US failure in Afghanistan

In Helmand, for instance, the Itzakzai tribe, feeling excluded from power since 2001, are big Taliban supporters. The Taliban's are no more monolithic Islamists as they were in 2001.Alongside the diehard madressah - trained Taliban's are growing fighters who are drawn to fight for many reasons: unemployment; to protect illegal opium crops or to obey tribal loyalties.

The fact of the matter is that a holistic and multi-pronged approach is required to bring normalcy to the strife-torn country. In October 2007, the NATO's defence ministers gathered in Noordwijk in Netherlands to find ways to deal with the Afghan insurgency.

General McNeill in the meeting said, "The only way the Taliban can be defeated is with a strong Afghan government, strong Afghan security forces and a wedge driven between the insurgents and the people." The task of alienating the people from the insurgents is Promethean and cannot be accomplished unless institutional reforms are undertaken to provide good governance. Strong institutions in any country provide the strongest bulwark against the activities of desperados and mafias.

The Afghan government needs to launch a crackdown on corruption and provide the local people a way of resolving competing interests and claims on resources in a peaceful way. The government must make an all-out effort to get rid of the opium problem. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the uncertainty increased among the people regarding their future.

In these desperate circumstances, opium came as a lucrative cash crop and the people switched their pomegranate fields and vineyards to poppy cultivation. Therefore, the government must improve the overall economy and provide employment to the jobless people in order to minimise the frustration. It is time for the US to realise that the military force is not the panacea of all problems but nation building requires much more beyond that and focus on measures yielding long-term results.

The writer is a law student

E-mail: naumanasghar@hotmail.com