From Cowley Road to Kabul 3 The Effects of War

In writing this piece I am well aware that I have had no experience of being directly affected by war and that these reflections are simply the observations of an outsider in more ways than one.  It is important to say here too that these are my own reflections and in no way represent the views of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, under whose banner we went to Afghanistan.  This will be true of anything I write in this journal; I am writing as myself and not as an official representative of VCNV.  It is important to say this as I have a great respect for Voices’ ethos and practice.   For more about VCNV and the great work they have and are doing, visit

http://www.vcnv.org

Elsewhere in this journal mention has been made of preparatory reading which was recommended to us.  “Ghosts of Afghanistan”by Jonathan Steele and “Descent Into Chaos” by Ahmed Rashid have been helpful texts in presenting the recent history of war and conflict in Afghanistan and the wider region.  In our short visit to one part of one city, Kabul, most of the people we met had been affected by the wars of the past thirty five years, chronicled in these two books.  Jounalists’ facts took on human features and voices and left us speechless.

In the mid seventies civil war was already brewing between mujahedin groups which represented the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan.  These groups are: Pashtun (42%) Tajik (27%) Hazara (9%)  Uzbek (8%) and others (14%).  The Soviet invasion which began in December 1979 united the mujahedin war lords and their troops against a common enemy.  In 1989, with the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the civil war intensified.  in 1996 the Taliban entered Kabul and their reign of terror continued until their  defeat in 2001.  This defeat, as we all know, was brought about by the US/NATO attacks on Afghanistan, ordered in October 2001 by George W. Bush in an attempt, we were told, to capture Osama bin Laden.  The US/NATO war in Afghanistan increased in ferocity, causing even more suffering and death to a population already terrorised and cowed by conflict on all sides.  The war continues, bringing death and injury to innocent Afghans as well as to foreign soldieers whose grieving families do not understand why they are fighting in Afghanistan.

Kabul bears the scars of constant war and, despite the belief here at home that coalition forces are building a new Afghanistan, there is little sign in this wounded, struggling city, gasping for breath in the thick pollution hanging over it.  I was full of admiration for the people of Kabul, attempting to make a bearable life in difficult conditions.  The streets and pavements are full of potholes and there are open drains on the side of the road which require footbridges to cross.  We visited the Museum of Kabul and it was rouching to see how the staff is struggling to keep it open and to preserve the ancient culture of this dignified yet damaged land.

The people we met during our stay also have a dignity which shines through all the suffering.  The young members of the APV where we stayed, had nearly all lost a family member or friend as a result of the conflicts of the past thirty five years.  Despite this, they continue to believe that a nonviolent future for Afghanistan is the only way forward.

On our first full day in Kabul we visited a camp of Kuchi refugees.  The Kuchi are a nomadic people and are Pashtun.  The group we met had returned from a refugee camp in Pakistan because they had been promised land on which to settle.  Neither the government nor the UNHCR had made good this promise and they had found space in Kabul, far from the north where they usually live.  Maya Evans, from our delegation, also visited another refugeee camp in Kabul where, once again, people displaced and made homeless by war tried to survive.

Our second day was very much a women’s day, during which we heard more about the effects of war on ordinary Afghan families.  In the morning we spent time with the women of Pandora’s Hope, the fledgling sewing cooperative which is based at the APV community.   They expressed their fears for the safty of their children and, in a refrain we heard repeated many times, they told of their anxiety about the future in 2014, when the international troops are scheduled to leave.  During the many conversations we had, people returned to this and told us that weapons are pouring into Afghanistan so that people can arm themselves against the ethnic battles which are predicted.  Another fear is the return of the Taliban who are by no means a thing of the past.  We had no answers to allay these fears, just an overwhelming sense that the international governments which sent forces into Afghanistan in 2001 have done nothing to ensure the peace and safety of the people when they leave.  Time is running out but we need to speak out for Afghanistan now more than ever.

In the afternoon of the same day, we went to the home of a woman who had lost two children in a suicide bombing in Kabul.  Since 2003 suicide bombings have become an added threat to the already vulnersble lives of ordinary Afghans. As this woman told her story we heard how her young sons were returning home from schoool one afternoon to be caught up in the bombing.  The mother told if her grief and anger and sense of powerlessness and her fears for her remaining children, whom she was afraid to send to school in case the same thing happened to them.  This was one mother’s story.  How often is it repeated?  Suicide bombers target foreign forces but it is the innocent bystanders and their families who suffer the most.  Many who at first welcomed the US/NATO arrival in 2001 fear now that the presence of international troops increases insurgent activity and that the spiral of violence spins ever faster, befuddling logic and reason and destroying innocent lives.

Our conversations with Afghan people from various sectors of society raised more questions than answers but there were also definite signs of hope amid the pain.  We met journalists, human rights campaigners, advocates for disabled people, women’s rights workers, educationalists,  representatives of young Afghans, all of whom were working tirelessly to confront injustices and inequality in Afghan society.  The people we talked to, either in their own premises or at the APV, were working with ordinary people as well as approaching government bodies, to campaign for a fairer society.  We heard often about government corruption and the failure of the international community to make good its promise to help rebuild the war torn country.  Despite the fact that Afghanistan has been brutalised by internal strife and foreign invasion, the overall belief that a peaceful future depends upon nonviolent cooperation and care for the most vulnerable, shone through.  No one said it would be easy or quick to arrive, but the Afghan people we met are prepared to be in it for the long haul.  Here at home, we have to discover how we can best stand with them in the struggle.