Religion's Role in the Afghanistan Conflict - Essay Example

Religions Role in the Afghanistan Conflict The War in Afghanistan is one of the most significant events that have taken place in the twenty first century and this has been as a result of the need by the American government to prevent terrorist attacks against the country in the magnitude of 9/11. The main argument made by the Bush administration in going into the war was that there was the need to bring down the Taliban, which was believed to harbor Al Qaeda, the terrorist network believed to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks (Arkedis). The invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and its allies managed to secure their main goal of ensuring that Taliban rule in the country was removed to be replaced with a more secular government which would serve western interests. However, the war did not end there because the Taliban continued to fight against the allied forces in various parts of the country from its bases in northern Pakistan. Despite the initial success of the war in Afghanistan, starting from 2008, the Taliban has been making gains in significant parts of the country and it has been realized that the best way to deal with this group is through reaching an accommodation. This is because their strength and their ability to mobilize support in the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan has contributed to their continued ability to stage a successful insurgency. However, one of the most significant aspects of the war in Afghanistan that has often been ignored is that of religion because it has had some influence on both sides of the conflict. Religion has had an important influence on the development and continued resilience of the Taliban since its creation through its fight for survival with NATO forces. The strong Islamic identity of the Taliban has enabled it to survive the worst onslaught of NATO against it over more than a decade. The Taliban uses religion to secure its position in Afghan society since it is a common religion, Islam; that binds all the people in the country. The result has been that it has managed to ensure that it is a significant political player in the country despite the attempts that have been made to dislodge and destroy it completely by NATO forces. One of the aims of the Taliban is to ensure that Afghanistan is made into an Islamic state under its sovereignty and before the 9/11 attacks, this organization had managed to achieve their objective; having taken over and controlled most of the territory of the country (Maley 288). The ability of this organization to thrive has been linked to its having religious sway over a number of Pashtun people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has promoted its continued aggressive nature despite all the odds that it has had to face. The war in Afghanistan has, instead of making the Taliban weak, ensured that this organization has morphed into two parts, one occupying the northern tribal areas of Pakistan, while the other is leading the insurgency in Afghanistan. Religion has been important in the development of the various manifestations of the Taliban since it is used as a means of making individuals in the tribal areas to shelter and promote members of this organization in the hope that it will achieve its objective of forming an Islamic state in Afghanistan. The American led invasion of Afghanistan has been portrayed by its opponents in the country as a war of religions where Christian nations are invading a Muslim one with the intention of weakening the religion. The result has been the prolongation of the war because a number of individuals in the country have become convinced that the NATO forces are Christian invaders who should be driven out of Afghanistan (Saikal 352). The Taliban and its ally Al Qaeda have both portrayed the invasion of Afghanistan as a crusade against Muslims and have declared that it is the duty of all Muslims around the world, and especially in Afghanistan, to help in the fight against the invaders. From a local perspective, those individuals, who consider the American invasion as a crusade, have worked hard to ensure that all of the attempts to bring peace in the country by NATO forces have been thwarted and have not only provided such groups as the Taliban with shelter and supplies, but has helped organizations hostile to the invasion through providing willing recruits to fight against it (Mazari). In this way, the conflict in Afghanistan has ended up being one of the longest ones involving a major power in the twenty first century and while the United States has recently taken the initiative of withdrawing from the conflict, the Taliban has continued to grow in strength as its hold in some areas of the country such as Kandahar, has become firmer. The belief among some people in the Pashtun areas that a crusade is being waged against Islam is one of the reasons why the conflict in Afghanistan cannot be resolved through the use of force alone but also through direct negotiation between the Afghan and American governments, as well as the Taliban, since the latter is supported largely by ethnic Pashtuns. Since the American led invasion of Afghanistan began, and the Taliban government was overthrown, this country has made some significant gains in ensuring that it becomes more developed than it was under Taliban rule. The most developed countries in the world have pumped a lot of money into the country to fund a diverse number of projects designed to help the people of Afghanistan have better lives. Among these projects has been the construction of schools, hospitals, and much needed infrastructure to ensure that the people of Afghanistan have the resources needed to rebuild their lives and achieve the promise of prosperity that they had before the Soviet invasion of 1979 (Felbab-Brown 5). However, there are some elements in the society who believe that the progress of the country towards secularization goes against the Islamic ideals and this has prompted them to work towards the reversal of the gains made by the Afghan people. Moreover, these gains threaten the lucrative drug trade which has been dominated by various warlords to finance their wars and the retention of their power because the ceasing of this trade, that has an international market, would mean that a large number of the insurgent movements in the country would come to an end. Therefore, to sustain their survival, the threatened groups have ramped up the religious fervor of their followers as fighters against the occupation of and the imposition of an unwanted government over their country to ensure that there is continued resistance towards the increasingly secular turn of Afghanistan. The conflict in Afghanistan has continued largely because of the fluid system of alliances between the various political players in the country with each of them claiming some religious obligation towards the stances that they take at a given time. This has turned out to be a disadvantage for the people of this country because they have not been able to find lasting peace owing to the complexity of the conflict that has been further complicated by religion. As a result of the massive failure of the Afghan government and its main backer, the American government, to improve the lives of the people through the introduction of programs designed to alleviate their poor standards of living, many Afghans have chosen to look towards the Taliban for support. The Taliban has taken advantage of the power vacuum left to undertake programs which are designed to radicalize the youth of the country so that they can turn against the government and its allies (Starkey). This is the reason why in recent months, the Taliban has managed to score victory after victory against government forces, seizing territory in places which were traditionally not a part of their strongholds. The ability of this organization to inflict such defeats on better armed forces has been largely due to its efforts to radicalize the population under its control to such an extent that it has ensured that many recruits are flocking to its cause. The incompetence of the current Afghan government has made it easier for the insurgency led by the Taliban to roll back the gains that it has made since its inception in 2001. The conflict in Afghanistan has led to the strengthening of a brand of radical political Islam which has enabled the strengthening of the Taliban and its allies, essentially ensuring their long term survival in Afghanistan since they have developed a new ability to expand their influence further into the country (Tisdall). Because of the religious zeal shown by this organization, it no concrete steps are taken by the Afghan government and its backers to counter it soon, the Taliban are likely, in a few months, to achieve the dominant position that it once had before the American led invasion of the country in 2001. This is possible because for many Afghans, the period under Taliban rule, from 1996 to 2000, were among the most peaceful that they had ever known despite it having essentially been an Islamic state. The conflict in Afghanistan is extremely complex and the most important of these, which has been considered above, is that of religion. The discussion has shown that religion has had an important influence on the development and continued resilience of the Taliban since its creation through its fight for survival against NATO forces. Because of the massive influence of religion on a significant part of the Afghan population, the American led invasion has been portrayed by its opponents in the country as a war of religions where Christian nations are invading a Muslim one with the intention of weakening the religion. The belief that it is a modern crusade being waged against Muslims has made possible the easy recruitment of fighters among Afghan youth who are sent against government forces in a bid to weaken its hold over the country. Moreover, the discussion above has shown that in the aftermath of the American invasion of Afghanistan, this country has made some significant gains in ensuring that it becomes more developed than it was under Taliban rule. Despite this being the case, elements who are against the secularization of the state have used religion as justification for their opposition to the government and involvement in the insurgency. Therefore, the solution to the Afghan conflict lies in considering both the religious and political interests of the parties involved so that a more harmonious society devoid of conflict can be created. Works Cited Arkedis, Jim. "Why Al Qaeda Wants a Safe Haven". Foreign Policy 23 October 2009. Felbab-Brown, V. “Slip-Sliding on a Yellow Brick Road: Stabilization Efforts in Afghanistan Stability.” International Journal of Security and Development 1.1 (2012):4-19. Maley, William. The Afghanistan wars. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Saikal, Amin. Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2006. Mazari, Shireen M.. "NATO, Afghanistan and the Region". Institute of Policy Studies, 2008. Starkey, Jerome. "Karzais Taliban talks raise spectre of civil war warns former spy chief". The Scotsman 30 September 2010. Tisdall, Simon. "Afghan war logs: How the US is losing the battle for hearts and minds". The Guardian 26 July 2010. Read More