Shafqat Mahmood

The writer is a former Senator and a former federal and provincial minister

smahmood@lhr.comsats.net.pk

This is a period of moral confusion. There is little sympathy in my heart for the Taliban, who were a sad lot with strange notions of Islam and governance. They were also stupid and had no clue about the consequences of facing up to the Americans. I do not buy the high sounding rhetoric of Jihad and fighting for martyrdom. Even a Jihad requires good sense and the Taliban were clearly devoid of it.

Having said this, there is also a part of me that is deeply anguished by the recent developments in Mazar-e-Sharif and other parts of Afghanistan. I am not only saddened but revolted by the atrocities being perpetrated on the surrendering Taliban and their foreign supporters. I cannot condemn the terrorism in New York and Washington without condemning this wanton act.

Terrorism has only one face. It is a carefully calibrated act of death and destruction designed to create fear. Most often it is unleashed on the unarmed, the non-combatants, the civilians. The prisoners in Mazar were not civilians in the strict sense but they were without arms and not in a position to harm anyone. Even if some of them had managed to disarm their guards, it was no reason to bomb every one of them to oblivion.

If this is a war on terrorism then it has to be seen in the context of a conflict between civilisation and barbarism. The simplest definition of civilisation has to be that rule of law prevails over raw emotions. It is for this reason that the principal of an eye for an eye is never accepted in civilised societies and acts of revenge never condoned. This is the moral strength that underpins the rule of law and is a defining aspect of the civil state. If this changes than everything else collapses in no time.

It is no surprise that France has now brought charges against a French General who perpetrated atrocities in Algeria. It has taken many years and that is a shame but the moral impulse of a civilised society dictates that it must be done. The Americans have been the worst offenders in this regard, when the atrocities were outside their land, but even they prosecuted the most awful cases of wanton killings in Vietnam. Not having done that would have eroded the moral basis of their society, which gives primacy to rule of law.

The great advance in human evolution has been the supremacy given to law. The old feudal states gradually collapsed because law was inferior to powerful individuals. Equal treatment under law was as revolutionary a slogan in changing societies as all power to the people later was in the socialist states. It was a fundamental human right without which no society can claim to be civilised.

This is the principle that is also basic to international laws. Geneva conventions are important because they set certain legal parameters for the conduct of warfare, which included the treatment of prisoners of war. It is not possible for societies to claim being civilised at home and not accept principles of international law outside their shores. This is particularly true of war because human kind will continue to fight and the principles of international law would continue to remain important. Casting them aside not only undermines international order, it also calls into question a so-called civilised states commitment to rule of law.

Yes, there is a cost to be paid for sticking to certain principles because the barbarians are not restricted by any set of rules and laws. But, it is a price to be paid for the preservation of civilisation. Unfortunately, the recent events in Afghanistan undermine the entire campaign against terror. In essence, if these atrocities continue it would only mean that an eye for an eye or revenge has taken precedence over civilised conduct.

When Chomsky was in Lahore he spoke of the conspiracy of silence that pervades the western media regarding past and present American atrocities. Nothing illustrates this better than the short shrift that CNN and to an extent the BBC has given to the recent events in Mazar. The people on FOX NEWS have positively been gloating about the killings. What was particularly noticeable and somewhat strange is the display being given to the single American death in Mazar. Every death is sad and diminishes all of us but it was amazing to see the time spent on this single American fatality. Compare this with the lack of sympathy for the eight hundred killed, probably in cold blood, and you will understand the bizarre standards that pervade the Western media.

There is a need to take stock of all this because events are rapidly moving towards a final blood bath in Kandahar. Taliban are so far determined to make a final stand there. Whether they do or not is hard to say because they have not yet shown any resolute will to fight. Americans have sent in the Marines and are closing in for the kill. If the Taliban decide to fight there would be a horrendous carnage there. Every attempt should be made to avoid this. The poor Afghans have already suffered enough. It is time to end the bloodshed.

Maybe the non-Taliban Afghan leadership meeting in Bonn should make an appeal to the Taliban to surrender. They must be given cast iron guarantees that they would be treated with respect. Let the Americans sort out Osama. The Afghans need now to come together and try and rebuild their country. This means that years of hatred would have to be overcome. One way of doing this is to treat the former Taliban well.

In any case there is little prospect of a workable government coming together in Kabul without adequate representation of the Pashtuns. A large number of the Pashtuns are Taliban. So there is nothing wrong with trying to co-opt them into the new process in Afghanistan. They do not have to be a part of the government and the really hard line elements can be isolated. But, the million of the Pashtun kids who are Taliban only because they went to religious schools need not be discriminated against.

When a major part of an entire society joins a movement only a few are excluded. This was certainly the case with the Pashtuns who were the core of the Taliban. They all cannot be kept out. The ex-Taliban would have to be a part of the Afghan fabric. Many will recant and many will repent. This is in the nature of things. Those deciding the future of Afghanistan should have a large enough heart to accept this.

When the Berlin wall fell, a large number of the former East Germans had been a part of the communist regime. Some had worked for the Stassi, the East German secret police. If the West had decided to imprison or exclude all of them, there would have been precious little left of the population in the former East Germany. Obviously this was not done because it would have been foolish. In the same way making a pariah of the former Taliban in Afghanistan would be far from wise.

The international coalition, which basically means the Americans, have to look beyond the immediate consequences of the conflict. A country devastated by 23 years of war has to be rebuilt. The devastation is not only physical; it has also seared the psyche of the people. Humane treatment of prisoners and a forgiving attitude towards the former Taliban would begin to heal the psychological wounds. A new Afghanistan should not only be new roads and new buildings and new civic services. It should also mean a new people ready to live with each other in peace.