 1939 are very different – indeed they are diametrically opposed. After the first world war it was universally accepted by national governments that war on that scale must be avoided at almost any cost. It was therefore always better to compromise and accommodate the ambitions of a country that wanted to change the international system in its favour, rather than fight to defend the status quo. The word they used was “appeasement”. </p>
<p>The lesson drawn from 1939, and especially from the failure of the last gesture of appeasement at Munich in 1938, was never to make concessions to any power that seeks to expand its influence in the international system. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469454/original/file-20220617-12-mvb8ol.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neville Chamberlain on his return from Munich, 30 September 1938.</span>
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</figure>
<p>Accommodation only encourages further demands. An unshakable refusal to compromise, backed by a clear determination to fight if necessary, will probably force the challenger to back off, thus avoiding war. And if they do not back off, then better to fight sooner before the challenger gets any stronger. They will have to be fought sooner or later, before they become too strong to be stopped.</p>
<p>It is not surprising that this stark and simple rejection of the lessons of 1914 should have appealed to people during the six hard years of the second world war. It is a bit more surprising that it has retained such a strong influence ever since. </p>
<p>Today these simple, powerful precepts remain perhaps the most potent element of that vague set of ideas, preconceptions and prejudices that provide the intellectual framework for foreign and strategic policy-making in the Western, and especially the Anglo-American, world. </p>
<p>The ideas that we should always be willing to fight rather than compromise, and that the more willing we are to fight, the less likely we are to have to fight, took on the aura of timeless precepts of universal application. As such, they had, and have, obvious appeal. They make difficult policy decisions look easy, and allow leaders and their advisers to look and sound tough.</p>
<p>But the results have not always been happy. The “lessons of Munich” <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691025353/analogies-at-war">inspired</a> Britain’s debacle in Suez, the US’s defeat in Vietnam, their invasion of Iraq in 2003 and many other mistakes. These failures are easy to explain. </p>
<p>Lessons of history are inevitably tied to the original circumstances of time and place from which they are drawn, and how well they apply to new situations depends on how far and in what ways the new circumstances resemble the original ones. The lessons drawn from the failure of appeasement in 1939 are specific to the circumstances of that failure, and some of those circumstances were very unusual.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469446/original/file-20220617-22-bw775f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The main gate at Auschwitz, known as the Gate of Death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stanislaw Mucha/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Above all, the shadow of Nazi Germany was unusual and perhaps unique in several critical ways. One was the sheer evil of the Nazi regime to which we have already referred. Another was its unusually stark and clearly stated strategic ambitions. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://theconversation.com/mein-kampf-publication-the-best-way-to-destroy-hitlers-hateful-legacy-51707">Mein Kampf</a> onwards, Hitler made clear that he planned to do more than build Germany’s position as the leading power in Europe by expanding its influence over other countries. He wanted to destroy other countries by seizing and occupying large tracts of territory to provide <em>Lebensraum</em> for the German people. </p>
<p>A third was its potential to realise its ambitions on the basis of its formidable national power – economic, demographic, technical and organisational – compared to its neighbours. Against this kind of challenge, the only possible response may well be, as the lessons of Munich suggest, unwavering and uncompromising opposition; if necessary, by fighting a major war.</p>
<p>But neither Nasser’s Egypt, nor Ho Chi Minh’s North Vietnam, nor <a href="https://theconversation.com/gulf-war-30-years-on-the-consequences-of-desert-storm-are-still-with-us-156140">Saddam Hussein’s Iraq</a> were anything like Hitler’s Germany. The dangers they posed were nowhere near as serious as was assumed, and the costs and risks of resisting them by force turned out to be much higher than expected, and higher than could be justified to avert those dangers. Even more strikingly, however, the lessons of Munich had relatively little influence on a number of much bigger questions. </p>
<p>The postwar architecture hammered out between US president Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at Yalta, based on the United Nations, was premised on a spirit of accommodation and compromise. </p>
<p>Even more strikingly, so was the West’s approach to the one adversary it faced in the postwar decades that was in some ways comparable with Nazi Germany – the Soviet Union. Western leaders sometimes invoked the follies of Munich to advertise and justify hard-line Cold War postures, but their policies were most often guided by a prudent recognition of the need to negotiate understandings with Moscow in order to avert the danger of war.</p>
<p>This was of course all the more imperative as the Soviet capacity for nuclear warfare grew. In the 1950s even the archetypal opponent of appeasement, Winston Churchill, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2713969-negotiation-from-strength">became</a> a fervent advocate of negotiation with Moscow to settle differences in order to avoid nuclear war. </p>
<p>In the darkest moment of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy was influenced much more by the lessons of 1914 than by those of 1938–39, which <a href="http://blog.loa.org/2012/03/how-barbara-tuchmans-guns-of-august.html">prompted him</a> to offer the concessions which defused the crisis. In any case, the policy of Détente that evolved in the aftermath of that crisis owed a lot more to the lessons of 1914 than those of 1938–39.</p>
<p>It seems clear that, as a new Cold War looms between the United States and China, the lessons of 1939 loom much larger than the lessons of 1914, both in Washington and Canberra. Washington has made it clear that it has no interest in seeking an accommodation with China that would meet any of China’s aims to expand its influence in Asia and beyond. </p>
<p>Washington’s talk of preserving the “rules-based liberal order” plainly embodies its intention to perpetuate the old status quo of US primacy, and its emphasis on meeting China’s military challenge reflects its willingness to go to war with China rather than to compromise that objective. In Canberra, Scott Morrison made clear the influence of Munich on his policy when, launching his government’s <a href="https://defence.gov.au/ADC/Publications/AJDSS/volume2-number2/prime-minister-address-launch-2020-defence-strategic-update.asp">Defence Strategic Update</a> in 2020, he explicitly compared today’s strategic circumstances to those of the 1930s and early 1940s.</p>
<p>Is this the right way to think about the problem of China? To be clear, the question is not whether we should try to resist China’s ambitions, but how far we should resist them, and at what cost. Should Australia be willing to go to war, whatever the cost may be, to preserve the US-led regional and global order, and block any expansion of Chinese power and influence? Or should we be willing, reluctantly, to accommodate some of China’s ambitions by accepting an expansion of its influence, in order to reduce the risks of war? It is not a simple question.</p>
<p>The lessons of Munich do not seem to offer a very helpful guide to answering it. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-communist-party-claims-to-have-brought-prosperity-and-equality-to-china-heres-the-real-impact-of-its-rule-163350">Chinese Communist Party</a> has many faults and is responsible for much brutality and oppression, but it is not by any stretch comparable to the evil of the Nazi Party. </p>
<p>China today is certainly strategically ambitious, but there is no serious reason to fear that – the special case of Taiwan apart, its claim to which the rest of the world acknowledges – it seeks to conquer and absorb others’ territory. And although China is set to become the most powerful country on earth, it cannot dominate and subjugate such strong neighbours as India and Russia. </p>
<p>Overall, then, the risks that China poses to the regional and global order, though significant, are not like those posed by Nazi Germany, or indeed the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a war with China may well be as costly as the world wars of the 20th century, or even more costly, especially if it becomes a nuclear war. That would be an almost unimaginable disaster even if our side won – a victory, as Churchill <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/90230.The_World_Crisis_1911_1918">wrote</a> of the First World War “bought so dear as to be almost indistinguishable from defeat”.</p>
<p>Moreover, there is no reason to assume that we and our allies would win. Indeed, it is hard to see how a major war with China could be “won” without the kind of full-scale invasion or subjugation of the enemy’s country that brought victory in the two world wars. It is somewhat easier to imagine how China could defeat the United States – by imposing such heavy costs that Washington decides to abandon the war, and withdraw from Asia to the Western Hemisphere. </p>
<p>That raises the very real possibility that a war with China launched to preserve the US’s position in Asia might well end up destroying it, just as the First World War destroyed the empires that went to war to preserve themselves in 1914.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-untold-reaction-to-the-cuban-missile-crisis-10104">Australia's untold reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis</a>
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</em>
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<h2>The limits to accommodation</h2>
<p>What, then, do the lessons of 1914 offer as a guide to our policy choices today? In the 1920s and 1930s the majority of those who survived the first world war would have been quite clear about that. </p>
<p>They would say that we should avoid war at almost any price, by being willing to go a long way to accommodate China’s ambitions by according it a much larger share of influence and authority in the international system. They would have been confident, however, that China’s ambitions could be constrained by limits imposed, not by armed force, but by a powerful international institution – the League of Nations – and by what they called “international public opinion”. </p>
<p>They repudiated war as an instrument of policy, but they placed great faith in these alternatives to achieve what war, or the threat of war, had long been relied upon to do. Of course, this did not work. </p>
<p>As the historian E.H. Carr <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/978-1-349-95076-8">wrote</a> just before war broke out in 1939, their misplaced confidence in these constraints, and what he later called “the almost total neglect of the factor of power” did much to create the crisis which then confronted Britain with no alternative but to go to war again.</p>
<p>We would be wise, then, not to follow their example. Where then to turn? We might begin by noting that the lessons of 1914 and of Munich are both aberrations. They depart from much older traditions of statecraft which had developed over many centuries as the modern European state system had emerged and evolved. </p>
<p>Those traditions do not by any means forswear war. Indeed, as the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, one of its foremost contemporary exponents, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50562.A_World_Restored">wrote</a> in the first page of his first book: “those who forswear war will never have peace”.</p>
<p>But the aim is always to achieve the maximum advantages without war, and that entails a willingness to negotiate and accommodate; to appease, in other words. War is not an alternative to accommodation; it is used to set the limits to accommodation and to enforce those limits. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469449/original/file-20220617-23-1u31yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Henry Kissinger, US Presidential National Security Adviser, and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Peking, China, July 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">White House/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This approach prevented any single power dominating Europe for centuries, and after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Congress-of-Vienna/Decisions-of-the-congress">1815 Congress of Vienna</a>, it prevented any Europe-wide wars for almost a century until 1914. Seen in the light of this tradition, the appeasers’ mistake at Munich was not that they accommodated Hitler over Sudetenland, but that they failed to make it absolutely clear that they would go to war to deny him the rest of Czechoslovakia, or any of Poland.</p>
<p>As that example makes clear, the key to this kind of statecraft lies in deciding where to set the limits to accommodation. These are hard decisions to make. As we have seen, one of the attractions of the lessons of Munich as a template for strategic decision-making is its simplicity. But it achieves simplicity by lazily assuming that all ambitious powers are essentially the same and must be treated the same by refusing any accommodation. </p>
<p>Taking a more responsible approach requires careful judgements about the current and probable future extent of an adversary’s ambitions and power, and nuanced assessments of the implications for our future security. Then we can judge how far we can afford to accommodate them before the costs and risks of doing so exceed the costs and risks of the war we would need to fight to stop them.</p>
<p>Looking back, for example, it is interesting and instructive to think about the alternatives to war in August 1914. Had Britain stood aloof, France and Russia may well have been defeated, leaving Germany the unquestioned leading power in Europe. <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-pity-of-war-9780141975832">That</a> appeared an unacceptable outcome to the majority of the cabinet in Whitehall, but a minority argued that Britain could live with it more easily than it could bear the burdens of war, and in the light of events since then they were probably right.</p>
<p>After all, the Germany of 1914 was not Nazi Germany. And Australia might well have been better off had the arguments for peace prevailed in Whitehall. Not only would we have been spared the losses we suffered, but Britain would have remained a stronger global power that was better able to defend its Pacific dominions than it proved to be in 1941.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-would-be-wise-not-to-pound-war-drums-over-taiwan-with-so-much-at-stake-159993">Australia would be wise not to pound 'war drums' over Taiwan with so much at stake</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Rhyming history</h2>
<p>History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. As we face the challenge of a rising China we can hear the clear echoes of the choices faced by our predecessors in the last century and the centuries before that. Those echoes tell us that to meet that challenge we need to do a lot more than mouth slogans about Munich. </p>
<p>We have to think carefully and realistically about the nature of China’s challenge to the old order in Asia, the kind of new order that might be created to accommodate it, the safeguards that would be required to protect our most vital interests in that order, and how that might be achieved at minimum cost and risk. We must also think about how best we can influence our major ally as it addresses the same questions, because its answers will have immense significance for us. </p>
<p>All this is a formidable task. Indeed, it is probably the most demanding foreign policy task that Australia has ever faced. But we should not be surprised by that, when we remember that China’s rise is the biggest shift in Australia’s international setting since Europeans first settled here in 1788.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469455/original/file-20220617-23-hc6qtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>In meeting that task, it falls to the present generation of political leaders, policymakers, commentators and, ultimately, citizens around the world to navigate one of the biggest, swiftest, most disruptive and most dangerous power transitions in modern history. </p>
<p>One might say, too, that it falls to the current generation of historians to contribute to that work by offering a deeper understanding of the choices that were made by earlier generations navigating similar transitions. </p>
<p>That is not easy, because the accepted versions of earlier episodes like 1914 and 1938–39 are encrusted with tradition, sentiment and ideology, and few historians have sought to challenge or overturn these accepted versions. Perhaps more will step forward as the nature and seriousness of today’s choices, and the need to illuminate them with lessons from the past, become clearer. </p>
<p>One key element of such work will be the methodologically vexed but undoubtedly stimulating exploration of counterfactual histories. To assess and learn from the decisions of 1914, we need more nuanced and sophisticated views of how Europe and the British Empire would have fared had Imperial Germany dominated the Continent. </p>
<p>To assess and learn from the decisions of 1938 and 1939 we need to better understand what might have happened had different decisions been made. We also need to recognise and meditate on what might have happened had “our side” not won the last two major power wars. Because we might not win the next one.</p>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://unsw.press/books/lessons-from-history/">Lessons from History: Leading historians tackle Australia’s greatest challenge</a>s, edited by Carolyn Holbrook, Lyndon Megarrity and David Lowe (NewSouth).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hugh White warns of a potential war between the US and China, drawing lessons from the first and second world wars to explore how Australia might respond to such a conflict – and where to draw a line.Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785112022-05-06T12:32:38Z2022-05-06T12:32:38ZBillions spent on overseas counterterrorism would be better spent by involving ex-terrorists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461093/original/file-20220503-28209-o2b2fh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Machmudi 'Yusuf' Hariono, left, a former Indonesian terrorist, holds a book about former terrorists with an Islamic jihadist.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Yusuf Hariono</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, the U.S. government has sent aid to countries plagued by terrorism, believing that the money could help other nations tackle extremism. Money matters, but it alone isn’t enough to prevent terrorism.</p>
<p>An explosion <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/world/asia/afghanistan-mosque-attack.html">at a mosque</a> in northern Afghanistan killed more than 30 people on April 22, 2022, just days after blasts at schools in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/world/asia/afghanistan-kabul-schools-attacked.html">Kabul killed six</a>.</p>
<p>These were the latest in a long string of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. The <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/afghanistan-tops-2021-global-survey-of-islamic-state-casualties-/6415735.html">Islamic State conducted</a> 365 terrorist attacks in Afghanistan that caused 2,210 casualties in 2021 alone.</p>
<p>The United States, meanwhile, has spent approximately <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-did-the-us-spend-in-aid-to-afghanistan/">US$91.4 billion</a> on foreign aid to Afghanistan since 2001, while other countries gave <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-did-billions-in-aid-to-afghanistan-accomplish-5-questions-answered-166804">billions more</a>. Most of this money went toward Afghanistan’s military. </p>
<p>The U.S. <a href="https://www.foreignassistance.gov">spent more than</a> $1.1 billion on Afghanistan in fiscal 2021, and $1 billion on aid in fiscal 2020.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://jsis.washington.edu/people/frederick-bernard-loesi/">a doctoral candidate</a> researching how to get militants to adopt more moderate positions and stop committing violence, I have spoken with 23 former Indonesian terrorist detainees since October 2020 to study their experiences. These people planned, facilitated or otherwise took part in bombings and attacks on civilians. </p>
<p>My research shows that international aid does not stop terrorists from carrying out violent acts, because most counterterrorism projects do not directly involve or appeal to detained and released terrorists. </p>
<h2>Speaking with terrorists</h2>
<p>I have found that listening to ex-terrorists is the best approach to understanding how and why they walk away from terrorism.</p>
<p>When I spoke with former Indonesian terrorists through video meetings and calls, they all told me that they once cared only about exterminating America and its allies. This is because they thought these countries were trying to repress Muslims worldwide. </p>
<p>They also justified their violent jihad as a way to enforce a caliphate, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/7/10/5884593/9-questions-about-the-caliphate-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask">a term</a> that refers to an all-encompassing Muslim state. </p>
<p>Less than half of the 23 former terrorists that I spoke with participated in <a href="https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/a_new_approach_epub.pdf">deradicalization programs</a>, designed to move people away from extremism, while they were in prison. But all of them were part of such programs, sponsored by nonprofit organizations and the Indonesian government, after their release. </p>
<p>All of the former terrorists also went on to receive vocational training, and some also got money from the Indonesian government and nonprofits to start small businesses. </p>
<p>Others received psychological counseling, or participated in talks on religion. Some participated in outdoor retreats organized by the Indonesian police, with hiking and other recreational activities. </p>
<p>A few of the ex-terrorists I spoke with acknowledged that the government helped them pay for their children’s school tuition. </p>
<p>These people began to shift their views, and move away from extremism, after they developed a strong sense of community support and respect for government and police authorities. </p>
<p>“I started to change when the police treated me well, and my community accepted me for who I am,” explained one female former terrorist who was a “bride” – a term used to describe a suicide bomber. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/04/indonesian-women-being-radicalised-into-would-be-suicide-bombers-report">The police captured her</a> just before she could carry out an attack in Bali in 2016. </p>
<h2>Terrorism funding</h2>
<p>Parts of Indonesia, a Southeast Asian country with the world’s largest Muslim population, are considered a <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/terrorism-havens-indonesia">haven for terrorism</a> – though the number of terrorist attacks <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/ctc/news/indonesia-becomes-sixth-member-state-brief-ctc-developments-july-2019-follow-visit">has recently declined</a> there. It remains a transit and destination hub for Islamic militants. </p>
<p>Indonesia received <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1881/FY-2020-CBJ-State-and-USAID-Supplementary-Tables.pdf">almost $5 million in 2020</a> from U.S. Agency for International Development alone to contain violent extremism. It received the third largest amount of money from the U.S. for this kind of programming after Somalia and Bangladesh. </p>
<p>The U.S. has <a href="https://www.stimson.org/wp-content/files/file-attachments/CT_Spending_Report_0.pdf">spent an estimated</a> $2.8 trillion on counterterrorism from fiscal 2002 through 2017, according to the Stimson Center, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>But even extensive international aid isn’t a sure fix for ending terrorism. </p>
<p>Afghanistan and <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-announces-humanitarian-assistance-for-iraq/">Iraq are</a> two examples of countries that receive big donations from the U.S. and other countries each year but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/world/europe/war-on-terror-bush-biden-qaeda.html">still struggle with violent radicalism</a>.</p>
<p>Most of this money and work focuses on helping governments and local organizations carry out programs to fight extremism. These might include workshops for government officials focused on addressing terrorism and training sessions for women on how to start small businesses. </p>
<p>However, these programs typically do not directly involve former terrorist inmates and their families. This matters, because it mattered to the individuals I spoke with when they were included in counterterrorism projects. This is one of the big reasons they changed their ways, they told me. </p>
<h2>Aid doesn’t reach former terrorists</h2>
<p>Major donor countries like the U.S. have increasingly acknowledged <a href="https://institute.global/policy/role-aid-and-development-fight-against-extremism">the role of foreign aid</a> in fighting against extremism. Many countries, including the U.S., see that extremism can be politically destabilizing and pose international security concerns. </p>
<p>But at the same time, <a href="https://www.polisci.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/Foreign%20Aid%20as%20Counterterrorism.pdf">the incidence of terrorism in countries</a> that get large amounts of international funding, including Afghanistan, Indonesia, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aswp.12184">Pakistan</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2012.738263">Mali</a>, shows that international aid is an insufficient counterterrorism measure.</p>
<p>In Indonesia, for example, the USAID gave $24 million from 2018 to 2023 for an anti-extremism project called Harmoni. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sfcg.org/harmoni-towards-inclusion-and-resilience/">This project</a> carries out workshops for state officials about prison management and handling terrorist detainees, among other programs. </p>
<p>But Harmoni does not include a key constituency – <a href="https://kemlu.go.id/download/L3NpdGVzL3B1c2F0L0RvY3VtZW50cy9KdXJuYWwvSnVybmFsJTIwSHVidW5nYW4lMjBMdWFyJTIwTmVnZXJpLyhGSU5BTCklMjBKVVJOQUwlMjBWT0wlMjA2JTIwTk8lMjAyLnBkZg==">detained or released terrorists</a> and their families – in their work. </p>
<p>This kind of strategy makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to actually reform extremists.</p>
<p>This model, according to my research, is common in counterextremism projects funded by international aid. </p>
<h2>Involving terrorists</h2>
<p>Donor countries, governments and partner organizations working to prevent extremism can involve released terrorists and their families in various ways – including providing vocational, financial, psychological, religious, educational and even recreational programs. </p>
<p>Many countries still need international aid to fight terrorism, but it will work more effectively only when also embracing former terrorist convicts and their families. </p>
<p>Without targeted, inclusive interventions in extremism, I believe the world will continue to see more wasted aid when addressing terrorism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bernard Loesi receives funding from Southeast Center, the University of Washington. </span></em></p>The US gives money to help Indonesia and other countries fight terrorism. But research shows that this money might not be effective, unless it directly reaches former extremists.Bernard Loesi, PhD Candidate, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807312022-04-06T18:44:53Z2022-04-06T18:44:53ZWhat is going on in Pakistan? And why has the US been dragged into it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456417/original/file-20220405-27-3lc91y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3020%2C2015&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still Pakistan's poster boy? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/activists-and-supporters-of-ruling-pakistan-tehreek-e-insaf-news-photo/1239543944?adppopup=true">Farooq Naeem/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Pakistan, a <a href="https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-o-s/pakistan.aspx">nuclear nation</a> that is home to <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=PK">some 220 million people</a>, is in a political mess.</em> </p>
<p><em>On April 3, 2022, Prime Minister – and former <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzA9TTH4on4">national sporting hero</a> – Imran Khan <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/world/imran-khan-pakistan.html">dissolved Parliament</a> to get ahead of a no-confidence vote. That vote would have seen parliamentarians decide whether or not to support Khan’s premiership and would have likely seen him ousted from power.</em></p>
<p><em>What happens next is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60978582">in the hands of the country’s Supreme Court</a> and, after that, the nation’s voters. The Conversation asked Pakistani American scholar <a href="https://fletcher.tufts.edu/people/ayesha-jalal">Ayesha Jalal, professor of history at Tufts University</a>, to help explain what is going on – and what could happen next.</em></p>
<h2>What just happened in Pakistan?</h2>
<p>A no-confidence vote, first submitted as a motion by Pakistan’s opposition parties on March 8, was supposed to take place. But it was <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/timeline-the-dramatic-events-that-lead-to-imran-khans-fall-from-grace-and-the-dissolution-of-the-pakistan-parliament-10516101.html">delayed repeatedly as Khan tried to cling to power</a>.</p>
<p>Finally on April 3, the National Assembly <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/03/pakistan-prime-minister-imran-khan-unlikely-to-survive-no-confidence-vote-minister-says.html">was supposed to vote</a>. Instead, Khan’s newly appointed law minister made a statement to Parliament alleging a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/03/pakistan-prime-minister-imran-khan-unlikely-to-survive-no-confidence-vote-minister-says.html">foreign conspiracy aimed at dislodging the government</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/03/1090490181/pakistan-imran-khan-parliament-early-elections">accused the opposition of treason</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-religion-ad929acf523850fdb63a5b6dd960f1d2">filed a motion with the deputy speaker to abandon</a> the no-confidence vote. Khan then dissolved the National Assembly and called for early national elections.</p>
<p>There is no precedent for any of this in Pakistan, and it goes against the normal democratic process. Opposition lawmakers lodged a petition challenging Khan’s gambit, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/04/world/imran-khan-pakistan-news">now it is up to the Supreme Court</a> to decide.</p>
<p>In short, Pakistan has been thrown into a serious constitutional crisis. </p>
<h2>What prompted the calls for a no-confidence vote?</h2>
<p>The basic charge against Imran Khan <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/25/why-is-pakistans-opposition-seeking-pm-imran-khans-removal">is mismanagement</a>, especially in Punjab – Pakistan’s second-largest province in terms of area and its most populous.</p>
<p>Khan <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/world/asia/who-is-imran-khan.html">came to power in 2018</a> promising a “new Pakistan” and an end to the corruption that has for decades been part of Pakistan’s politics. But he has failed to live up to that promise. Khan’s appointed chief minister in Punjab, Usman Buzdar, has been <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/712816-nab-opens-another-corruption-case-against-cm-usman-buzdar">accused of widespread corruption</a>, taking bribes and receiving money in return for making bureaucratic appointments. Even members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have broken with the prime minister over his backing of the now outgoing Punjab chief minister.</p>
<p>On top of this, Khan has been criticized for his handling of everything <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2021/mar/26/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-faces-flak-for-holding-in-person-meeting-despite-being-infected-with-covid-2281904.html">from the pandemic</a> to <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3163919/imran-khans-future-doubt-pakistanis-crumble-under-inflations">soaring inflation</a> in the country.</p>
<h2>Where does the US come into this?</h2>
<p>With his position as prime minister under threat, Khan has fallen back on a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/on-pakistani-anti-americanism/">tried-and-tested tactic</a> in Pakistani politics: Blame the United States.</p>
<p>Khan’s new narrative is that there is a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/imran-khan-blames-foreign-conspiracy-oust-faces-toughest-political/">foreign conspiracy to oust him from power</a>. And it is America, Khan says, that is really behind the no-confidence motion filed by opposition lawmakers.</p>
<p>He has accused U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu of being <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-claims-us-diplomat-involved-conspiracy-topple-govt-1933042-2022-04-03">involved in the plot to overthrow his government</a>, suggesting that Lu had warned Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington that there would be implications if Khan survived the no-confidence vote.</p>
<p>The U.S. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-01/u-s-denies-imran-khan-s-claim-it-wants-him-ousted-in-pakistan">has dismissed this claim</a>, and Khan has offered no evidence to support it. But he is tapping into a popular trope in Pakistan that the U.S. is up to something. <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/on-pakistani-anti-americanism/">Anti-Americanism flies</a> in Pakistan. So Khan is playing to a well-embedded narrative in pointing a finger at Washington.</p>
<h2>How have relations between the US and Pakistan been of late?</h2>
<p>Khan believed that his <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/what-did-the-pakistani-prime-ministers-visit-with-trump-achieve/">relationship with former President Donald Trump</a> was rather good. But relations have certainly chilled under President Joe Biden. Khan was <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/12/pakistan-imran-khan-afghanistan-mess-taliban">critical of the Biden administration</a> over the pullout of U.S. troops from neighboring Afghanistan. The Pakistani prime minister has meanwhile found it convenient to frame himself as someone <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-19855642">long opposed to America’s drone program</a>, which targeted purported terrorist sites in the northeast of the country <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2012-07-02/pakistan-drone-statistics-visualised">but is responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths</a> in parts of Pakistan.</p>
<p>That said, the Pakistani military is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2347797016689220">still overwhelmingly dependent on the U.S.</a>, and as such Pakistan’s generals will want to maintain some semblance of good relations with Washington.</p>
<p>But at the top level in politics it is fair to say relations with the U.S. are not good – “<a href="https://www.thestatesman.com/world/imran-khan-says-pak-endure-terrible-relationship-us-1503007994.html">terrible” was the word Khan</a> used in a 2021 interview. It hasn’t been helped by the perception held by Khan that <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/12/13/pakistan-skipped-the-us-summit-for-democracy-why/">his government has been snubbed and ignored</a> by Biden.</p>
<h2>Sounds like Khan has a bruised ego?</h2>
<p>Khan is a superstar with a massive ego. You have to remember he was a superstar before he was prime minister, having been the captain of the country’s national cricket team and <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8532802/imran-khan-lothario-prime-minister-nuclear-button/">a global jet-setter</a>. It’s not over the top to say that Imran Khan is a legend to many Pakistanis.</p>
<p>He will be hoping that this star power might serve him well in any upcoming election.</p>
<h2>Will it?</h2>
<p>He certainly has a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60966758">support base that is very loyal</a>. But it isn’t clear whether it outweighs that of the other parties put together – and a coalition of opposition parties could gain enough seats to oust Khan in an election. Indeed, Khan has only ever governed with a very small mandate – his party <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/imran-khan-s-pti-short-of-majority-in-pakistan-elections-needs-allies-118072700282_1.html">did not win a majority of seats in parliament and required the support of smaller parties</a>. And his own members have been <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-18/pakistan-pm-khan-pressured-to-quit-as-party-members-desert-him">disavowing him in light of the recent events</a>. I also doubt many people in Pakistan are buying the conspiracy about the U.S. trying to topple him.</p>
<p>He will also find it difficult to win Punjab given the mismanagement that he is blamed for there. And without Punjab, you can’t run Pakistan.</p>
<h2>So what happens next?</h2>
<p>You never know with Pakistan’s politics – anything is possible. After all, <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/explainer/report-dna-explainer-no-pakistan-pm-has-completed-5-year-term-in-75-years-here-s-why-2943893">it is very rare for governments in Pakistan to complete a full term</a>. But no matter what the Supreme Court decides about the no-confidence vote, it does look set that Pakistan will be heading to an election in the next 90 days.</p>
<p>It will be a bitter, bitter election – and held in the middle of Pakistan’s hot summer. Uncertainty, politicking and potential unrest could dominate the next few months.</p>
<h2>That doesn’t sound good. What’s the worst that could happen?</h2>
<p>The danger is that Khan will not accept an election loss and take his fight to supporters in the streets. If a political crisis becomes a law-and-order issue, the army – never far away from Pakistani politics, and <a href="https://time.com/6163168/imran-khan-army-crisis-pakistan/">seemingly losing patience with Khan</a> – might decide enough is enough and move in.</p>
<p>That said, there is <a href="http://gallup.com.pk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Democracy-in-Pakistan.pdf">little appetite among the population for a military dictatorship</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand key political developments, each week.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s politics newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ayesha Jalal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan dissolved Parliament rather than face a no-confidence vote. The Conversation asked an expert: What happens next?Ayesha Jalal, Professor of History, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769452022-03-31T12:44:57Z2022-03-31T12:44:57ZAfghan evacuees lack a clear path for resettlement in the U.S., 7 months after Taliban takeover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455297/original/file-20220330-25-3vwwi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. has evacuated 84,600 Afghans since August 2021, but many of these people remain in a legal limbo.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/in-this-handout-provided-by-us-central-command-public-affairs-us-air-picture-id1234876758?s=2048x2048">Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Russia’s war against Ukraine has resulted in more than <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">4 million</a> Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country. </p>
<p>The United States said on March 24, 2022, that it would welcome <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/24/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-7/">100,000 Ukrainian refugees.</a></p>
<p>The Ukrainian refugee situation continues to overshadow another refugee crisis. That crisis stems from the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/30/afghanistan-update-last-us-troops-leave-kabul-ending-evacuation.html">U.S. military’s official withdrawal</a> from Afghanistan in August 2021. </p>
<p>Since the withdrawal, approximately <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/02/19/operation-allies-welcome-announces-departure-all-afghan-nationals-us-military-bases">84,600</a> Afghans were evacuated to the U.S. </p>
<p>It is estimated that thousands of Afghans vulnerable to the Taliban have been left behind. </p>
<p>“There are still Afghans being killed by the Taliban because we haven’t gotten them out of the country,” U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/some-lawmakers-worry-afghan-refugees-will-be-forgotten/">said on March 28</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VjFPaPEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a scholar</a> of refugees and post-conflict reconstruction, I believe that the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/17/time-running-out-address-afghanistans-hunger-crisis">deteriorating situation</a> in Afghanistan will continue to result in rising numbers of refugees in the years to come. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children and adults are seen from a distance in front of beige, white and blue tents, all fenced in" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Afghan evacuees at a U.S. military base in Germany in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/young-evacuees-from-afghanistan-are-playing-and-running-around-at-the-picture-id1345674198?s=2048x2048">Lukas Schulze/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A hasty retreat</h2>
<p>Prior to the U.S. military withdrawal, Afghanistan produced the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/worlds-5-biggest-refugee-crises">second-largest number</a> of refugees in the world, topping <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/afghanistan-emergency.html">2.6 million</a>. The largest refugee crisis comes from 11 years of war in <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/">Syria</a>.</p>
<p>Following the Soviet Union invasion in 1979, the majority of Afghan refugees have fled to <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/news/20210823-where-do-afghanistans-refugees-go.cfm">Iran and Pakistan</a>. Since then, ongoing civil war and violence as well as the U.S. invasion in 2001 prompted more people to seek refuge in these countries.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/afghanistan-humanitarian-crisis-famine-foreign-aid-taliban">humanitarian needs</a> in Afghanistan now grow, Afghans continue to cross into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/world/asia/afghanistan-migration-refugees.html">these</a> countries. </p>
<p>The U.S. evacuation of Afghan refugees in 2021 was the largest evacuation effort in U.S. history since the 1975 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Newlife-P-J-Ryan/dp/1885372094">Operation New Life</a>, when 110,000 Vietnamese refugees were evacuated to Guam after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/15/saigon-fall-kabul-taliban/">fall of Saigon.</a></p>
<p>President Biden called the Afghan evacuations an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/08/31/biden-afghanistan-evacuation-extraordinary-success.html">“extraordinary success.”</a> </p>
<p>But there was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/16/1028081817/congressional-reaction-to-bidens-afghanistan-withdrawal-has-been-scathing">bipartisan condemnation</a> in Congress of the hasty nature of the withdrawal and evacuations, which resulted in many Afghans and some American citizens being left behind. </p>
<h2>Refugee system cuts</h2>
<p>In September 2021, the White House requested Congress to authorize <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/09/07/white-house-asks-congress-billions-afghan-resettlement/5758104001/">$6.4 billion</a> and received <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/funding-bill-will-help-afghans-resettle-integrate/">$6.3 billion</a> for Afghan resettlement.</p>
<p>But the nine <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/us-resettlement-partners.html">U.S. refugee resettlement agencies</a> designated to welcome and support refugee arrivals have still struggled to assist the large number of Afghans because of limited staff and continued funding shortages.</p>
<p>This is partially because during the Trump administration, there were severe cuts to <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2019-09-27/us-refugee-agencies-wither-trump-administration-cuts-numbers-historic-lows">the number of refugees allowed in to the U.S.</a> President Donald Trump also cut <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/refugee-organizations-scramble-settle-afghans-years-trump-era/story?id=79812415">budgets for refugee spending.</a> </p>
<p>Afghan evacuees in the U.S. also continue to face legal and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1083029733/afghan-refugees-resettlement-housing-jobs">logistical</a> challenges in their long-term resettlement process. </p>
<h2>Difficult to stay in US</h2>
<p>Typically, the U.S. admits foreigners like Afghans who might fear to return to their home countries <a href="https://www.state.gov/refugee-admissions/">as either refugees</a> or, less often, <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum">asylum recipients</a>. Both of these options allow non-citizens to legally work and live in the U.S., and to eventually gain citizenship. </p>
<p>For Afghan evacuees, the legal pathways to stay permanently in the U.S. are complicated.</p>
<p>Some of the recent Afghan evacuees are recipients of
<a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/evacuations-afghanistan-what-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-siv-program">special immigrant visas</a>. These visas have gone to those who worked closely with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and give benefits like work permits and a clear pathway to becoming citizens. </p>
<p>The majority of the evacuees, however, received <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/orr/Benefits-for-Afghan-Humanitarian-Parolees.pdf">humanitarian parole</a> - a temporary status given for emergency humanitarian situations. This is valid for up to two years. </p>
<p>On March 16, 2022, the Biden administration also announced that Afghans already living in the U.S. would receive <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview">Temporary Protected Status</a>. This gives Afghans legal work permits, but only lasts for 18 months.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11903">estimates</a> 74,500 Afghan nationals could be eligible for this status. </p>
<p>Some Afghan resettlement advocates are pushing for Congress to <a href="https://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/factsheet_afghan_adjustment_act_november_2021.pdf">pass legislation</a> that would allow certain Afghan evacuees to apply for permanent legal status in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A U.S. soldier stands in front of a sign that says " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evacuees from Afghanistan wait to board a passenger plane bound for the U.S. at the U.S. military’s Ramstein air base in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/evacuees-from-afghanistan-wait-for-boarding-into-a-passenger-plane-picture-id1345660713?s=2048x2048">Lukas Schulze/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Desperate Afghans outside the U.S.</h2>
<p>Back in Afghanistan, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/taliban-afghanistan">Taliban’s takeover</a> has prompted a <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2022/2/15/Afghanistan-crises-hunger-inflation-migration-by-the-numbers">severe humanitarian</a> and <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/afghanistans-economy-collapse-and-chaos">economic crisis</a>. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113982">95% of Afghans</a> are not getting enough to eat, according to the United Nations. </p>
<p>Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked for the previous government, for the U.S. military, for U.S.-based nonprofit organizations and for democracy and human rights have <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/19/taliban-checkpoints-ring-kabul-airport-as-imf-suspends-funds-to-afghanistan">intensified</a> over the last several months.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.wartimeallies.co/_files/ugd/5887eb_6334755bb6f64b009b629f3513a16204.pdf">at least 78,000</a> special immigrant visa applicants who remain stranded in Afghanistan, waiting for their visas to be processed. </p>
<p>Since July 2021, there have also been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html">43,000 Afghans</a> outside of the U.S. who have submitted humanitarian parole applications - <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-received-overwhelming-number-of-humanitarian-parole-requests-from-afghans-/6441411.html">which cost $575 each</a> - to enter the U.S. </p>
<p>To date, the U.S. has approved parole for only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html">170</a> applicants. </p>
<p>The exact number of Afghans who worked in democracy, human rights, journalism, law and education, including former students of the U.S.-government funded <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-university-of-afghanistan-evacuated-but-thousands-still-want-to-leave/">American University of Kabul</a>, who are desperate to flee Taliban rule remains unknown. </p>
<p>For many of these Afghans - some of whom were <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/afghanistan-family-left-behind-resettlement-taliban-evacuation-20211030.html">separated</a> from family during the evacuation process - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html?smid=tw-share">hopes of resettlement</a> in the U.S. are fading.</p>
<p>In a recent conversation about the challenges facing Afghan evacuees in the U.S., Arash Azizzada, an advocate with the diaspora coalition <a href="https://www.weareafghans.org">Afghans for a Better Tomorrow</a>, explained to me that “There is a sense that the U.S. has abandoned Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>“Afghan-Americans and military veterans have sprung into action to respond to Afghans in crisis. But we can’t do this alone. We need more support to welcome Afghans with dignity,” Azizzada continued. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The U.S. has promised to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But there is concern that this could further complicate efforts to welcome and resettle Afghan evacuees.Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1762192022-02-24T16:36:29Z2022-02-24T16:36:29ZAfghanistan’s libraries go into blackout: ‘It is painful to see the distance between people and books grow’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447151/original/file-20220217-16819-4nt5vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=130%2C372%2C4848%2C2454&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A burned library at Kabul University after a deadly attack in Kabul, November 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“The lights are off, shelves are in disarray and dust has coated every single book,” says Zabihullah Ehsas, my longtime friend and mentor, describing the current state of <a href="http://www.nihcr.edu.pk/Latest_English_Journal/38-2,2017/6.%20Khushal%20Khan%20Khattak%20Political%20Study,%20Hanif%20Khalil.pdf">Khushal Baba</a> Ketabtun, a library we established together in 2012. Our efforts represented an attempt to address the shortage of Pashto books in Mazar-i-Sharif, the cultural and economic hub of northern Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Funded by the <a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/af/en/index.html">Goethe-Institut</a>, and holding a collection of nearly 4,000 volumes in Pashto, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, the library quickly turned into a stomping ground for the city’s intellectuals, nurturing and hosting an array of literary programs — including literary critiques, poetry recitals and competitions, book reviews, guest speakers and anniversaries of renowned authors.</p>
<p>Now “it has been seven months that no one has peeked into the library,” Ehsas tells me via WhatsApp. I can hear a lump in his throat. “It is painful to see the distance between people and books grow.”</p>
<p>True.</p>
<p>The Taliban takeover last August hit Afghanistan’s reading culture and book industry especially hard. Libraries such as Khushal Baba Ketabtun, with its highly fertile and engaging environment, went quiet. <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/uncertain-future-for-the-booksellers-of-kabul-1044942.html">The number of book stores is rapidly shrinking</a>, and publishers and printing houses are in a deep economic crisis, with some <a href="https://8am.af/eng/kabul-publishers-are-shutting-down/">already closed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close-up of a boy's face seen reading a book about the milky way." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447374/original/file-20220218-43570-qg57i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A boy reads at the Rahila library, in Kabul, in March 2019.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Squashed, neglected libraries</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Afghan-War">Suppressing regimes and widespread chaos</a> over a span of 40 years squashed the public libraries and reading culture in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/40-years-after-his-death-hafizullah-amin-casts-a-long-shadow-in-afghanistan/">communists</a> cracked down on religious books and the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">mujahedeen</a> burned communist books after toppling the last communist president, Mohammad Najibullah. </p>
<p>In the mid-‘90s, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718">the Taliban</a> tried to further erase the cultural elements of the country. <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/death-buddhas-bamiyan">The destruction of Buddha statues in Bamyan</a> was the boldest example of this rampage. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-my-20-years-in-afghanistan-taught-me-about-the-taliban-and-how-the-west-consistently-underestimates-them-167927">What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When the United States-backed republic formed in 2001, a government <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/how-corruption-played-a-role-in-the-demise-of-the-afghan-government/">engulfed by corruption</a> and insurgency had little-to-no interest in rehabilitating <a href="https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/reading-in-kabul-the-state-of-afghan-libraries/">the country’s libraries</a>. They were largely neglected and remained non-functioning.</p>
<p>As a faculty member at <a href="https://www.ba.edu.af/">Balkh University</a> in Mazar-i-Sharif, teaching Pashto linguistics and literature, I had observed the library on our campus for a decade before I fled the country in August.</p>
<p>In a small, dimly lit, low-ceilinged hall, 32,000 books, at least according to official figures, were piled on wooden and metal shelves, creating narrow aisles. Nearly all of the books were outdated, the librarian told me. Untrained, he just kept a record of book borrowings. </p>
<p>The library didn’t have a comprehensive database; anyone looking for a book had to search the shelves for it. The library had a handful of visitors, exclusively students and professors, who picked the books they needed for their research. No reading took place there!</p>
<p><a href="http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1906/">Unable to meet the needs</a> of a book-hungry post-war nation, especially when <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/education">the number of educated youths rapidly increased</a>, these libraries gave room to privately run public libraries.</p>
<h2>Private initiatives promote reading culture</h2>
<p>A panoply of initiatives were taken throughout the country to improve access to books and promote the culture of reading and literacy.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/matiullahwesa">One man</a> in Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban, opened <a href="http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/08/the-power-of-the-library-in-a-war-torn-afghan-village/">a small library in a village</a> that would turn into a national campaign for book donations. Eventually this became a movement, called <a href="https://penpathvolunteers.org/">PenPath Volunteers</a>, that advocated for education in the most underserved communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman and children seen sitting on a bench in the inside of a refurbished bus with books." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447147/original/file-20220217-1111-ts6dt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Freshta Karim, 25, right, owner of a bus library, with readers inside her bus, in Kabul, in March 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A woman in neighbouring Helmand founded <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20211012-afghan-librarian-hopes-to-reopen-library-for-women-despite-taliban-rule">a small library</a> single-handedly, from her own personal savings, to provide a space for women to read. Another bright idea came from what became a Kabul-based non-profit organization, <a href="https://charmaghz.org/">Charmaghz</a>: young Afghans converted buses, rented from a state department, into mobile libraries. The initiative gave <a href="https://afghanistan.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_st/features/2018/07/09/feature-01">an adventurous ride and reading experience for the most underprivileged kids in Kabul</a>.</p>
<p>In eastern Afghanistan, a young Afghan <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEf2bFcgj24">turned his bicycle into a library</a>, peddling books to Afghan villages. A well-known Afghan singer, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOtTJaDeUdw">Javed Amirkhil</a>, <a href="https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2020/02/25/bikes-books-mobile-library-afghanistan">joined him</a>.</p>
<p>Reading circles sprang up in Kabul, including a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/07/when-i-get-tired-of-it-all-i-escape-into-poetry-book-clubs-bloom-in-afghanistan">book club for kids</a>, the <a href="https://www.bookcottage.org/new-page">Book Cottage</a> and Kola Poshta, where <a href="https://kabulnow.com/2020/01/afghan-reader-circle-offers-us-a-lot-to-know-about-afghanistan/">topics such as hedonism, pleasure and sex were discussed</a>.</p>
<p>Numerous reading circles tried <a href="https://www.mindthismagazine.com/a-renaissance-could-be-brewing-in-afghanistan-why-books-and-women/">to reunite Afghans with a tradition they had lost to the perpetual conflict</a>: reading.</p>
<h2>Publishers nurturing the readership</h2>
<p>In 2001, when <a href="https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan">the international community intervened in Afghanistan and toppled the first Taliban regime</a>, many of the exiled publishers and printing houses, especially those in Peshawar, returned. </p>
<p>By 2013, <a href="https://tolonews.com/business/afghan-printing-industry-now-self-sufficient">the printing industry was already self-sufficient</a>.</p>
<p>As the republic was building and rehabilitating schools and universities, <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/fact-sheets/basic-education-learning-and-training-belt">millions of textbooks</a> were needed in a short period of time, providing an opportunity for dozens to invest in the book market; two of my friends and colleagues joined the race.</p>
<p>In 2018, a <em>New York Times</em> story on this booming publishing market suggested <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/asia/afghanistan-kabul-books-publishing.html">the only things Afghanistan does not import are opium and books</a>.</p>
<p>Afghanistan has <a href="https://www.isbn-international.org/agencies">no operating</a> national ISBN agency — <a href="https://www.isbn-international.org">the global registration authority for books</a> — so it’s impossible to know how many books have been published in the country in recent decades. Publishers told me Afghanistan had become a member of the agency sometime around 2008, but by and large books continued to be published without ISBN numbers.</p>
<p>Radio Azadi, Radio Free Europe’s Afghanistan <a href="https://twitter.com/PazadiRadio">Pashto-language broadcast</a>,
reported that <a href="https://da.azadiradio.com/a/31535460.html">hundreds of titles were published on an annual basis</a>. But it came with a price. Not only did <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/afghanistan-s-resurgent-publishing#.YgXeH-pBxPY">piracy become a real issue</a>, but the books published, whether by private publishers or state institutions — universities or academies of sciences — largely fell short on substance. </p>
<p>The authors, who usually self-sponsored their books’ publications, did not follow the rules of research. All that the editors at the publishing houses seemed to do was to proofread — sometimes badly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man is seen surrounded by towering books in a bookshop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=271%2C801%2C7152%2C4656&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447149/original/file-20220217-19-1hhcrl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bookshop owner repairs a book in Herat, Afghanistan, in November 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the demand for textbooks subsided, the publishers faced financial challenges. It was then that they figured a new way out — something from which the reading public could benefit.</p>
<p>Many publishers deployed networks of translators in the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere to convert trending books to local languages, including political, self-help and literary masterpieces. <a href="https://aazem-publication.business.site/">Aazem Publications</a> and the publisher <a href="https://aksosbookstore.af/">Aksos</a> led the way. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/ivanka-trump-book-afghanistan-women/4515922.html">A Pashto translation</a> of Ivanka Trump’s <em>Women Who Work</em>, for instance, hit the market and was widely sold.</p>
<p>Although good translation was still a struggle, the shift nurtured the reading culture and introduced a new generation to world literature to some degree.</p>
<h2>‘Running at a loss’</h2>
<p>And just as progress was being made, a tragic twist of history intervened: The <a href="https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/war-and-peace/afghanistans-conflict-in-2021-2-republic-collapse-and-taleban-victory-in-the-long-view-of-history/">Aug. 15, 2021, collapse of the government</a> and the return of the Taliban turned everything upside down, bringing the country — and its reading culture and book market — to a halt.</p>
<p>“I’m running at a loss,” says Najibullah Momand, the owner and co-founder of <a href="https://www.momandpublications.com/">Momand Publications</a>, one of the leading publishers in eastern Afghanistan, who has not published one book since mid-August. “Even textbooks cannot be afforded.”</p>
<p>The entire book market has come to a standstill.</p>
<p>The Taliban have not announced their policy regarding books, but the memories of <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/82fffcc8-3631-48dc-829d-44f237549a59">what happened to libraries and reading culture in the mid-‘90s</a>, when they first came to power, still serve.</p>
<p>Though <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/07/mobile-libraries-restart-for-the-first-time-in-kabul-since-taliban-takeover">Charmaghz has resumed its operations</a>, and our library in Mazar-i-Sharif is still open, the recovery of the reading culture and book industry seems a distant dream.</p>
<p>Sitting in the once-buzzing library by himself, Ehsas tells me that books are like lights. With no one coming to the library and opening the books, “the lights are off.”</p>
<p>Afghanistan is in a blackout.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zamir Saar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>My friend, with whom I co-founded a library in Mazar-i-Sharif, tells me books are like lights. With no one visiting the library and opening books, ‘the lights are off.’Zamir Saar, Dalla Lana Fellow in Global Journalism, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1722072022-02-18T13:06:38Z2022-02-18T13:06:38ZTens of thousands of Afghan evacuees made it to the US – here’s how the resettlement process works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446012/original/file-20220211-15-1qrkp5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C26%2C5820%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mohammad Attaie and his wife, Deena, newly arrived from Afghanistan, get assistance from medical translator Jahannaz Afshar at the Valley Health Center TB/Refugee Program in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 9, 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Afghan%20Refugees%20Silicon%20Valley%20Clinic/3c7fcbd9779d475eb03b5a617cc36d20?Query=afghan%20refugee&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=4200&currentItemNo=15">AP Photo/Eric Risberg</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As of February 2022, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/30/white-house-working-to-expedite-afghan-resettlement-as-at-least-12500-remain-on-military-bases.html">some 65,000 Afghans</a> evacuated during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan have settled in U.S. communities. Several hundred more remain on military bases in the U.S., while <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/politics/afghan-refugees/index.html">nearly 2,800</a> are still waiting on U.S. bases abroad.</p>
<p>The Biden administration, which aims to have all Afghan evacuees off domestic military bases by the end of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/politics/afghan-refugees/index.html">February 2022</a>, has started the final push to place refugees with host communities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dhs.gov/allieswelcome">Operation Allies Welcome</a>, the official name for the American government’s Afghan assistance program, is the most significant U.S. resettlement effort since 1975, when <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/id-76-63.pdf">more than 140,000</a> people from Southeast Asia were resettled following the U.S. military withdrawal from Vietnam.</p>
<p>But the media spotlight has moved on, and most Americans have limited understanding of what it means for Afghans to transition to life in the United States. Our work as educators and researchers is focused on <a href="https://ssw.uconn.edu/person/kathryn-libal-phd/">migration, human rights and social work</a>. We <a href="https://ssw.uconn.edu/person/scott-harding-phd/">have studied</a> American <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/strangers-to-neighbours-products-9780228001379.php">volunteers’ role</a> in helping refugees and see public support as crucial for Afghans’ continued adjustment to the U.S.</p>
<h2>System under strain</h2>
<p>Evacuees brought to U.S. military bases go through rigorous security vetting and health checks. Once these are complete, evacuees await assignment to private groups that will assist in securing housing, work opportunities, education and health care.</p>
<p>Nine domestic agencies <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/us-resettlement-partners.html">partner with the U.S. government</a> to resettle refugees. Six of them are faith-based, reflecting <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-religious-groups-have-a-history-of-resettling-refugees-including-afghans-166628">a long history</a> of religious groups’ involvement in immigration policies. These include Jewish, Catholic and Protestant groups, but all offer help regardless of refugees’ religion.</p>
<p>These resettlement agencies are given a one-time payment of US$2,275 in federal funding for each refugee they support. Of this assistance, $1,225 may be used for housing and other basic necessities. The remainder of the funds covers administrative costs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men shake hands in the sparsely furnished living room of a home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446014/original/file-20220211-19-1kfqntl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abdul, right, who left Kabul with his family, shakes hands with Jesse Robbins. Robbins and his wife, Thuy Do, have offered their vacant rental home to house Afghans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Trump administration <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-politics-immigration-coronavirus-pandemic-0a649290b8a6628900598d4324c3d72b">severely limited refugee resettlement</a>, dropping admissions to a record low of 15,000 in 2021, compared with an average of 95,000 per year under previous administrations. Our current research examines the extraordinary strain this decrease put on the resettlement system.</p>
<h2>Innovations in aid</h2>
<p>To evacuate Afghans quickly, the State Department launched an initiative in September 2021 called the Afghan Placement and Assistance Program, which allows Afghans into the U.S. as parolees after security checks. <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/forms/explore-my-options/humanitarian-parole">Humanitarian parole</a> can be granted for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.”</p>
<p>Those paroled between July 31, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022, are <a href="https://www.wrapsnet.org/documents/ORR%20Benefits-for-Afghan-Humanitarian-Parolees.pdf">eligible for refugee assistance</a> and other public benefits until March 31, 2023, or the end of their parole term. Afghan parolees who leave military bases before being assigned to a resettlement organization or placed with a community sponsorship group <a href="https://www.wrapsnet.org/afghans-granted-humanitarian-parole/">have 90 days</a> to request aid through the program.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Yet the capacity of these organizations is not adequate to meet the large-scale rapid resettlement needs, as agencies struggle to build back from the previous administration’s cuts. The housing shortage for rapid resettlement is so profound that resettlement agencies and <a href="https://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/csd-office-refugee-and-immigration-assistance/welcoming-afghans-washington-state">some states</a> have partnered with Airbnb to provide emergency housing, following the company’s commitment in August 2021 to support <a href="https://news.airbnb.com/afghan-refugees/">20,000 Afghan evacuees</a> worldwide.</p>
<p>For this reason, the Biden administration created a parallel program to allow community organizations or groups of five or more individual volunteers to directly sponsor Afghans. These sponsors, many of whom are part of a new initiative called <a href="https://www.sponsorcircles.org/">Sponsor Circles</a>, <a href="https://www.sponsorcircles.org/about">must raise $2,275</a> on their own for each evacuee and commit to providing at least 90 days’ support, such as helping them secure housing and employment and building connections in their new community.</p>
<p>As of <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/us-tries-sponsor-circles-to-speed-afghan-refugee-resettlement-102378">late January 2022</a> approximately 30 Sponsor Circles had reportedly received approvals and another 100 were being certified.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several seated young children play on a bare floor surrounded by metal frames draped in white tarps." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446024/original/file-20220211-24893-n2ct3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of children plays inside one of the large tents at an Afghan refugee camp on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on Sept. 27, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Here – for now</h2>
<p>While many Americans think of the arriving Afghans as “refugees,” most of these newcomers have a more tenuous legal status.</p>
<p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_WZNPMln7QLxIXj1y-MzDsR_nsE4ape5/view">The Department of Homeland Security reports</a> that 70,192 have entered the country under <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_1110-opa-dhs-resettlement-of-at-risk-afghans.pdf">humanitarian parole</a>, which allows residence in the U.S. for two years without a visa.</p>
<p>Nearly 40,000 Afghan evacuees <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_WZNPMln7QLxIXj1y-MzDsR_nsE4ape5/view">who entered under humanitarian parole</a> have applied for refugee status or for <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/special-immg-visa-afghans-employed-us-gov.html">special immigrant visas</a>, which are for people who worked with the U.S. government or armed forces in Afghanistan. Another 36,433 Afghans have no clear pathway to permanent legal status, because of many factors such as not having worked at least one year for the U.S. government.</p>
<p>U.S. agencies brought in Afghans under humanitarian parole, rather than standard refugee procedures, because of the urgency of the evacuation. But the consequences may be profound.</p>
<p>Some parolees had to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/29/afghan-evacuees-refugees-washington-dc/">wait weeks or months</a> for the government or social service organizations to file paperwork granting them the right to work. Another <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html?smid=em-share">challenge for parolees</a> is <a href="https://immigrationimpact.com/2022/01/07/denials-afghan-humanitarian-parole-requests/#.Yg1l11jMLt2">securing family members’ admission to the U.S.</a>, which requires a high level of proof of threat to that particular individual. </p>
<p>Many Afghan parolees should eventually qualify for asylum, but applying is a lengthy and complex process that generally requires significant legal assistance. <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/Quarterly_All_Forms_FY2021Q4.pdf">More than 400,000 asylum cases</a> are pending in the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum">U.S. asylum system</a>. </p>
<p>Refugee resettlement organizations and voluntary groups that could normally help with filing asylum claims are already stretched thin. Evacuees’ advocates have <a href="https://rcusa.org/resources/rcusa-applauds-passage-of-fy22-cr-calls-on-congress-to-pass-the-afghan-adjustment-act/">called for approval</a> of the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow Afghans to apply for lawful permanent resident status without waiting for the asylum system to rule on their cases or processing of special immigrant visa applications.</p>
<p>Governors, businesses, celebrities, universities, military members, veterans and individuals across the U.S. have stepped in to <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22883775/afghan-refugee-private-sponsorship">support recent Afghan evacuees</a> – many in locales with no history of resettling refugees. The responsibilities of resettlement, however, extend beyond helping evacuees in their first few weeks, to helping them secure a stable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nine agencies, most of them faith-based, are resettling Afghan evacuees in the US. But the system is under strain.Kathryn Libal, Director, Human Rights Institute, Associate Prof. Social Work and Human Rights, University of ConnecticutScott Harding, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1740332022-01-09T13:14:41Z2022-01-09T13:14:41ZThe U.S. failed in Afghanistan by trying to moralize with bullets and bombs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439200/original/file-20220103-58867-171en51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C57%2C4793%2C3099&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The acting foreign minister in Afghanistan's Taliban-run cabinet, Amir Khan Muttaqi attends a session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Ministers, in Islamabad, Pakistan, in December 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last August, the world watched the chaotic and painful <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rocket-attack-kabul-1.6157938">American departure from Afghanistan</a>. It led to a profound reckoning: how could two decades of war end in such humiliating defeat at the hands of Taliban militants?</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, the list of imperial powers that have tried and failed to exercise control includes the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-marks-98-years-independence/28685763.html">British in the 19th century</a>, the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">Soviets in the 20th century</a> — and now the Americans in the 21st century. </p>
<p>Afghanistan’s history of occupation suggests a deviation from the standard colonial playbook of using military control to extract wealth elsewhere in the Global South. All this has given rise to the erroneous trope that Afghanistan is a “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/08/28/afghanistan-graveyard-britain-us-russia-506990">graveyard of empires</a>.”</p>
<h2>Complex legacy of colonialism</h2>
<p>The reality is more complex. Global South nations struggling with the effects of colonialism are ticking time bombs. Global North control creates simmering resentments and resistance.</p>
<p>My research into entrepreneurship amid post-colonial upheaval finds that colonial interference <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-03-2020-0016">alters the natural progress of development</a> for these occupied countries. Traumatic political, military and social events create deficits that are not easily fixed. Yet I’ve also found that powerful identities around empowerment and self-determination can survive the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3637-9">extremes of colonialism and occupation</a>.</p>
<p>The 20-year Afghanistan war was not just a military exercise — it was also a moralizing attempt by the Global North to construct institutions in their own image. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-shows-the-u-s-folly-of-trying-to-implant-democratic-institutions-abroad-167613">Afghanistan shows the U.S. folly of trying to implant democratic institutions abroad</a>
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<p>The cost? <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-death-toll-in-afghan-mission-158-soldiers-four-civilians-1.1814248">Almost 160 Canadians</a> died, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-afghanistan-43d8f53b35e80ec18c130cd683e1a38f">2,448 American service members were killed</a> and, astonishingly, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/911-civilian-casualties-iraq-afghanistan-b1912816.html">363,000 Afghan civilians</a> perished. Billions of dollars were spent, and another superpower was left humiliated.</p>
<p>Post-colonialism is still very much in play in Afghanistan. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mujahideen-Afghani-rebels">The Mujahideen</a> drove out the Soviets in 1989, and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taliban">cult-like Taliban</a> surprised everyone, and possibly themselves, with how quickly they took control in the wake of the clumsy U.S. withdrawal. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A soldier holding a gun stands in front of a troop of soldiers walking towards a building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438977/original/file-20211223-49229-r8b8cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taliban special force fighters stand guard outside Hamid Karzai International Airport after the U.S. withdrawal in Kabul, Afghanistan in August 2021. The Taliban seized Kabul after the last U.S. plane left its runway, marking the end of America’s longest war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Post-colonial theory at play</h2>
<p>The resurgence of the Taliban was consistent with post-colonial theory on identity construction, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820551">understood to happen in three steps</a>.</p>
<p>First, there was the Eurocentric expectation of mimicry: when confronted by the world’s most powerful military, Afghans were expected to adopt the norms of their occupiers. America and its allies saw themselves as having a superior form of civilization worthy of emulation, doing a favour for Afghans by liberating them from the Taliban.</p>
<p>Second, a hybrid identity was created. Afghanistan became neither Afghan nor American. A <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-a-puppet-government.html">puppet government</a> was installed to force an identity onto Afghanistan by their foreign occupier that would be palatable to the Global North.</p>
<p>Third, there was a space of transition. In this space, people reflect on ongoing uncertainties and their history, and reimagine the future; it is here that the colonized resist and push back against occupying forces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Groups men walking down a road. A few of them carry guns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438980/original/file-20211223-17-nmd0uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Militiamen loyal to Ahmad Massoud, the founder of the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, stand guard in Panjshir, the last region not under Taliban control following their stunning blitz across Afghanistan, in August 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jalaluddin Sekandar)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A monster of their own creation</h2>
<p>For 20 years, the U.S. was trying to destroy its own flawed, hybrid creation: the Mujahideen. These guerrilla fighters had been trained and armed by Americans to fight in a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/08/the-taliban-indoctrinates-kids-with-jihadist-textbooks-paid-for-by-the-u-s/">death for country</a>,” suicide-bombing style. </p>
<p>This was not the Afghan way. Rather than blowing themselves up, Afghans had preferred to put down their weapons for tea time, hang out with their adversaries and then go back to fighting them the next day.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/origins-of-the-taliban-and-what-their-history-tells-us-about-takeover-of-afghanistan-podcast-166699">Origins of the Taliban and what their history tells us about takeover of Afghanistan – podcast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By installing a <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/08/16/pers-a16.html">corrupt puppet government</a>, the Americans pursued nation-building based on their own western model. This thwarted the natural evolution of Afghan institutions and hung on the country like an ill-fitting suit, with deadly consequences. </p>
<p>The speed with which U.S.-backed president Ashraf Ghani fled, and the occupation government collapsed, heralded a significant transition in Afghanistan. The Taliban stepped into that space of transition with surprising ease. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people walking in front of a wall with a large mural of a man's face on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C79%2C5936%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438979/original/file-20211223-49229-20a5kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People walk near a mural of President Ashraf Ghani at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ghani fled the country in August 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A majority of Afghans, like any occupied people, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3637-9">want to create their own solutions</a>. For this, they often need help. But that help should not be guns pointed at them by a foreign military. </p>
<p>After two decades of fighting that left so many of their citizens dead, Afghans faced the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-occupation-of-afghanistan-was-colonialism-that-prevented-afghan-self-determination-167615">unpalatable choice between the tyranny of the occupiers or the tyranny of their own people</a> — meaning the Taliban. </p>
<h2>Restructuring the narrative</h2>
<p>This <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58484155">does not mean Afghans are happy</a> with the Taliban. But the current narrative that the Global North is trying to “save” Afghans is an attempt at damage control over a misadventure that cost so many lives. </p>
<p>Afghanistan has been taken back to the same place it was 20 years ago. That requires reconstructing the narrative, because it’s hard to say you’re promoting human rights when hundreds of thousands have been killed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-my-20-years-in-afghanistan-taught-me-about-the-taliban-and-how-the-west-consistently-underestimates-them-167927">What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The post-colonial situation suggests that, with Afghanistan’s occupiers gone, Taliban rule is a flawed but authentic first step in a long process of transition. This process is more authentic than the one imposed by occupiers, because it allows Afghan society to evolve on its own terms.</p>
<p>Colonialism changes the trajectory of a nation. The political, economic and social structures that normally evolve are interrupted. To prosper, Afghanistan needs partnerships and business investment, not bullets and bombs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Haider Alvi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To prosper after the legacy of imperialism and colonization, Afghanistan needs partnerships and business investment, not bullets and bombs.F. Haider Alvi, Assistant Professor of Innovation Finance, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1723602022-01-05T13:48:38Z2022-01-05T13:48:38ZAfter Afghanistan, US military presence abroad faces domestic and foreign opposition in 2022<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438361/original/file-20211219-13-mmx5ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=112%2C77%2C5492%2C3552&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Army soldiers walk to their C-17 cargo plane for departure on May 11, 2013, at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/army-soldiers-walk-to-their-c-17-cargo-plane-for-departure-news-photo/483252999?adppopup=true">Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In August 2021, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-withdraws-from-afghanistan-after-20-years-of-war-4-questions-about-this-historic-moment-164300">U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan</a> after fighting a war there for nearly 20 years. </p>
<p>In addition to Afghanistan, the U.S. has reduced its military presence in several other conflict zones in recent years. It has lowered troop levels in Iraq from 170,000 in 2007 to 2,500 in 2021, and in Syria from 1,700 in 2018 to around 900 today. While these reductions may seem like a U.S. military withdrawal from the world stage, its presence overseas remains vast. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.boisestate.edu/sps-politicalscience/faculty/michael-a-allen/">political scientists</a>, <a href="https://www.k-state.edu/polsci/faculty-staff/martinezmachain-carla.html">we</a> <a href="https://www.k-state.edu/polsci/faculty-staff/Flynn.html">examine</a> the costs, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/outside-the-wire-us-military-deployments-and-public-opinion-in-host-states/BEC8A7BA48C9CF5B82B100CCC4CFA56E">benefits and perceptions</a> of U.S. military deployments abroad. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/07388942211030885">Our research shows</a> that though the scope and location of its deployments may change, the U.S. military remains an influential global player. </p>
<p>Domestically, pressures to <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2020-02-10/getting-less">reduce the defense budget</a> make overseas deployments an attractive target to cut. Internationally, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/world/americas/21ecuador.html">opposition</a> to hosting the U.S. military can also increase the cost of maintaining bases. </p>
<p>For the U.S. to maintain its influence, it will have to adapt to these increasing international and domestic pressures against its foreign military presence. Alternatively, the gradual withdrawal from its overseas commitments will make it harder for the U.S. to maintain its alliances and the international institutions it has crafted.</p>
<h2>A history of deployments</h2>
<p>U.S. military deployments and bases reassure allies, deter rivals and support humanitarian missions and military training. They also act as a command center for varied operations, including drug interdiction and counterterrorism. A base gives the U.S. the ability to <a href="https://tnsr.org/2021/06/the-truth-about-tripwires-why-small-force-deployments-do-not-deter-aggression/">credibly respond</a> to emerging threats and crises in a region.</p>
<p>They can range from small listening posts with a handful of people to a virtual city like <a href="https://home.army.mil/humphreys/index.php">Camp Humphreys in South Korea</a>, which hosts over 35,000 military and civilian personnel. </p>
<p>We recently <a href="https://github.com/meflynn/troopdata">published updated data</a> on the number of U.S. troops deployed overseas, based on reports published by the Department of Defense’s <a href="https://dwp.dmdc.osd.mil/dwp/app/main">Defense Manpower Data Center</a>. The data shows that in 2021 the U.S. had 171,477 service members located overseas, a small decease from 177,571 in 2020.</p>
<p>Beyond personnel, the <a href="https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/BSI/Base%20Structure%20Report%20FY18.pdf">U.S. owns over 600 locations</a> used by the military in countries and territories. These sites range from larger bases and training ranges to smaller sites, including petroleum product storage stations in Turkey and Portugal and Army <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/pentagon-military-golf-courses-map/">golf courses</a> in Germany and South Korea. </p>
<p><iframe id="9vhRd" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9vhRd/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The U.S. established its first permanent overseas military facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American War. The U.S. <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=55">Platt Amendment</a> stipulated the legal option for the U.S. to buy or lease land from Cuba in perpetuity. Notably, the Cuban government does not recognize the U.S. right to hold Guantánamo and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN17200921">does not cash the U.S.’s monthly US$4,085 rent checks</a>. Beyond that, except for bases in the Philippines, U.S. bases remained limited worldwide until World War II.</p>
<p>The Second World War saw the U.S. expand its base network through <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-destroyers-bases-deal">aid agreements</a> and the military occupation of Germany and Japan. Over 16 million service members were mobilized for the war, and around <a href="https://www.history.com/news/world-war-ii-allied-victory-europe-japan-photos">7.6 million were deployed</a> to conflicts in Europe, Asia and Africa. Bases in this period were established or leased in areas like Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Guam.</p>
<p>After the war, the number of U.S. personnel overseas declined globally. Yet new engagements in North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were accompanied by rapid and large deployments to Asia and the Middle East. </p>
<h2>A shifting presence</h2>
<p>While the U.S. has maintained a global military presence for the last 70 years, its approach has changed over time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438280/original/file-20211217-27-1jvc55u.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deployments from 1950-2021 by country, using data from Allen, Flynn, Machain Martinez (2021).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael A. Allen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently, U.S. military deployments, many without a formal U.S. military base, have been used to help counter China’s expanding influence in Africa. Though China’s involvement in Africa has generally been economic, the establishment of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti in 2017, coupled with recent news of China’s plans to build its first <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-seeks-first-military-base-on-africas-atlantic-coast-u-s-intelligence-finds-11638726327">Atlantic base in Equatorial Guinea</a>, suggest that China may seek increased military influence in Africa in the future.</p>
<p>Comparing the U.S. military presence in Africa between 2001 and 2021, we can see an increased number of African states with U.S. forces present. Notably, in 2007, the U.S. established <a href="https://www.africom.mil/">Africa Command</a>, a regional Defense Department command, based in Germany, specifically responsible for operations in and relations with all countries in Africa.</p>
<p>The U.S. has maintained a broad number of small deployments throughout the continent during this time. Many are composed of special operations and special forces units focusing on <a href="https://www.cfr.org/interview/risks-reducing-us-special-operations-africa">counterterror and military training operations</a>. Djibouti is particularly notable, as the U.S., China, France and the United Kingdom all have military facilities there.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438981/original/file-20211223-15-1vc35ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Between 2001 and 2021, the U.S. significantly grew its deployments in Africa.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reducing the U.S. military footprint</h2>
<p>The scope of the U.S. global military footprint has become increasingly contentious <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/RL33148.pdf">in Congress</a> in recent decades and in <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211214_29/">some of the countries</a> hosting U.S. personnel. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/26/trump-wants-south-korea-japan-pay-more-defense/">Trump administration sought</a> to reduce the number of troops in countries that failed to increase their share of the cost for hosting U.S. troops.</p>
<p>The Biden administration has reversed some Trump-era policies. For example, it <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/11/biden-will-stop-us-troop-drawdown-germany-also-push-smaller-deployments-around-world/">stopped Trump’s planned troop drawdown in Germany</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters hold placards." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437834/original/file-20211215-25-12eeypj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">South Korean protesters hold placards showing a caricature of U.S. President Donald Trump outside a U.S. Army base in Seoul in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/south-korean-protestors-hold-placards-showing-a-caricature-news-photo/831201072?adppopup=true">Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the Biden administration also continues to explore ways the U.S. could adjust its military footprint. The Defense Department, in November 2021, <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2855801/dod-concludes-2021-global-posture-review/">announced</a> the completion of its Global Posture Review, examining the U.S. military’s presence overseas. </p>
<p>Both administrations’ preference <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-reviews-military-posture-as-calls-to-close-bases-grow-2021-3">to cut the number of overseas personnel</a> is rooted in the political and financial costs of maintaining deployments. The ability to use new technologies, such as drones, rather than people in combat operations, has also allowed U.S. policymakers to shift away from larger bases. </p>
<p>Instead of a massive complex like Ramstein Air Base in Germany that the Defense Department values at $12.6 billion, it can spend just over $100 million to build small sites for drone operations like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/22/us/politics/drone-base-niger.html">Niger Air Base 201</a>.</p>
<p>However, if the U.S. wishes to continue to influence regional politics and use its military as a <a href="https://tnsr.org/2021/06/the-truth-about-tripwires-why-small-force-deployments-do-not-deter-aggression/">credible deterrent</a> to rival powers, technology alone is unlikely to be sufficient. </p>
<h2>Shared opportunities and pitfalls</h2>
<p>We have <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-the-us-pay-so-much-for-the-defense-of-its-allies-5-questions-answered-127683">discussed previously</a> how the U.S. gains influence and ease of operating in exchange for the defense of other nations. But this American gain comes with several costs for host states. </p>
<p>Deployments can cause <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/world/germans-near-air-base-don-t-hate-us-just-the-noise.html">noise pollution</a>, <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/new-military-base-could-seal-fate-okinawa-dugong">long-term environmental harm</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0095327X211011578">opportunities for crime</a> and stoke broader grievances about imperialism and militarism. And they can generate <a href="https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/01/19/wrong-side-drivers-near-air-base-used-by-american-forces-worry-uk-police/">traffic and accidents</a> when local driving customs differ substantially from what U.S. troops are accustomed to, or where large and frequent military convoys traverse busy locations. </p>
<p>[<em>Understand what’s going on in Washington.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-most">Sign up for The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<p>Opposition movements built upon grievances with the U.S. presence have fueled national movements to remove U.S. bases in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/10/19/seoul-students-scale-wall-us-embassy-protest-american-troop-presence-south-korea/">South Korea</a> and <a href="http://www.genuinesecurity.org/partners/okinawa.html">Japan</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/11/24/us-military-ends-role-in-philippines/a1be8c14-0681-44ab-b869-a6ee439727b7/">the Philippines</a>, such movements have been successful. Over time, formerly autocratic host countries have become democratic, like South Korea, and have made public support by the civilians of host states critical if the U.S. desires to maintain its troops overseas. </p>
<p>Both increasing external competition and growing domestic political pressures may lead to reduced opportunities for the U.S. as it navigates new and existing host relationships.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael A. Allen has received research funding from the Department of Defense's Minerva Initiative, the US Army Research Laboratory, and the US Army Research Office.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carla Martinez Machain has received funding from the Department of Defense's Minerva Initiative, the US Army Research Laboratory, and the US Army Research Office.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E. Flynn has received research funding from the Department of Defense's Minerva Initiative, the US Army Research Laboratory, and the US Army Research Office.</span></em></p>If the United States expects to sustain its global influence, it will have to navigate increasing international and domestic pressure against its foreign military presence.Michael A. Allen, Associate Professor of Political Science, Boise State UniversityCarla Martinez Machain, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kansas State UniversityMichael E. Flynn, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kansas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1705572021-12-09T19:09:48Z2021-12-09T19:09:48Z‘I say Tajikistan or Uzbekistan’: why Afghan refugees feel unwelcome in Australia, even after becoming citizens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428967/original/file-20211028-25-eykfb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Defence/ AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent months we have seen images of Afghan people, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/desperate-crowds-empty-flights-and-rage-in-afghanistan-at-governments-who-failed-to-plan?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other">fleeing their country</a> and seeking refuge in Australia.</p>
<p>But people from Afghanistan have a long history in Australia. From the 1860s to the 1930s, they helped <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-02/descendents-remember-australias-cameleers/11890622">develop the outback</a> with their camels. They also arrived during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1970s and 80s, and after 1996, when the Taliban began persecuting ethnic and religious minorities.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/incomplete-strategy-and-niche-contributions-australia-leaves-afghanistan-after-20-years-159045">Incomplete strategy and niche contributions — Australia leaves Afghanistan after 20 years</a>
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<p>As of 2016, there were are about 47,000 <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/mca/files/2016-cis-afghanistan.pdf">Afghanistan-born people</a> in Australia, the majority of whom arrived as refugees. </p>
<p>Prominent Afghan-Australians such as cardiologist Homa Forotan, journalist Yalda Hakim and martial arts actor Hussain Sadiqi have highlighted the significant contributions Afghan refugees have made to Australian society. </p>
<p>However, despite the successful integration of some, our research shows other Afghan refugees still face serious challenges in Australia, even after receiving their citizenship.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10559/htm">new study</a> focused on former Afghan refugees who are now Australian citizens to understand what integration challenges they still face after becoming citizens. </p>
<p>We surveyed 102 people, interviewed 13 and conducted two focus groups (one for men with eight participants and one for women with five) during 2020 and 2021. Our study was based on the Afghan community in Perth. On average, participants had been living in Australia for more than eight years.</p>
<h2>Nearly 90% want to stay forever</h2>
<p>Our survey research suggests respondents are settled in Australia – they want to be here and feel a connection to their new home. </p>
<p>About 87% “definitely” or “most probably” want to live in Australia for the rest of their lives, and only 1.6% wanted to move to Afghanistan if it becomes a peaceful country. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Afghan refugees line up at customs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428976/original/file-20211028-25-1e065mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nearly 90% of those surveyed said they wanted to stay in Australia forever.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Australian Navy/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is not surprising, because the situation in Afghanistan has been unstable over the past four decades. In addition, at the time of our survey, the United States declared it was planning to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/biden-us-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan/2021/04/13/918c3cae-9beb-11eb-8a83-3bc1fa69c2e8_story.html">withdraw</a> its troops from Afghanistan. Therefore, returning home to the country was not a realistic option.</p>
<p>More than half of those surveyed (56%), considered both Australia and Afghanistan as their homelands, and 20% nominated only Afghanistan and 22% nominated just Australia as their homeland.</p>
<p>The participants considered safety and stability as the most attractive feature of Australian society.</p>
<h2>More than half not satisfied with work</h2>
<p>Employment emerged as a major issue for those surveyed. Only 42.5% of Afghan-Australians were satisfied with their current employment, and 17.4% of respondents were either unemployed or doing unpaid voluntary work. This is compared Australia’s overall unemployment rate of less than 5%. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sydneysiders line up outside Centrelink." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428979/original/file-20211028-27-11256uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Afghan interviewees reported difficulties finding work that suited their skills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Gourley/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Many participants also faced problems in finding employment in their chosen fields or having their overseas qualifications recognised. As Sadiq, a chemistry graduate and former high school teacher explains: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have to study eight years if I want to be a teacher [in Australia], but I don’t have time. I have to work and make money to support my family in Afghanistan. That’s why I’m working in construction field now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Afghan women were over-represented of those unemployed, making up nearly 84% of that group, as well as having lower level of education and higher level of English language barriers, compared to men. Zari, a Hazara woman in her 20s, told us her hijab was severely limiting her employment options. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I haven’t been able to find a job mainly because of my hijab. Even some employers have said this to me directly. My uncle is an owner of a business in Perth, but even he doesn’t hire me for my hijab […] That’s why I have to look for a job only in Afghan community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sanam, another female interviewee, does not wear a hijab and describes herself as “modern”. But she nevertheless reported discrimination at work, and being overlooked for promotions. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You are a foreigner in the workplace, no matter how much you try to be similar to them.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Where are you from?’</h2>
<p>Interviewees also reported being uncomfortable about revealing their identity either as Muslim-Afghan or as former refugees. This was particularly the case in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. As Ali, a 39-year-old participant told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>At first, people would ask me, ‘where are you from?’ And I would say, ‘Afghanistan’. Then they would say, ‘Oh, Taliban’, or ‘Do you know Osama Bin laden?’ So, I realised that I don’t have to tell them the truth. Since then, whenever somebody asks me where are you from, I say Tajikistan or Uzbekistan.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saed, 41, told a similar story: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My younger brother is a [university] student […]. One day I was working with him in a construction project and the man that we were working for asked my brother, ‘What do you study?’ My brother replied, ‘Piloting’. Then the man said,‘Oh. Okay, you plan for hijacking’. It really made me sad […] and I decided not to tell people my nationality anymore.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There has been significant, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884911408219">negative media and political attention</a> on “boat people” since the 1990s. Interviewees reported this has had an impact on public understanding of why refugees come to Australia. Sara is in her 60s and has been living in Australia for over 30 years. She had a pharmacy in Afghanistan in the 1970s, but had to flee as a result of the Soviet invasion.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s always been so difficult for me to explain people that we were fleeing from violence. We didn’t leave our country voluntarily, but we had to do that. People here don’t know anything about war […] they just blame refugees for coming to Australia.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Seeking acceptance</h2>
<p>Adjusting to a new society is not an easy journey for everyone, particularly for refugees who have been forced to flee violence and trauma. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-studied-afghan-refugees-for-3-years-to-find-out-what-life-is-like-for-them-in-australia-166498">We studied Afghan refugees for 3 years to find out what life is like for them in Australia</a>
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<p>Since arriving in Australia, our participants have undeniably received <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/get-help/help-for-migrants-in-transition/humanitarian-settlement-program">support</a> from the Australian government. As citizens, they have the same rights as other Australians and the vast majority regard Australia as home. </p>
<p>However, our study showed how former Afghan refugees continue to face serious challenges. This not only includes fulfilling employment, free from discrimination, but a sense of belonging as well. This suggests that while they are legally Australian citizens, they are not fully accepted in their new home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Associate Professor Vicki Banham is Associate Dean in School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Omid Rezaei does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research, based on interviews with Afghan-Australians, shows most want to stay in their new country forever. But they don’t feel accepted in their new home.Omid Rezaei, PhD Candidate, Edith Cowan UniversityVicki Banham, Associate Dean, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1709402021-12-06T15:11:40Z2021-12-06T15:11:40ZThe West must cut a deal with the Taliban to prevent mass starvation in Afghanistan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434876/original/file-20211201-24-wuwgy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C457%2C8487%2C5145&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Afghan girl looks on as she stands near her house on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan, in November 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) </span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-west-must-cut-a-deal-with-the-taliban-to-prevent-mass-starvation-in-afghanistan" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/25/afghanistan-food-crisis/">lack of food security in Afghanistan</a> may soon become a threat to the stability of many other countries. </p>
<p>Without a radical change of western policy towards the Taliban, millions of people will make their way to anywhere they can find food. The arrival of the poorest of the poor in neighbouring countries and the European Union threatens to fuel further political polarization at a moment in which many governments are already under severe strain.</p>
<p>Domestic tax and <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/01/23/a-benefits-scandal-sinks-the-dutch-government">benefits scandals</a>, Brexit, <a href="https://ecfr.eu/publication/europes-invisible-divides-how-covid-19-is-polarising-european-politics/">yo-yo COVID-19 policies</a> and failure to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel have already <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2021/living-working-and-covid-19-update-april-2021-mental-health-and-trust-decline-across-eu-as-pandemic">eroded trust in British and European politicians</a>.</p>
<p>Both accepting and rejecting refugees may be very costly in these countries, economically and politically.</p>
<p>Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the Taliban remain in power. Even in the absence of a moral motive to alleviate famine, there is a strong rationale for the West to do whatever it takes to feed Afghanistan this winter. </p>
<h2>Women have been the focus</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A girl with piercing green eyes wearing a head scarf stares at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434879/original/file-20211201-22-6vkid2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sharbat Gula is seen in this famous photo that was on the cover of National Geographic magazine in the 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve McCurry/Creative Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For 20 years, the fight against the Taliban has been framed as a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-fate-of-womens-rights-in-afghanistan/">fight against the Taliban has been framed in NATO countries as a fight for women’s rights</a>.</p>
<p>This is similar to how <a href="https://notevenpast.org/veiled-empire-gender-and-power-in-soviet-central-asia-by-douglas-northrup-2003/">post-revolution fighting in central Asia in the 1920s</a> was portrayed, and the <a href="https://origins.osu.edu/article/long-long-struggle-women-s-rights-afghanistan/page/0/1">1980s occupation of Afghanistan</a> by the Soviets. </p>
<p>As a child, young <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/afghan-girl-sharbat-gula-arrested">Sharbat Gula</a> became the face of Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to citizens of the West. Her famed 1985 appearance on the cover of <em>National Geographic</em> magazine <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2657738">preceded by a year the American sale of Stinger missiles</a> to the Mujahadeen, forerunners of the Taliban.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-taliban-is-crucial-in-understanding-their-success-now-and-also-what-might-happen-next-166630">The history of the Taliban is crucial in understanding their success now – and also what might happen next</a>
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<p>Other well-known photos taken in Afghanistan featured <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/20/how-the-muslim-world-lost-the-freedom-to-choose/">mini-skirted girls walking in 1970s Kabul</a> before the Soviet invasion, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/behind-the-veil/the-lives-of-afghan-women/article634573/">women in burkas under the Taliban</a> and various photos of <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/getting-girls-back-school-afghanistan/36441">girls in hijab attending school under the governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani</a>. Together these photos suggested dramatic swings in the status of Afghan women that coincided with changes in government. </p>
<p>There were real improvements during the 20 years of western presence in Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021. More rural children, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/womens-education-afghanistans-biggest-success-story-now-at-risk/">and more girls, went to school</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(16)30002-x">Infant and maternal mortality rates fell</a>. Still, improvements in living standards of rural populations aren’t sustainable if there’s no food security.</p>
<p>For women, height at the age of 15 is a summary measure of the nutrition and disease environment during childhood. National survey data from 2013 shows that women born before 1976 in the part of the historic province of Badakhshan — incorporated into the Soviet Union — were three to four centimetres taller than those in Afghan Badakhshan. </p>
<p>By this measure, there has been no real progress in food security during the childhoods of young Afghan women.</p>
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<img alt="A cluster graph shows the average height of Afghan women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434209/original/file-20211126-23-1cy9lfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The average height of Afghan women born between 1960 and 2000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Afghan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and National Nutritional Survey, 2013</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s much easier to count the number of schools and hospitals built, the number of female students or how many women presenters appear on television than it is to reliably measure the amount of food being consumed. Indeed, the failure to alleviate food insecurity during the NATO campaign may have been a harbinger for the Taliban’s ultimate victory.</p>
<h2>Food is the No. 1 need</h2>
<p>More hospitals and better highways also don’t do much to help people if they’re still hungry. Afghans have long needed a strong foundation of food and physical security, and still do. Past Soviet successes in education and increasing the status of women in Central Asia were founded on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41294-021-00174-z">providing people with food to eat</a>.</p>
<p>Geography may not help domestic food security in Central Asia. In Tajikistan, which shares a common border, language (Dari) and culture with northern Afghanistan, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/dependent-remittances-tajikistan-prospects-dim-economic-growth">the main income source of families is remittances</a> from family members working in Russia. But seasonal migration to Russia isn’t an option for Afghan families.</p>
<p>Data also show that women in Afghanistan had far more difficult lives, even 15 years after the NATO intervention, than <a href="https://lifeinkyrgyzstan.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/10/1.Louise-Grogan_Gender_Eng.pdf">women in neighbouring countries</a>. Afghan women still marry far earlier, have more children and are much more accepting of spousal violence than are those in neighbouring Tajikistan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl with brown eyes and light brown hair looks at the camera, one hand against her mouth." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434875/original/file-20211201-25-t79ycu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An Afghan girl and her family camp in Herat, Afghanistan, in November 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span>
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<p>News reports from Afghanistan are <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/un-afghanistan-food-aid-taliban-b1915587.html">increasingly focused on food shortages</a>. There is widespread recognition that millions could starve this winter without massive food aid. </p>
<p>American aid <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/famine-averted-afghanistan-usaid-chief-says">may have been the main factor averting famine in recent years</a>, when <a href="https://reliefweb.int/disaster/dr-2021-000022-afg">lack of rain</a> and lack of security constrained the harvesting of food crops. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-world-avert-mass-starvation-in-afghanistan-without-emboldening-the-taliban-170709">Can the world avert mass starvation in Afghanistan without emboldening the Taliban?</a>
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<p>Amid dismay in NATO countries about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/world/asia/afghanistan-rapid-military-collapse.html">the rapid collapse of the Afghan army in August 2021</a>, and the US$2 trillion cost of the failed war, there’s been little evidence of any consensus among NATO allies about what to do. More than three months after the Taliban takeover, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/18/us-freezes-afghan-central-banks-assets-of-9-5bn">U.S.-held Afghan government funds remain frozen</a>. There is <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2021/11/us-wants-political-fix-in-kabul-with-pakistani-help/">no NATO or EU representation in the country</a>. </p>
<h2>Many more Sharbat Gulas</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/%7Ejgd1000/afghan.html">Iris-recognition software</a> allowed the West to rediscover Sharbat Gula, of <em>National Geographic</em> fame, after her child marriage and the bearing of five children. In response to international news reports about her legal woes in Pakistan in 2017, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/afghan-girl-home-afghanistan">former president Ghani offered her a large house in Kabul</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/europe/afghan-girl-national-geographic.html">Gula and her family were reportedly evacuated from Afghanistan to Italy after the U.S. withdrawal of troops</a> in August. </p>
<p>But there are millions more like her — and their husbands and children — who cannot be welcomed elsewhere. </p>
<p>NATO countries should deal urgently and co-operatively with the Taliban. If they don’t, nations ranging from China to the United Kingdom face the spectre of hundreds of thousands of destitute refugees at their borders. </p>
<p>The domestic political implications for these countries, including fuelling support for anti-immigration, anti-EU parties, should not be underestimated. </p>
<p>The only answer is to make life in Afghanistan slightly less difficult by facilitating the large-scale import of food this winter. That means accepting the reality of Taliban rule, immediately unblocking at least some of the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/18/us-freezes-afghan-central-banks-assets-of-9-5bn">international accounts frozen since August 2021</a> and financing humanitarian aid. The rest will have to wait.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Grogan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even in the absence of a moral motive to alleviate famine, there is a strong rationale for the West to do whatever’s necessary to alleviate hunger in Afghanistan this winter.Louise Grogan, Professor of Economics, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1685552021-10-20T12:41:43Z2021-10-20T12:41:43ZWiccans in the US military are mourning the dead in Afghanistan this year as they mark Samhain, the original Halloween<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427058/original/file-20211018-57123-su8qs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4025%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Rev. Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary does a ritual of remembrance at the grave of a Wiccan soldier killed in Afghanistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Selena Fox</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For most Americans, Halloween is a fun holiday when homes are decorated with symbols of the supernatural – witches, goblins and spirits – and costumed children go door to door collecting candy. </p>
<p>Halloween traces its roots to Samhain, a harvest holiday celebrated by the ancient Celts. These original inhabitants of the British Isles believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and dead was at its thinnest at this time of year. They <a href="https://theconversation.com/tricking-and-treating-has-a-history-85720">left out treats</a> for spirits they believed would be returning to their former homes.</p>
<p>Today, Samhain is one of the eight major holidays in Wicca, a religion partly inspired by the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-triumph-of-the-moon-9780198827368?cc=us&lang=en&">practices of pre-Christian Britain</a>. Followers of Wicca are known as witches, regardless of their gender identity. Samhain, which is celebrated on Oct. 31, marks the Wiccan new year. It is a somber holiday to remember and mourn those who have died but also to celebrate death as part of the natural cycle of life. </p>
<p>As a scholar of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S1kXj-gAAAAJ&hl=en">contemporary paganism</a>, I am aware that Samhain this year will be particularly poignant for Wiccans who are members or veterans of the U.S. military as they remember the fallen and process the aftermath of the 20-year war in Afghanistan. </p>
<h2>Wiccan rituals</h2>
<p>Wicca is one of the most popular forms of contemporary paganism, a set of religions whose practices are inspired by pre-Christian religions. In all of these religions – which include <a href="https://www.paganfed.org/hellenism/">Hellenic paganism</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/druids-9780826441263/">druidry</a> and <a href="https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/viking-jefferson-calico/">heathenism</a>, among others – both the Earth and the spirits that are believed to reside in animate and inanimate objects are seen as sacred. </p>
<p>Rituals called <a href="http://www.sussex-academic.com/sa/titles/history/White.htm">sabbats</a> are central to Wicca. In each of these rituals a connection is made between the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-wicca-an-expert-on-modern-witchcraft-explains-165939">seasonal changes in nature</a> and what is occurring in people’s lives. </p>
<p>During Samhain, participants are asked to reflect on the death in nature and the shortening of daylight that occurs this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. These images are then invoked in the ritual, in which those present typically form a circle around an altar that holds symbols of the season, such as colorful leaves, pomegranates and cornstalks. The gods and goddesses of the four directions – north, south, east and west – are called on to join the circle.</p>
<p>Normally there is a reading, often quite poetic, that describes the time of year and the changes that are occurring in nature and in the lives of those in the circle. I have attended Samhain rituals in which participants call out names of the dead whom they wish to honor and remember. Sometimes people bring a photo or other object associated with the deceased person. </p>
<p>Samhain is also a time for Wiccans to journey inward, as if they are entering Mother Earth’s “womb,” to reflect on their lives and particularly on areas that need correction or change. They focus on experiences – such as healing physical or emotional wounds, writing a book, or starting a new career – they hope will <a href="https://uscpress.com/A-Community-of-Witches">come to life in the spring</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hands with sharp red nails arrange a display of candles, herbs, pumpkin, nuts, dry leaves and berries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427059/original/file-20211018-17-16keq1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Samhain rituals connect the seasonal changes in nature to changes occurring in people’s lives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/forest-witch-at-work-on-the-altar-female-hands-with-royalty-free-image/1265133135">автор/ iStock Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Wicca in the military</h2>
<p>Since the late 1970s, Wicca has been included <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/31religion.html">in the military chaplains handbook</a>. After a long court battle, the pentagram – a five-pointed star associated with Wicca – became an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24wiccan.html?_r=0">accepted symbol</a> for military gravestones in 2007. </p>
<p>The first official pagan circle – which is a gathering of Wiccans and other pagans – to take place on a military base was at Fort Hood, Texas, in 1997. Despite <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/june99/wicca08.htm">blowback from some Christian churches</a>, the military reiterated its long-standing policy of supporting religious freedom for its members. </p>
<p>Others followed. For example, in North Carolina, Fort Bragg’s open circles – which are Wiccan gatherings open to anyone who wants to participate – celebrated their <a href="https://wildhunt.org/2021/09/pagan-community-notes-week-of-september-27-2021.html?fbclid=IwAR1Tew_VAmBjEdX1wxFuK0ROInkMCUd2Is3w9dxeM1q597uADyu9lHvLYsw">20th anniversary</a> on Oct. 2, 2021. </p>
<p>There are no official statistics on how many Wiccans are in the military. However, <a href="https://www.circlesanctuary.org/">Circle Sanctuary</a>, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit church and nature preserve, has a partial list of 46 pagan circles it has sponsored and endorsed at military installations throughout the U.S. and abroad, <a href="https://www.circlesanctuary.org/index.php/military-ministries/sponsored-circles">including in Afghanistan</a>. </p>
<p>To be recognized at a military site, a pagan circle must be endorsed by a recognized religious organization. Circle Sanctuary has endorsed the most pagan circles on military sites.</p>
<p>[<em>This Week in Religion, a global roundup each Thursday.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-global-roundup">Sign up.</a>]</p>
<h2>Fort Bragg and beyond</h2>
<p>At Fort Bragg this year, Samhain rituals will focus on healing for military personnel who served in Afghanistan and their families. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/329647717817/posts/10161501308782818/?d=n">The Rev. Christine Ahrens</a>, a volunteer pagan chaplain, is <a href="https://www.recover-from-grief.com/7-stages-of-grief.html">using the seven stages of grief</a> – denial, guilt, bargaining, depression, upward turn, reconstruction and acceptance – as a central element at the open circle.</p>
<p>Ahrens told me earlier this month that she hopes Wiccans who served in Afghanistan and their friends and family members use this time of going inward to process their feelings about the end of the war and the deaths or injuries that they or their loved ones sustained. </p>
<p>Fort Bragg <a href="https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2021/09/11/how-fort-bragg-army-soldiers-responded-9-11-terrorist-attacks-20th-anniversary-afghanistan-iraq/5713395001/">deployed tens of thousands</a> of troops to Afghanistan. Service members and their families on the base have reported <a href="https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2021/08/17/fort-bragg-community-reflects-us-military-exit-afghanistan-president-joe-biden-taliban/8147974002/">feeling anger and disappointment</a> in the wake of the U.S. exit. Ahrens hopes the circle will begin the process of coming to acceptance or internal peace. </p>
<p>Samhain rituals will occur on the night of Oct. 31 on military bases and college campuses, in people’s homes and at other gatherings across the country. As many Americans mourn personal losses and the continuing restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe everyone can benefit from spending time this Halloween not only handing out candy but contemplating the seeds of change they wish to plant for the spring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen A. Berger has received funding from the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and West Chester University.</span></em></p>Samhain will be particularly poignant this year for Wiccans who are members or veterans of the US military as they process the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan.Helen A. Berger, Affliate Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676152021-09-26T12:18:15Z2021-09-26T12:18:15ZThe U.S. occupation of Afghanistan was colonialism that prevented Afghan self-determination<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423018/original/file-20210923-14-14eylp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C344%2C5000%2C2911&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Afghan women march to demand their rights under Taliban rule during a demonstration near the former Women's Affairs Ministry building in Kabul.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colonialism — and, more specifically, decolonization — is a sensitive societal issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-activists-are-vandalizing-statues-to-colonialism-129750">Statues have been pulled down</a> so as not to celebrate the legacies of slave traders or politicians deemed offensive; student activists from Canada to South Africa want to rid themselves of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-less-eurocentric-reading-list-would-look-like-42068">Eurocentric reading lists</a>; and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/museums-review-indigenous-representation-1.5101817">museums are wrestling with how to represent African and North American Indigenous Peoples</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-universities-and-schools-must-acknowledge-how-colonial-education-has-reproduced-anti-indigenous-racism-123315">National Day for Truth & Reconciliation: Universities and schools must acknowledge how colonial education has reproduced anti-Indigenous racism</a>
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<p>Questions are also bound to be raised about the occupation of Afghanistan now that the international community has withdrawn and the Taliban have taken over. There can be little doubt that for the past 20 years, Afghanistan has been a colonized state.</p>
<p>Observers both within Afghanistan and outside the country fear the Taliban’s return to power will erase 20 years of human rights progress, particularly for Afghan women. <a href="https://afghanistan.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_st/features/2021/01/05/feature-01">There have already been reports</a> that the Taliban have revelled in sabotaging critical road and infrastructure built by American forces. </p>
<h2>Punishing the Taliban for harbouring al-Qaida</h2>
<p>The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by the United States was motivated <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/6/timeline-how-september-11-2001-led-to-uss-longest-war">by no other purpose than to end the Taliban’s sanctuary to al-Qaida terrorists</a> who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Indeed, with the exception of the destruction of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/04/world/over-world-protests-taliban-are-destroying-ancient-buddhas.html">sixth-century Buddhas</a> and the attention <em>New York Times</em> journalist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/08/opinion/in-america-half-a-nation-condemned.html">Bob Herbert</a> paid to the treatment of women under Taliban rule prior to the U.S. invasion, Afghanistan was largely ignored by the international community.</p>
<p>American intervention had nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with U.S. self-interest. Only once the Taliban were removed <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2003/US/05/01/bush.transcript/">did President George W. Bush boast</a>: “We continue to help the Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals and educate all of their children.” This is often a convenient rationalization for colonial rule.</p>
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<img alt="An Afghan boy plays beside a road as the sun sets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423020/original/file-20210923-15-13lps8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An Afghan boy plays on the side of a road as the sun sets in Kabul, Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)</span></span>
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<p>While the West paid lip service to Afghan traditional political institutions, such as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/world/asia/an-afghan-gathering-steeped-in-tradition-and-consent.html">Loya Jirga</a> — an assembly established to select leaders and air the day’s grievances — they could not have operated in the absence of American power, as the U.S. withdrawal has now made clear. This is the unavoidable irony — sustaining local institutions required outside power.</p>
<p>Afghans and non-Afghans alike rightly despair about the future. “It all stands to be lost,” Khaled Hosseini, the author of <em>The Kite Runner</em>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-magazine-for-august-22-2021-1.6144768">recently told</a> the CBC. Many mainstream news organizations <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-the-west-has-abandoned-afghanistan-to-slavery">have accused Canada and the West</a> of <a href="https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/08/17/how-canada-and-the-western-world-failed-afghanistan/">abandoning and betraying Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>But how can we reconcile these competing claims that colonialism of any kind is detrimental with this more specific view that Afghanistan has been “failed by the West?”</p>
<h2>Progress was made</h2>
<p>Several Canadian diplomats warned against the 2001 invasion of distant, culturally unfamiliar states. Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, who spent 130 days as a hostage of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-radio-and-tv-22765234">al-Qaida</a> in West Africa, argued that a more effective approach is to punish the terrorists rather than engage in too much social engineering. </p>
<p>Intervention cannot be about turning states “into <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/robert-fowler-why-canada-must-intervene-in-mali/article7015466/">Saskatchewan or Nebraska</a>,” he said in reference to Mali. “And it won’t be about exporting our social safety net or funding a government or anything else.” </p>
<p>There’s no doubt progress was made in Afghanistan, at least initially. Schools were open for everyone, a democratic process was established, the rights of women were acknowledged and women served in the government. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-brink-of-disaster-how-decades-of-progress-in-afghanistan-could-be-wiped-out-in-short-order-164087">On the brink of disaster: how decades of progress in Afghanistan could be wiped out in short order</a>
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<p>But these rights and gains do not represent self-determination if they are dependent on American power.</p>
<p>So what’s to be done? There <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/19/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-live-updates/">have been signs</a> that ordinary Afghans are prepared to take risks of their own in order to protect a way of life more in line with liberal-democratic norms. That’s a positive outcome in terms of the well-being of Afghan women, in particular.</p>
<p>But it would be almost impossible for local forces to take down the Taliban again in the absence of American military power, and it would require further conflict. It’s ironic that with the American withdrawal, the total collapse of the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban victory, Afghanistan is now closer to peace than it has been in decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Afghans sort through second-hand clothes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423022/original/file-20210923-15-i1s4xr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Afghans sort through second-hand clothes at a Kabul park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Animosity towards the West</h2>
<p>Westerners shouldn’t delude themselves that Afghans were unreservedly grateful for the American presence over the past 20 years. </p>
<p>As much as they hate the Taliban, many Afghans <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/opinion/the-wrong-afghan-friends.html">also hated</a> the corrupt warlords recruited by the West to impose order in a state with no consolidated political infrastructure.</p>
<p>In many cases, the mere presence of western forces <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/world/asia/afghans-are-rattled-by-rule-on-searching-turbans.html">elicited animosity</a>. Indeed, portraying the occupation as an invasion from the West has been an effective way for hardline groups like the Taliban to gain power. </p>
<p>While liberal democracy may be the only acceptable form of government in western countries, it can be a hard sell in Muslim states that were themselves once colonized by those same liberal democracies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Militiamen loyal to a northern warlord pose for a photo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423025/original/file-20210923-27-19oa1lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Militiamen loyal to Ata Mohammad Noor, a powerful northern warlord, pose for a photo in August 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mirwais Bezhan)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Contrary, then, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-afghanistan-spiralling-into-failed-state-where-al-qaeda-will-thrive-uk-2/">to what’s been said</a> about Afghanistan being a “failed state,” the country under the Taliban was, and perhaps is again, relatively viable, although theocratic. It was Afghanistan as a liberal democracy that proved to be a failure. </p>
<p>Democratic and human rights often depend on power that can only come from outside. But those who want change only through intervention should also be clear about the moral implications — and the long-term costs — they’re willing to assume in sustaining Afghanistan as a colonial state.</p>
<p>Instead, maybe those concerned about the well-being of Afghan citizens should not be fearful of standing aside and letting them sort out for themselves the kind of country they want.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167615/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Spears does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How can we reconcile competing claims that colonialism of any kind is detrimental with the view that Afghanistan has been failed by the West?Ian Spears, Associate Professor of Political Science (Conflict and Conflict Resolution), University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1682352021-09-23T17:37:44Z2021-09-23T17:37:44ZCanada’s exclusion from the AUKUS security pact reveals a failing national defence policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422779/original/file-20210922-23-1bdsskl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C3000%2C2038&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman waves a Canadian flag as the frigate HMCS Halifax heads from the harbour in Halifax in January 2021 to start a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea to assist in NATO counter-terrorism patrols.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan </span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/world/europe/france-australia-uk-us-submarines.html">The recently announced deal on nuclear submarines between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States</a>, known as AUKUS, likely seems irrelevant to many Canadians.</p>
<p>But AUKUS is about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/opinion/AUKUS-australia-us-china.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article">far more</a> <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8196164/aukus-defence-deal-canada-china-relations/">than submarines.</a> And Canada’s exclusion from the pact represents <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canadas-exclusion-from-three-eyes-only-confirms-what-was-already-the/">growing suspicions</a> about the Canadian commitment to the rules-based <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/defending-liberal-international-order">international order</a>.</p>
<p>The problem stems from Canada’s tacit “<a href="http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol15/no3/page5-eng.asp">grand strategy</a>” underlying our defence policy.</p>
<p>A country’s grand strategy typically outlines geopolitical realities alongside a plan to achieve its diplomatic goals. </p>
<p>In 1924, Liberal politician <a href="https://www.thewhig.com/2013/09/16/dreams-of-a-fireproof-house">Raoul Dandurand</a> famously said “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/002070209905400106">Canada is a fire-proof house, far removed from flammable materials</a>,” putting into words Canada’s approach to defence since 1867. Simply put, three oceans and a superpower sufficiently shield us from having to think about how to achieve national security. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X14536562">Canadian defence policy</a> has never varied from three priorities — defend Canada, defend North America and contribute to international peace and security — that have appeared in every Defence Department white paper since the 1950s, regardless of the governing party. This attitude was evident in the recent election campaign, when discussions about defence were largely absent, despite growing threats from abroad and the turmoil within our own military.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-election-2021-a-campaign-marked-by-failure-and-frustration-168240">Federal election 2021: A campaign marked by failure and frustration</a>
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<h2>Diminished Canadian military</h2>
<p>Since the heydays of defence spending of the 1950s, <a href="https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1991/6/17/meaner-and-leaner">the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have been gradually shedding fundamental capabilities</a> — including long-range artillery, <a href="https://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/259/290/308/192/johns.pdf">tanks</a>, <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/canadas-air-force-destined-become-old-obsolete-40802">fighters that are now obsolete</a>, submarine forces, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4113222/halifax-hmcs-athabaskan/">destroyers</a> and <a href="https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/retired-hmcs-protecteur-on-final-sail-to-scrap-heap-it-served-the-country-well-1.2864462">maritime logistics</a>. </p>
<p>The current #MeToo moment racking military leadership, creating a turnstile for key senior positions, hasn’t gone unnoticed among our allies. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-misconduct-abuse-of-power-adultery-and-secrecy-what-i-witnessed-in-canadas-military-158345">Sexual misconduct, abuse of power, adultery and secrecy: What I witnessed in Canada’s military</a>
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<p>And while the CAF specifically faces new challenges in terms of diversity, its traditional approach to leadership has alienated thousands within the ranks, causing a rush to the exits, <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/kurl-crisis-in-canadas-military-could-make-recruitment-even-harder">especially among the most experienced of personnel</a>. The lack of support for modern equipment has also contributed to this problem.</p>
<p>Canadians, meantime, remain <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-canadians-pay-little-attention-to-their-military-101236">blissfully unconcerned by these things</a>. </p>
<h2>Harper dithered too</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/procurement/fighter-jets/supplementing-cf-18-fleet.html">The need to replace CF-18 fighter jets</a> has been evident for more than two decades. </p>
<p>Governments have had all the information they need to make a decision. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/tough-choices-for-defence-spending/article1215484/">Yet even the pro-defence Conservatives under former prime minister Stephen Harper dithered.</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Royal Canadian Air CF-18s fly over the National War Memorial" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C29%2C4868%2C2998&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422777/original/file-20210922-24-b5i94g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornets fly over the National War Memorial during the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa in 2017. The need to replace CF-18 fighter jets has been evident for years, but it’s one of several military lapses that don’t get addressed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our fire-proof house defence strategy encourages this antipathy. When you think you live in a gated community, the pressure to invest in alarms for your home disappears.</p>
<p>We remain steadfastly convinced that we are far removed from flammable materials. In recent weeks, some have even suggested that all Canada requires is some sort of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-defence-doesnt-fit-the-job-of-canadas-military-any-more-lets-create-a/">constabulary force</a> whose primary responsibilities involve fighting wildfires or search and rescue missions. </p>
<p>Perhaps that’s so. In the foreseeable future, <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/defence-security-foresight-group/sites/ca.defence-security-foresight-group/files/uploads/files/dsfg_lackenbauer_workingpaper_defence_against_help.pdf">only the U.S.</a> would likely have the ability to invade Canada. In that unlikely event, our policy would have to be in a faint hope the international community would come to our rescue. </p>
<p>But what if the unthinkable happened? In the future, Canada’s geographic situation won’t save us from having to make hard decisions, just as it hasn’t in the past. </p>
<p>We could not avoid going to war in <a href="https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/">either 1914</a> <a href="https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/second-world-war/">or 1939</a>. In 2001 and 2003, we were compelled by circumstances <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/international-campaign-against-terrorism-in-afghanistan">to send Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan to demonstrate our reliability as a partner</a>. In 1941, 2,000 unprepared and very poorly supported Canadian troops were sent to safeguard Hong Kong: <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-hong-kong">800 of them were either killed in battle or through mistreatment as prisoners of war</a>, a direct outcome of our fire-proof mentality.</p>
<h2>China and the future international order</h2>
<p>The two recently released Canadian prisoners of China — Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, known as the “two Michaels” — <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_voa-news-china_canadians-two-michaels-ordeal-exposed-dark-side-china/6203716.html">paid the price</a> for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou following an extradition request from the United States, another decision the Canadian government could not avoid.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-have-canada-and-australia-taken-such-a-different-approach-to-china-168236">Why have Canada and Australia taken such a different approach to China?</a>
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<p>Australia clearly would have preferred not to have to choose between the two biggest global superpowers, especially given its proximity to China. The country is also Australia’s biggest trading partner.</p>
<p>In 2018, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared: <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/morrison-won-t-pick-sides-in-us-china-spat/9ba69ad1-ac62-4697-bd91-39743b23ec89">“Australia doesn’t have to choose and we won’t choose” between China and the U.S.</a> </p>
<p>But a global order based on submitting to the whims of a renewed China clearly would have been intolerable to liberal-minded Australia. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/world/australia/australia-china-submarines.html">In the end, the Australians really had no other choice.</a></p>
<p>Canada has skated on thin ice so far this century. It’s avoided confronting the erosion of its strategic defence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The former chief of defence staff inspects the troops" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3990%2C3164&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422774/original/file-20210922-15-hbgyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The former chief of defence staff inspects the troops during a change of command parade on Parliament Hill in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
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<p>We can continue to drag our heels, but eventually the bill will come due when our government commits our forces to a mission they can no longer fulfil because we thought we didn’t need to concern ourselves with the health of the military. </p>
<p>In recent years, the “unthinkable” took place as we committed to a land war in Afghanistan and a bombing campaign over Libya. These will not be the last such surprises.</p>
<p>An honest rethinking of our strategy is the first step out of this dangerous situation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul T. Mitchell works for the Department of National Defence as a Professor of Defence Studies at the Canadian Forces College. </span></em></p>Canada’s ‘fireproof house’ defence strategy is causing problems among its allies. When you are convinced you live in a gated community, the pressure to invest in alarms for your home disappears.Paul T. Mitchell, Professor of Defence Studies, Canadian Forces CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676082021-09-21T12:33:19Z2021-09-21T12:33:19ZAfghanistan’s war rug industry distorts the reality of everyday trauma<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421444/original/file-20210915-24-43pjvq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=127%2C6%2C4013%2C2070&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The rug designs tend to contain symbols – AK-47s, 9/11 and drones – that reflect an outsider’s understanding of war.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Sudeith, courtesy of WarRug.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/biden-addresses-the-end-of-the-us-war-in-afghanistan.html">The end of the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan</a> resulted in the withdrawal of most foreign aid workers and contractors. </p>
<p>It may well also spell the demise of the country’s <a href="https://warrug.com/index.html">war rug industry</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://rels.sas.upenn.edu/people/jamal-elias">As a specialist in the visual and material culture of the Islamic world</a>, I first became aware of war rugs when I was working on a book on <a href="https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/library/on-wings-of-diesel-trucks-identity-and-culture-in-pakistan">truck decoration</a> in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1990s. </p>
<p>Since that time, I’ve followed changes in this industry and cultivated relationships with Pakistani and Afghan rug sellers. </p>
<p>War rugs – with symbols of war – are distinctive and dynamic in their styles. But they’re often misunderstood by buyers, journalists and curators. </p>
<h2>The growth of the war rug market</h2>
<p>There is no evidence of the existence of Afghan war rugs prior to the late-20th century.</p>
<p>The earliest rugs seem to have emerged shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 from refugee camps in Pakistan, where millions of Afghans had relocated. Featuring guns, helicopters and tanks, they were small and shoddily made with coarse wool. Rug sellers and souvenir shops pitched them to workers for non-government organizations and Western government officials.</p>
<p>The designs have become more sophisticated over the years. </p>
<p>English words were added, intentionally or accidentally garbled with <a href="https://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/reference/cyrillic.html">Cyrillic words and letters</a> to evoke a Soviet connection. After 9/11, fixed patterns started to emerge – a sign that weavers were adhering to templates provided by rug merchants. The images made it clear that they were hoping to primarily appeal to an American souvenir market. </p>
<p>One popular design <a href="https://warrug.com/warrugs/styles.php?ids=37">commemorates the 9/11 attacks</a>, pointing out that it was not Afghans who were responsible, but terrorists from other countries.</p>
<p>Another depicts a map of Afghanistan, professing Afghanistan’s friendship with the U.S. with text and images. It has the misspelled word “terrarism” written on the region of the country associated with the Taliban. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rug featuring bomber planes and an outline of Afghanistan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422029/original/file-20210920-19-ij0cn5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After 9/11, merchants started trying to appeal to an American souvenir market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Sudeith, courtesy of WarRug.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The writing on some rugs declares that they’re made in Sheberghan, a city in northern Afghanistan <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/weaving-project-afghan-turkmen">famous for its Turkmen weavers</a>.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely that they’re all made there. However, whether they’re made in northern Afghanistan or in <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2003/1/3e3a3e8ba/feature-eager-weavers-positive-spin-refugee-life-pakistan.html">Afghan settlements in Pakistan</a>, the word “Shebergan,” written in English, is supposed to signal that these rugs are authentically Afghan.</p>
<p>Such rugs are readily available on eBay and were – until recently – sold by souvenir sellers in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan’s cities with the largest number of foreign workers and tourists. With the Taliban’s return to power, it remains unclear what the future of rug making and its market will be.</p>
<p>Over the years, war motifs have found their way into higher-quality, larger carpets, <a href="https://warrug.com/warrugs/styles.php?ids=7">with small tanks appearing where rows of medallions</a> might traditionally have been. Other rugs feature a more comprehensive <a href="https://warrug.com/warrugs/styles.php?ids=36">integration of modern and traditional patterns</a>.</p>
<p>While these larger carpets take substantially more time to make and cost more money than the far more common smaller, coarser rugs, they nevertheless don’t meet the standards of fine carpets, which suggests they’re geared more to souvenir collectors than those seeking luxury home furnishings.</p>
<h2>Misreading the meaning of the rugs</h2>
<p>Over the past 20 years, Afghan war rugs have garnered considerable attention.</p>
<p>Books in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1179076">German</a> and <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/war-rugs-the-nightmare-of-modernism/oclc/290472030">English</a> describe, <a href="https://www.warrug.com/pages/book.php">catalog and contextualize</a> them. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/drones-are-appearing-on-afghan-rugs/385025/">Magazines</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/nyregion/rugs-depict-terror-attack-but-new-york-isn-t-ready-for-9-11-kitsch.html">major newspapers</a> have run features on them, and <a href="https://penntoday.upenn.edu/2011-04-21/features/war-rugs-offer-glimpse-changing-art-afghanistan">university art galleries</a> have exhibited them.</p>
<p>Within the coverage, there’s a tendency to see war rugs as a reflection of the emotional lives of the weavers, who, wracked by war and violence, felt compelled to incorporate these motifs into their designs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rug featuring a tank pattern." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422030/original/file-20210920-31825-1fdrk1r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some rugs incorporate war motifs, like tanks, into traditional designs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Sudeith, courtesy of WarRug.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Articles and exhibits often ignore the reality that rug brokers and dealers – not weavers – are the ones who are attuned to fickle market tastes. <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/instructionalmaterial/wcms_667934.pdf">Studies on labor in the rug industry</a> note that they’re normally the ones who supply weavers with new patterns, color schemes and yarn. I’ve seen the same dynamic in my own long-term observations.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Afghan war rugs are produced for the market. It’s that simple. </p>
<p>Yet you’ll still see exhibit curators <a href="https://temple-news.com/voicing-global-conflict-survival/">describe war rugs</a> as combining “ancient practice with the latest in the daily lives of the weavers,” or as windows into the perspectives of everyday Afghans – the “underdogs” in a country subsumed by strife. </p>
<p>In 2014, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/nyregion/afghan-visual-scene-is-focus-of-exhibition-in-ewing.html?searchResultPosition=1">The New York Times reported that weavers had incorporated</a> “the grim realities of life in a war zone into their traditional craft.” Six years earlier, Smithsonian Magazine buried a brief acknowledgment that the rugs are for tourists under claims – with scant evidence – <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/rug-of-war-19377583/">that the earliest war rugs were intended for Afghan buyers who resented the Soviet invasion</a>. Later, the writer notes that female weavers drew from their own lives when they incorporated symbols of violence.</p>
<h2>The appeal of the trauma market</h2>
<p>With so much evidence showing that Afghan war rugs are produced in response to market demand, why do claims that they’re based on the weavers’ experiences of war persist? </p>
<p>Part of the answer lies in the global market for handicrafts. Buyers want to feel like they’re purchasing artisanal products when, in reality, they’re sold by the thousands in chain stores and through online storefronts such as Ten Thousand Villages or Etsy.</p>
<p>Implying that rugs are a source of income for traumatized and destitute Afghan women ignores the reality that the overwhelming majority of profits go to middlemen and dealers. A work-from-home model encourages workers to devote all available time to rug production. <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/instructionalmaterial/wcms_667934.pdf">It also encourages child labor</a>: Children are either tasked with making the crude rugs or are forced to take up the responsibilities of adults. </p>
<p>The appeal of war rugs – and the insistence that their designs represent a victim’s experience of war – seems to reflect a vicarious desire to peer into the emotional experience of Afghan civilians. </p>
<p>In reality, though, this gives primacy not to the actual experiences of Afghans, but to the viewers’ and customers’ ideas of victimhood. The granular realities of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/world/asia/14afghan.html">the loss of home and animals</a>, <a href="https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan">family deaths</a> or <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210820-one-in-three-afghans-at-risk-of-severe-or-acute-hunger-wfp">food insecurity</a> aren’t represented in the rugs. Nor should we assume weavers would wish to put their own traumas on display for the world.</p>
<p>Modern rugs are not venues for self-expression, and the designs tend to contain an index of symbols that reflect an outsider’s understanding of war: AK-47s, 9/11, security politics and drones.</p>
<p>Nowhere in the rugs do we see the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/07/afghanistan-little-help-conflict-linked-trauma#">well-documented psychological and health impacts</a> on Afghanistan’s population caused by decades of deprivation and violence. </p>
<p>Real trauma is not only hard to turn into a commodity, it is also hard to live with – even in souvenirs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamal J. Elias does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>War rugs are more reflections of market forces than memorials to suffering.Jamal J. Elias, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1673232021-09-10T09:59:37Z2021-09-10T09:59:37ZHow 9/11 changed cinema<p>One of the most common responses to the events of September 11 2001, both among witnesses on the scene and more distant commentators, was that the destruction of the World Trade Center was like something only seen in the movies. This famously prompted veteran director <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/oct/18/news2">Robert Altman</a> to declare that 9/11 was an instance of life imitating art: “The movies set the pattern, and these people have copied the movies.”</p>
<p>If the terrorist attacks had appeared like a movie, then the immediate response of Hollywood was that films released in the aftermath of the event should not be too much like 9/11. Representations of the World Trade Center became taboo. The original teaser <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lko8OP9_AjQ">trailer for Spider-Man</a> (2001) showing the Twin Towers was withdrawn, while the climactic final scene of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4NJHqoojOU">Men in Black II</a> (2002) had to be reshot. For various other releases, the Twin Towers were erased in post-production.</p>
<p>Later on, the towers would be digitally restored for the 2006 US docudrama disaster film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469641/">World Trade Center</a>, directed by Oliver Stone. The film reconstructs events from the point of view of policemen getting caught in the North Tower when the South Tower collapses. Like Paul Greengrass’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475276/">United 93</a>, released the same year, Stone’s film celebrates resilience in the face of terrorism while giving viewers access to events previously unseen. </p>
<p>Other cinematic forms offered more oblique evocations of the terrorist attacks. Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/">War of the Worlds</a> transplants H.G. Wells’s late-Victorian story to post-9/11 New Jersey and Boston. The tagline of the film, “they’re already here”, echoes fears of sleeper cells, suggesting that the enemy is already in the US – undetectable and waiting to be activated. After the alien tripods have emerged from below the ground to wreak havoc on innocent bystanders, the protagonist’s daughter asks her ash-covered father: “Is it the terrorists?”</p>
<p>Imagery reminiscent of 9/11 also abounds in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/">The Dark Knight</a> (2008), the second instalment of Christopher Nolan’s celebrated Batman trilogy. Casting Joker as a terrorist, the film sheds an ambivalent light on Batman’s pursuit of counter-terrorist justice.</p>
<p>The Dark Knight played a crucial part in the boom of superhero films that continues to dominate mainstream cinema. It’s perhaps no coincidence that this ongoing boom roughly coincides with the so-called “war on terror”, and particularly the ill-fated invasion of Iraq.</p>
<h2>Moral ambiguity</h2>
<p>In a time of increasingly complex geopolitical entanglements and moral failings, these films articulate a yearning for unsullied heroism, effective leadership and appropriate responses to crises.</p>
<p>The invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 initially found widespread support in the US. In October 2001, a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/5083/overwhelming-support-war-continues.aspx">poll</a> found that 88% of those in the US backed a military response to the terrorist attacks. Yet as the wars continued, support declined significantly. The realist dramas of Kathryn Bigelow, in both <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/">The Hurt Locker</a> (2008) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a> (2012), reflect the moral ambiguity of the US position in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/">Eye in the Sky</a> (2015), meanwhile, capture the impersonal nature of long-range drone warfare. On TV, the hugely popular series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796960/">Homeland</a> (2011-2020) tracks the entanglements of Americans and Iraqis in the sphere of counter-terrorism and radicalisation.</p>
<p>Many of these narratives centre on the figure of the white Western woman, perhaps as a way to “soften” the US image abroad. This movement away from blockbuster thrillers to more personal dramas is in line with Obama’s stated shift towards a form of “humane warfare”, a move some have called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/31/how-the-us-created-a-world-of-endless-war">the humanisation of interminable conflict</a>”.</p>
<h2>The terrorist and the hero</h2>
<p>The figure of the terrorist has also evolved in post-9/11 cinema. In the 1980s and 1990s, terrorists that were coded as Muslim or Arabic in films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111503/">True Lies</a> existed alongside the Germanic villains of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/">Die Hard</a> or the IRA man found in films like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Own">The Devil’s Own</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104036/">The Crying Game</a>. Yet after 9/11, terrorism is mainly equated with jihadism in Hollywood films, where terrorists are often denied any deep characterisation and contrasted with US heroes. </p>
<p>Clint Eastwood’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/">American Sniper</a> (2014) is a prime example of this. Telling the story of Chris Kyle, one of the most lethal snipers in US military history, the film split critics, with the left-wing press describing it as <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2014/12/movie-review-american-sniper.html">Republican propaganda</a>, while the right-leaning <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/">National Review</a> praising the movie for capturing “<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/american-sniper-has-created-cultural-moment-heres-why-david-french/">the true nature of the enemy</a>” – the Iraqis that the central character calls “savages”. </p>
<p>But filmmakers from around the world have also sought to capture the ongoing ramifications of the event and the subsequent “war on terror”. Indian-American director Mira Nair’s film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2032557/">The Reluctant Fundamentalist</a> (2012), based on Mohsin Hamid’s Booker-nominated novel of the same title, takes on the racial and ethnic stereotyping found in films like American Sniper. Riz Ahmed plays Changez, a young Pakistani in the US who goes from ruthless corporate climber to disillusioned and excluded immigrant throughout the film. </p>
<h2>Freedom and victory?</h2>
<p>The attack on the World Trade Center is one of the most significant events of the 21st century. So much so that it is used as a generational marker, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-vs-gen-z-divided-by-911-different-money-habits-2019-4?r=US&IR=T">distinguishing millennials from Generation Z</a> in terms of whether or not one remembers the event directly. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with its predominantly youthful viewership, has allegorically hinted at the failures of the “war on terror”. Its most recent television spin-off, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9140554/">Loki</a> (2021), appears to question the validity of some of the language that surrounded 9/11 and what started out as “Operation Enduring Freedom”. On the afternoon of 9/11, George W. Bush stated that “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/11/september11.usa19">freedom itself was attacked this morning</a>” – Loki challenges the very notion of liberation, saying “the first and most oppressive lie ever uttered was the song of freedom”.</p>
<p>And now as the world witnesses <a href="https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-the-warlords-who-will-decide-whether-civil-war-is-likely-167380">the takeover of Afghanistan</a> by the Taliban within days of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/out-of-afghanistan-joe-biden-and-the-future-of-americas-foreign-policy-166914">US and British troop withdrawal</a>, it remains to be seen how Hollywood will treat not only 9/11, but its ongoing ramifications – which even the Hollywood dream machine may struggle to spin into a spectacle of freedom and victory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a time of increasingly complex geopolitical entanglements and moral failings, these films articulate a yearning for unsullied heroism, effective leadership and appropriate responses to crises.Maria Flood, Lecturer in Film Studies, University of LiverpoolMichael C. Frank, Professor of English Literature, University of ZurichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.