US President Barack Obama will today attempt to reassert his country’s role as international peacekeeper in the convulsed territory of Afghanistan – since 2001, the theatre of ongoing conflict between the USA, Al Qaeda and the Taliban... as well as other, less clearly identifiable forces opposed to foreign military presence in the region.
Talking to MaltaToday ahead of a press conference this afternoon, US Ambassador Mr Douglas Kmiec yesterday explained that there was a good deal more to the Afghanistan affair than merely sending more troops – though this is likely to remain the most contentious issue among Americans and Europeans alike.
“The President will once again outline the essential reasons for US involvement in the first place,” Kmiec said. “The primary goal remains unchanged: i.e., to defeat, destabilise and dismantle Al Qaeda, and to prevent its possible return to Afghanistan at any point in future.”
However, Mr Kmiec added that the purpose behind the renewal of efforts in Afghanistan went far beyond the war against Al Qaeda alone.
“With all due respect to the previous administration, its philosophy in engaging with the region tended to be of a purely military nature. For this reason, decisions were taken largely on the advice of the joint chiefs of staff.”
Kmiec explained that this marks a fundamental difference from Obama’s approach, which, he claims, intends to address problems across a wide spectrum of interconnected issues, and therefore sought consultation not only with the military, but also with a much broader cross-section of Afghani society.
“Military solutions are at best stop-gap measures, which do not address the underlying causes of the region’s troubles,” the US ambassador said. “For this reason, President Obama has been particularly careful to listen to a multiplicity of voices within the region, to identify the real issues in order to devise a strategy aimed at securing a long-term solution for the area.”
This, he added, will no doubt involve widening the scope of discussions to also include neighbouring Pakistan. Above all, however, Obama’s plan is also to increase economic opportunities in the area.
“One aspect of our approach to Afghanistan will certainly feature the creation of new opportunities within agriculture,” Kmiec said, pointing out how part of the country’s problems stemmed from the illicit relations that exist between the poppy industry, the international drugs trade, and terrorism.
“We want to explore the potential to develop new and legitimate agricultural alternatives to the illicit poppy trade,” he said.
The poppy trade is in fact Afghanistan’s largest industry, and according to ESPAD surveys accounts for approximately 90% of the heroin reaching European markets each year.
For these and other reasons, the US ambassador contends that the plan to increase military presence in Afghanistan should be viewed as a means to achieve a much larger goal: that of addressing the culture of “fear, demoralisation and corruption” that has plagued the country for years, if not decades.
“The scheduled increase in troop levels in Afghanistan has to be subordinate to the larger picture, which is to bring stability to the region,” he told MaltaToday. “But the President is also realistic on this point. He knows there is no guarantee of success; nonetheless, he firmly believes that the plan to be announced shortly offers the best chance of achieving success on a long-term basis.”
It remains to be seen, however, whether this guarded optimism for President Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy will be shared by his fellow citizens, whom recent history has taught to be wary of long-term overseas military commitments.
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