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Sources indicate an announcement by the Obama administration is expected this week with regard to Afghanistan. Whether this expectation is based on leaking of factional agendas within and without the administration is hard to say at this time. Whatever decision does emerge, let’s hope for something more effective than throwing time, money and bodies at Afghanistan.
The Afghan people have told us what they want. A recent survey by Oxfam indicates the Afghanis believe that poverty and unemployment underpin the conflict within their country. A culture of corruption, combined with long-term conflict has taken its toll on young people; they don’t want to stay in their home country and are aging far too quickly. Some of the conflict is due to inter-tribal and intra-cultural friction, but even the identification of people as tribal members may be a defense mechanism against the crushing forces of poverty and conflict external to tribal groups.
And yet there are signs that these problems could be dealt with across Afghanistan, in spite of tribal differences. Cynthia Schneider, a former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, gave a brief talk about the spread and impact of "Idol" TV on Afghan and UAE cultures. A key point she makes in the course of her talk is that the desire to win is a fundamental human characteristic; the drive to win spurred tribal people to not only allow a woman compete but to encourage her to win, overcoming their own cultural resistance against women in public competition.
Schneider’s talk is amazing, as are many of the other TED.com presentations; take note also of the example she offers of a UAE-based competition where youth offer competing public policy. (Why don’t we have something like that here in the U.S. on prime time television?) Schneider also notes some important skills which the competition-based programming can teach, like learning how to be a gracious loser.
Could the Afghan people be telling us through their own participation in such reality television programming exactly how to help deliver themselves from their own challenges? In the course of their merit-based competition, they transcend their tribal differences and see each other as gifted human beings. They may even begin to see each other not as disparate tribes but as members of the same nation through the reach of broadcast programming, in the same way that our own nation of more than 300 million people in 50 states of multitudinous races and ethnicities sees itself as a single country through its television.
What if we helped set up small "green zones" in the most populous cities, containing centers which taught sustainable agriculture and provided supplemental nutrition, while providing a safe studio where they can learn how to create and broadcast their own new Afghan competitions as well as other Afghan programming? What if we helped them spread technology for viewing and sharing this programming through rural WiFi and small-scale sustainable energy production? What if they saw not a glass teat but a forward-looking mirror, which projected a better fed, more fully employed, better educated and happier Afghanistan upon which this war-torn people could model their lives?
After so many years of war and so many lives damaged and lost, what could it hurt to try a different approach born of Afghan culture? Perhaps the message only needs a better medium than American troops and weapons.
[photo: ISAF Public Affairs via Flickr]
16 Comments
Although I must say I’ll be torqued if Afghans have ultra low-cost pervasive wireless before I do…
We could use my state as a pilot; goodness knows we have enough unemployment in Michigan to make a perfect test case.
I think there’s a lot of investment that can and should be done in Afghanistan, but I’m wary of American or even foreign-led projects. Any foreign elements in Afghanistan will be targets right now, and will keep things unstable.
That said, yes, they are and have told us what they want, and it’s not too different from what anyone wants. Peace, economic prosperity, a government they can trust.
Yeah, I hear you; if I were Afghan, I’d certainly be skeptical of any outsider after decades of conflict.
But you’ll note that Schneider doesn’t elaborate on who set up the “Idol” TV program; the Afghans clearly accepted it as it was and concentrated on competing against themselves. The people also spoke with Oxfam, so there is an acceptance of some nonprofit organizations.
The answer might be right there, between those things.
True, and stuff like this might become a lot more possible if we get the military hardware out of the country first.
I find a completely shrouded woman reading poetry about as offputting as anything I could think of. But the whole reality TV thing is disgusting to my tastes. I suppose if it does some good somewhere, it might offset its race to the bottom. But I remain a skeptic.
You find it offensive to your western sensibilities. The people of Afghanistan don’t, and that’s the entire point. Winning hearts and minds is essential to remaking Afghanistan into a safe and prosperous country, and we won’t do it by forcing our own western culture on them.
That an Afghan woman was able to compete and win was a huge step.
Breaking on Rachel
District court rules that Katrina was a man-made disaster, caused by Army Corps of Engineers. Implications important but not detailed.
Means alot of liability and lawsuits….
There’s still appeals before what you suggest.
Also, what is the deal with the U.S. govt allowing itself to be sued? I’ve never been clear about that. If the U.S. govt decides it can’t be sued, is that the end of it?
I thought it was all about God and gays.
Talibangelical heads are going to roll.
Those courts, ya know, they jest don’t know anything.
This Afghanistan Genocide is a phony, charade. It is “False Flag Ops” with the violence and murder created by Black/Zee for fun and profits. The Taliban claims B/Zee are behind recent bombings.
The New York Times reported years ago that B/Zee are hired assassins to keep the wars going.
Well, amonng the Taliban, Xe, CIA, NYT, it’s hard to know who to believe.
Obama and the Democrats cannot even grapple with poverty and unemployment in this country. What chance do the Afghanis have of seeing them help tackle it there?
Maybe. But the rich and powerful [and corrupt] in most countries are very adept at playing different tribes, races, ethnic communities, religious denominations etc. off on each other. Even here, in fact. People are brainwashed as children to believe these distinctions [mere accidents of borth] are more important than class or caste. It is how the ruling classes have prevailed now for centuries.
No shock at all that the rich/powerful/corrupt around the world try to keep people down.
Their brainwashing success becomes obvious when one believes that a single man and a single political party is responsible for our current condition.
How convenient the rich/powerful/corrupt have such ready scapegoats and ready blamers.
Rayne, thanks for the post.
Did you read Juan Cole’s interview on 11/11/09?
I like the concept of “light footprint” foreign policy.