One of the big pushes in Afghan politics is to try and deal with the Taliban rather than continue fighting with them. The hope is that they can try and pull away the mid-low level soldiers of the Taliban. This is a sound theory and one that can definitely have some powerful effects; however, if the Afghan government is going to do this, they need to do it correctly. Therefore, while dealing with these mid-level Taliban fighters, the Afghan government and NATO must ensure that the economy continues to develop simultaneously.
A lot of the low level soldiers fighting for the Taliban are not fighting because of religious zeal, but instead, because they are in need of a job. According to a CNN article, “Afghan leaders and our military [United States] say that local Taliban fighters are motivated largely by the need for a job or loyalty to the local leader who pays them and not by ideology or religious zeal.” Therefore, the need to put food on the table and ensure that their families are safe is one of the driving motivations for working with the Taliban.
The issue with this is that Afghanistan is still developing their economy. It has had sound improvements, but it is still a very weak economy. That means there is no money for the Taliban fighters. Therefore, no matter how hard the Afghan government tries to convince the Taliban to set down their weapons, it won’t happen until the economy develops more efficiently.
Despite this, people feel that dealing with the Taliban can be done effectively right now. President Karzai of Afghanistan made it clear that reaching out to the Taliban would be a main part of his war policy. So long as there is more money fighting for the Taliban than against the Taliban, there is no way that the fighters are going to leave the Taliban. Add on the fact that the fighters are worried about being killed by the Taliban and this plan quickly becomes a weak one.
The effective way of dealing with the Taliban peacefully is to ensure that the economy is developing. When it becomes more profitable to deal in apples than it is to deal in opium, the Taliban loses out on a big economic profit and the fighters leave to go back to their farms. However, without security in Afghanistan, that is not going to be a possibility.
If Karzai does go forward with this plan to meet with the Taliban and work with them, that’s fine and I support that. However, if Karzai doesn’t have a sound economic plan to make it attractive for low-level Taliban fighters to leave the Taliban, all that will happen is a reappearance of a strong, centralized Taliban. This time, though, they will be in Afghanistan rather than in Pakistan. When that happens, it’ll be very easy for the Taliban to assume control again.
In tough economic times, the people will support groups who are more radical. It was a tough economic time in the 1930s in Germany. Adolf Hitler was able to assume control. In China, the economy was tough for the peasants and that was how Mao was able to assume control. If the economy in Afghanistan stays weak, the Taliban will easily take power once again. Then, the United States will lick her wounds and invade all over again. It is important that we do it right the first time.
Allow Afghanistan to develop her economy and begin pulling the fighters away from the Taliban. Then, as the country continues to grow stronger, even without the United States there, Afghanistan will be able to handles its own defense against any insurgents. If we don’t do it correct, we’ll be back in the next 5-7 years.
About Jacob Cohen Donnelly
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