Conclusion:

Since the Taleban and their Arab and Pakistani allies took the upper hand in Afghanistan, the overwhelming majority of the population became captive by a regime, claiming to establish a pure Islamic state. In reality however, the interpretation of the Taleban from Qoran and the tradition (deeds and alleged sayings) of prophet Mohammad concerning governance was profoundly limited by their level of cultural underdevelopment, limitation of their global and technological exposure, their primitive tribal tradition in the way they educate their children, treat their women and the extent to which they were unable to communicate with the international community. In short, there was a wide gap extending to several centuries of scientific advancement, social development, cultural tolerance and political development between the world view of the international community, as represented by the United Nations system, and that of Mojahedin and Taleban who were ruling in Afghanistan since May 1992. The value system of the UN agencies’ officials, as reflected in the principles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, etc. was alien to the value system of Mojahedin and Taleban in Afghanistan, who had not previously experienced such exposures.

 In Afghanistan everything was executed through sheer force, or bribe. Taleban had been trained in a patriarchal and despotic system of upbringing and power relationship. They did not fully understand, nor trusted, the kind of power relationship stemming from freedom of individual choice and democratic participation. Their conception of peace was equivalent to disarming the contenders and dominating the minorities. They created a political climate, restricting the independent judgements and expressions of their own officials. The Afghan Intelligentsia due to persecution, or flight, was deprived of having a role in the rank and file of the presumptive authorities in the country. Thus, there was an intellectual vacuity in the system of governance of Mojahedin and Taliban regimes. Sustainable political stability and development is based on a system and process of justice and ethics. A prerequisite to justice is elimination of discrimination. In Afghanistan, this means eradication of discrimination against women and girl children, as well as ethnic and religious minorities.

 Females in Afghanistan had unequal, or no access to the remaining rudimentary health and education facilities, and had to endure the additional trauma resulting from family loss, perennial conflict, discrimination and restriction in their movements. Self-medication among women to treat chronic depression and insomnia was a common practice. Violence against women was widespread at an alarming rate both in rural and urban areas. Many households in Afghanistan were dependent on remittances from relatives living abroad. Relatives sent money through havaleh (an international system of cash exchange with outlets in most major cities of the world). Many havaleh traders were closed after September 11 because the anti-terrorist forces believe terrorists use them to move money globally. The remittances made huge differences in the welfare of people-often the difference between having food and going hungry. Many widows, in particular, depend on remittances to survive [19]. Thousands of female-headed households with minor children (28,000 of whom were identified in Kabul and 22,000 in Mazar), were obliged to resort to begging in the streets, and an unknown number committed suicide. The plight of an estimated 500,000 widows is of concern. Likewise, the plight of many Afghan families in remote and geographically inaccessible places is of concern. Women are reportedly the predominant inhabitants in Afghanistan, estimated to comprise over 55% of the population. Many sectors—agriculture, water, sanitation, education, health, de-mining, economic development and drug control affect women. Women and girls in Afghanistan have lived in fear (“of the men with guns”) for over two decades. The accumulated and combined effects of 23 years of war, gross human rights violations, drought and Taleban regime have inflicted deep psychological scars on Afghan women and young girls.

 The children had become victims of land mines, prolonged period of un-education, drought and severe food insecurity. For some destitute and hungry families the solution was to sell some of their children off as domestic help, or marry them off at younger age, to avoid watching them starve, with a view to keeping the children and their families alive. The WFP conducted extensive house to house surveys in Heart and Kabul to determine vulnerability. They found in Heart that 78% of the population of the city was vulnerable and required food aid. A recent MSF nutrition study showed 36% of mothers and 10% of children suffered from malnutrition in Heart [20].

 Approximately three million Afghans are refugees, or IDPs. Of whom nearly 0.6 million are displaced within Afghanistan, a large portion of whom is women and children. IDP camps provide little security. According to the relief agencies, women have been raped in the camps in Mazar and Herat. Displaced women do not have a voice. They are not represented in camp leadership committees. Hence, very few people are aware of their needs and problems. Kuchis (nomads) lost large number of their animal stocks due to drought and have become destitute. They are now settled in the IDP camps. They have become targeted by non-Pashtun IDPs in the camps, because the Kuchis cooperated with and were well treated by the Taleban. Of those displaced during 2001, over 170,000 new arrivals crossed the border into Pakistan, and over 130,000 illegally entered Iran. Since 1999, Pakistani authorities have refused to allow Shi’a Hazaras to enter Pakistan. Taleban in Afghanistan and their Taleb supporters in Pakistan gravely intensified the ethnic and religious divide in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 As pointed out by Olivier Roy, the war in Afghanistan can not be categorized as a civil war; it has been a transnational  war. The fact that this conflict has continued for over two decades despite repeated changes in the identity of the antagonist forces, indicates that its causes transcended the national boundaries of the country. No government in modern Afghanistan prior to the change of Taleban regime had come to power on the basis of a direct popular mandate since the mid-18th century. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001 some people argue that security has become a commodity for sale at the global level. Does that mean that human civilization is facing an ethical crisis at the global level, and further development of human race depends on resolving this crisis? According to “the State of World Population 2002”, a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), global population is projected to increase from 6.28 billion today to 9.2 billion by 2050. Half the world’s population, or over 3 billion people, live on less than USD 2 a day, and one billion live on less than USD1 a day. As articulated by Jackie Alan Giuliano, some 780 million people are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide, with 40 million people are at risk of starvation on the African continent alone. More than 153 million of the chronically hungry in the world are under the age of five. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), six million children under the age of five die every year as a result of hunger. Ironically, the world produces plenty of food, more than enough to provide at least 2,720 kilocalories per day per person, which could sustain life.  These people are poor customers in a world economy that classifies everything, even life sustaining food and water, as a commodity that only goes to those who can afford it. The UN committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights has declared that “water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to the realization of all other human rights.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO) figures, an estimated 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water; and 2.4 billion people still do not have access to a safe latrine.

 In the developed countries, we are dying prematurely from diseases of excess such as heart disease, which is the number one killer. Strokes, lung cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, and stomach cancer are the next top killers, followed by traffic accidents, self-inflicted injuries, and diabetes. These diseases come from consuming too many calories, eating excess protein, particularly animal protein, and eating too much sugar. When you combine those factors with our sedentary lifestyle and our chemically polluted soil, air, and water, the result is deadly. Your risk of having a heart attack is decreased by 90% if you eliminate the consumption of meat, dairy products, and eggs from your diet [21]. Poverty is characterized by insecurity, inequality, poor health (including poor reproductive health), illiteracy and powerlessness. In the beginning of third millennium who is responsible for and can provide international security? The only mediator and third party at our disposal, which has a collective responsibility is the United Nations. That is why the Security Council, which needs to get rid of the veto power of its permanent members, has a special responsibility to resolve the Afghan conflict, and ensure that no other internal and trans-national conflict develops into a safe heaven for training fanatics, mercenaries, exporting terrorism, as well as producing and exporting illicit drugs.

 Before the September 11, Afghanistan was receiving over US$200 million annually from the international community through the budgets of various UN agencies, INGOs, periodic appeals by the UN and through the Red Cross Movement. The UN system was mobilizing approximately half of the total aid for Afghanistan, the bulk of it in the form of humanitarian assistance. The ICRC, IFRC, international and Afghan NGOs accessed the other half directly from donors, notably the European Union, Switzerland, Japan and USA. NGOs have played an important role as implementing partners for the UN agencies. Many lives were saved and successful rehabilitation activities implemented. Nonetheless, crucial humanitarian needs were not met. In absence of a durable cease-fire, and establishment of a representative, broad-based government, supported by all the Afghan groups inside and outside the country, the donor countries were reluctant to provide more assistance to Afghanistan. Recovery from crisis in Afghanistan, as elsewhere, will fail unless it is “illuminated from within”. Peace building will not be successful or legitimate, unless there is national participation in the process. An effective peace-building strategy can afford no ‘disconnects’ between the political, human rights, humanitarian and development aspects of the response. Political, operational and other conditionalities must be subordinated to the humanitarian imperative of saving lives and to the right of victims to receive humanitarian assistance (Strategic Framework, UNOCHA). The coalition forces may win the war, but may loose the peace process if they do not disarm all the factions with a view to protecting the civilian population throughout the country. There is an accumulated historical animosity between the plurality of previously ruling Pashtuns and other minority ethnic groups, especially Hazaras and Uzbeks. While Mojahedin and Taleban were in power, numerous atrocities were committed by various ethnic groups, especially Taleban Pashtuns and their non-Afghan supporters, against minority ethnic groups with impunity. Thus, in order to prevent further revenge killings, lootings and rapes, the Security Council should mobilize a sizable (tens of thousand) international force to act as a peace making and peace building force in Afghanistan, with the clear objectives of:

 i) Disarming all the Afghan groups with a view to providing basic security across the country,

ii) Formulating a national constitution protem, and supervising a free democratic election, and

iii) Helping train sufficient Afghan civil servants, judiciary, police force, and national army.

 In order to win the peace process and prevent Afghanistan from slipping back again into a safe haven for exporting terrorism, illicit drugs, and trafficking women and children, the international community should aim to build a genuinely non-dependent, free, open, participatory, inclusive, self-reliant and viable economy in that country, where, the basic human rights of all the minorities, women, and children are respected. The emerging national government can have balanced politico-economic relations with all its trade partners within an atmosphere of fair and mutually beneficial trade, if the international norms and conventions are respected and abided by.

 Sustainable peace, reconciliation, reconstruction and development cannot be built upon a foundation of impunity. Effective and credible efforts to address the issue of impunity and ensure accountability are key to building a sense of confidence among Afghans towards new institutions responsible for administration of justice. Transparency and accountability can also act as deterrents against further violations. There can be no amnesty for perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights.

 The cost of such an operation should be born by those governments who have intervened most in the country, such as Russian Federation, USA, UK, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan and Iran, as well as those who have sufficient good-will and wealth, and may wish to share the burden, such as the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, etc.

 Afghanistan also needs to learn some hard lessons from its own experiences and that of its neighbors. It should resolve not to imitate blindly any non-indigenous politico-economic ideology, and or distorted theocratic doctrine. As articulated by Dr. Seyed Hassan Al-Hosseini, the human societies always have had difficulties in arranging a balanced and constructive relation between religion and state. They should keep in mind that God never sanctioned the governmentalization of the religion. Meaning that God has never entrusted any government, or power, with his/her revelations to guide the people. Thus, the governments should not take upon themselves the duty of prophesizing.

 Notes:

 01.       Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, UK, France, Holland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.                                              

02.              Warriors for the cause of “Allah”.

03.              Bahram Rajaee, The Politics of Refugee Policy in Post-Revolutionary Iran, The Middle East Journal, Vol. 54, No.1, winter 2,000, P. 59

04.              Ibid, P.45/6

05.              Ibid, P. 56

06.              Ibid, P. 57/8

07.              Cedric Gouverneur, the Heroin Route from Afghanistan to Europe, Iran loses its drugs war, Le Monde Diplomatique.

08.       Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Qezelbash, Aimaq, Mogul, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Pamiri, Baluch, Arab, Kazaks, Hindu and Sick

09.       Mohammad Ghasem Danesh Bakhtiari, How the Taliban Appeared and External Context, Ensejam monthly, Vol.1, No. 6-8, Nov./Dec./Jan. 2,000/2,0001, P. 110

10.       Ahmed Rashid, Taliban-Islam, Oil, and the New Great Game in Central Asia, I.B. Taurus Publishers, 2,000, P.120

11.       John Ward Anderson, Needy Afghans stream to mine-filled dump area bombed by US rich in metal and peril, Washington Post Foreign Service, 16 March 2002

12.       Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, P119

13.       Ibid, P.118

14.       Ibid, P. 119

15.       Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan and Taliban, Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban, William Maley editor, Vanguard books, 1998, P. 78

16.       Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, ‘Study on informal economy’, December 1998

17.       Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan and Taliban, P. 77

18.       Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, P. 189-94

19.       Judy A. Benjamin, Post-Taliban Afghanistan: Changed Prospects for Women? UNCO, Afghanistan, February 2002, P. 7

20.       Ibid, P. 11

21.       Jackie Alan Giuliano, Who’s Hungry? Not Those Making the Decisions, Environment News Service, Dec.8, 2002

The author is a former international aid worker with 15 years of working experience in Iran, Former Yugoslavia, Bangladesh, Northern Afghanistan, Southern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, dealing with refugees, repatriates, returnees, and internally displaced persons.