One would have to be blind and deaf not to be aware of the bad press that Afghanistan gets around the world. Some of it is of Afghanistan’s own making: banning TV, photography (other than identity photos) and all forms of musical expression is bound to result in a certain amount of adverse comment. Nor does it exactly fit in with notions of justice that it should deny consular access to those aid workers who have been arrested on the charge of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. The charge itself is a grave one and has to be fully investigated, but it looks as if the Taleban government is intent on making governments that refuse to recognize it squirm more than a little. Justice is more important than diplomacy. Nonetheless, whatever the mistakes of the Kabul government in its dealings with the outside world, the fact is Afghanistan is unjustly and excessively used as a whipping boy by far too many of the world’s politicians, especially Western politicians, and too much of the international media. They repeatedly ridicule and condemn it, not merely in order to attack a government they misunderstand, but to denigrate Islam and those in the Islamic world they fear and dislike. There is never any mention, let alone praise, of the achievements of the Taleban government.
Take the drugs issue. Around the world, production of opium and cocaine is on the increase; nowhere more so than in Peru and Colombia, despite the best efforts of the American authorities to help in the war to wipe out production there. And there can be no doubt whatsoever of Washington’s commitment to eradicate drugs production or smuggling, not just in Latin America but worldwide. So it is strange that Washington should remain so tight-lipped about the fact that the Taleban authorities have achieved what no previous government in Kabul as been able to do: virtually eradicate opium production in the country. Only in the north, where Ahmad Shah Masood is in control, is there any significant remaining cultivation. This remarkable turnaround deserves credit, but is met with stony silence.
It is the same with law and order. Afghanistan was one of the most lawless societies on earth. No longer. Today, the Taleban’s control over the country may seem harsh, but there is no more anarchy. Any other country which had achieved such success after the decades of chaos would be fêted around the world. Not so the Kabul government. There is no doubt that Afghanistan is nervous about the outside world, even to the point of paranoia and xenophobia. But that is the result of a long and painful history of military onslaughts by non-Muslim powers out to seize control of their country. During much of the 19th century, it was the British and Russians who vied for control of Afghanistan; and unfortunately, the most recent Russian invasion is still too fresh in people’s minds to be forgotten — hardly surprising, given that in some parts of Europe, German tourists are still made to feel distinctly unwelcome, more than half a century after World War II. After so traumatic an experience as the Soviet occupation, it understandable that the Afghans — notoriously independent-minded at the best of times — should be so wary of any foreigners and so determined to do things their way. All they want is to be left alone to run their country and their lives according to their customs and traditions. And why should not they?
But there is the rub. There are those in positions of power in the world — not just in Washington but in the Western-dominated international media — who do not like it; and so they condemn and ridicule. It is so hypocritical. The Americans and Europeans happily support and do business with regimes around the world that are as corrupt as hell but which accept an unspoken Western hegemony. What is resented is that Kabul does not dance to the West’s tune. It is that — and institutionalized Islamophobia — which is behind the ceaseless campaign of denigration which Afghanistan now suffers. Sadly, there is no sign that it will end.
