History's lessons on Afghanistan.

AuthorArnold, Anthony

Nowadays it has become the conventional wisdom that the internationalist al-Qaeda under Osama bin Laden, the leadership-decimated Pakistani Taliban, and the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Omar, are essentially one amorphous enemy. To lump all three together, however, is to ignore the differences between insurgency and terrorism in general, and especially between the Pakistani/internationalist and the distinctively Afghan opponents whom we face. History shows that the Afghans deserve our special, separate attention, especially now that commitment of more American forces to that unhappy land impends.

Though once a crossroads on the Silk Route between Asia and Europe, Afghanistan largely lost its cosmopolitan exposure centuries ago when the land route gave way almost entirely to the sea-lanes for trade and commerce. As in many mountainous lands, from Switzerland to our own Ozarks, this isolationism suited the independent and individualistic mind set that so often seems to go along with alpine topography. The term "internationalist", implying collectivist values and allegiances, is a hopelessly inappropriate label to put on most Afghans, whatever their individual beliefs.

How does that feature relate to the present security problem? To illustrate the difference between terrorism and insurgency, we need only look at our own history, first and foremost to George Washington. Hard though it might be to stomach, by today's definitions George was unquestionably a "warlord." In addition, he organized and led an illegal, violence-prone movement that sought to (and eventually did) overthrow a foreign (British) ruling presence. But except for loudly voiced British monarchist propaganda, was he a terrorist? Scarcely.

Nor was he an internationalist. His basic motive was limited to securing his people's independence, and although he foresaw that the same democratic message might appeal elsewhere in the world, he certainly had no ambitions to have America play an active role in any such movement. Could this be true of most Afghan Taliban insurgents? History says: Yes. Consider the following:

* In 1842 the Afghans rose up to visit on the British Army the first defeat it ever suffered at the hands of an ethnically unrelated colony. True, the British stormed back within a year and beat the Afghans down but thereafter London ceased trying to rule directly from Kabul. Only 15 years later, with this semi-successful rebellion still fresh in all minds, impassioned Indian insurgents called on the Afghans to help in their own massacre and expulsion of British overlords, an...

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