12/07/2009 4:00 am
POV
Love Shacks for the Taliban, by Sara Davidson
Editor’s Note: Sara Davidson, author of the bestselling books Loose Change and Leap!: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives?, has contributed articles to The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Harper’s, O the Oprah Magazine and Rolling Stone. She’s written and produced TV dramas and in 1994 was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." Sara now lives in Colorado. Visit Sara’s website by clicking here.
I thought I knew what we should do in Afghanistan, until I flew to the country with a group of eight women and one man organized by Code Pink. This is the fourth part in a series.
We’re invited to lunch by Dan Allison, an American who runs an NGO, Hope International. Women spread a cloth on the floor and carry in platters of rice, lamb, Afghan flat bread, spinach that’s been cooked to the consistency of mush, raw vegetables and mounds of grapes. Up until now, we’ve been served the same meal at every lunch and dinner and have been religious about not eating anything raw and drinking bottled water. But Dan tells us, "We’ve trained our cooks to wash everything carefully. You can eat it all and won’t have problems." Wonderful, I think, savoring a raw carrot and some grapes.
| Imagine, Norine says, if in the U.S., all the males between 15 and 25 had no sex and no job. "What kind of violence and chaos might erupt?" |
A half hour later, I do have a problem and others will come down with digestive troubles later. Anand Gopal tells us there’s a higher percentage of fecal matter in the air here than any other place on earth. Kabul has no sewer system, waste runs in ditches along every road and farmers use human excrement as fertilizer.
The next day, I’m too sick to get on the bus, but the team returns at noon to our guest house to meet with Norine MacDonald, a Canadian who’s worked in the south for years. Norine is 39, blonde and outrageous. She carries a gun and looks like a model in Kabul, but in the south she dresses like an Afghan boy because women aren’t seen on the street.
Norine directs the Mercator Fund, which works with farmers in the south who, she says, "are all in business with the Taliban." Mercator is encouraging them to grow poppies for medicine. "You can’t get morphine in this country or in Africa. The World Health Organization calls it a global pain crisis," Norine says. "It’s a simple process to convert raw opium to morphine. The farmers could start with the harvest next spring. It will make them legitimate and solve a world problem."
Her group wants to intervene with young men before they’re recruited by the Taliban. She says there’s a bulge in the population of males between 15 and 25. "They’re not sexually active because Islam forbids sex before marriage, and they don’t have money for a wedding. They have no sex, no job and they’re angry."
Imagine, she says, if in the U.S., all the males between 15 and 25 had no sex and no job. "What kind of violence and chaos might erupt?" Her organization wants to give the young men cash to get married, an allowance to build their own place — "a love shack" — and job training. "It’s harder to recruit a married man as a suicide bomber when he has a decent job and a home."
Jodie Evans, a founder of Code Pink, nods, saying she found the same was true with gang members she worked with in L.A.
Norine says she’s a fan of Gen. Stanley McChrystal and would like to see "more troops brought in with his approach."
There’s a burst of traffic noise outside and I ask Medea if she can hear Norine. "Yes, but I don’t like what I’m hearing," Medea says.
I move my chair closer. Norine says she likes the idea of taking soldiers out of their vehicles and putting them on the street.
"I’m strongly against that," Medea says. "I think they should be less visible — stay in their compounds."
"When soldiers walk around on the streets, people have a different experience of them," Norine says.
"But they attract Taliban shooting and violence …"
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Norine is right. There can be no reconstruction/development without security. Check out an interview Bill Moyers did with Sarah Chayes (formerly of NPR, but living near Kandahar since 2002). Her position is very similar to Norine’s. I understand that Jodie Evans and Code Pink are uncomfortable with supporting the military, but if the military is not present and walking around (as Norine suggested), then NGO and construction workers will be killed by the Taliban, as they have been on many occasions during this decade. However, it is also important that reconstruction and development get into the Afghan economy, and not contracted out to foreigners and have so many strings attached that less than 14 cents on the dollar actually gets into the Afghan economy, which was the case during the Bush years.
To better understand who the Taliban are and what their mission is, please check out my December 2, 2009 article on Huffington Post, "How We Should Really be Viewing Afghanistan." Sincerely, Melissa Roddy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-roddy/how-we-should-really-be-v_b_…
My son was in Afghanistan once and Iraq twice, and he said that the Afghanistan mission was by far the hardest. They pulled duty several times to protect the girls schools that had been built. Many things were built by engineers and seebees but were later blown up because the mission was turned over to NATO. Bush dropped the ball on it, but NATO made a mess of things as well. When my son was to go on his second deployment he did not want Afghanistan or as he called the "The Stan", he wanted Iraq, on his third deployment, if he had to go he would rather have Iraq than Afghanistan, although he loves the Afghan people, they worked hard to build relationships with them, but it is a more difficult mission. He also didn’t like to have to belly crawl into possible booby trapped caves to hunt for munitions, or climb cliffs up to outposts with a 70 lbs pack and a 25 lbs radio on his back.
He got really sick on the roasted goat as well, there are a lot of jokes about eating goat in the army. I just think that any woman that goes over there is brave and God bless them.
I heard Bob Woodward on Sunday say the troops needed to get involved with the populace and eat a little goat. God, if he only knew. But it showed me the lack of awareness of most people as to what our men and women over there are trying to do.
Listening to the actions of Code Pink, it seems that we Americans believe we must insinuate ourselves into every process. Why would Code Pink want to interject their way of life on the Afghans? Are they "Neo-libs"?
Security is very important. They need the schools, but they need security for the girls to be able to go. Obviously too much money has flowed into the country and the corruption is rampant, but how do we help the women if they don’t have security. I think afghanistan is another on of those places like Mexico where the people suffer so the rest of the world can get high. I like Norine’s idea about growing the poppies for medicinal purposes - morphine - - Christopher Hitchens has been pushing that idea for a couple of years now and I hope it comes to fruition. Also read a report the other day that there is more wheat planting going on in some of the valleys.
All in all it seems like Afghanistan is a FUBAR situation, and it will take time to come to any viable solutions. I am so proud and gratified for the Afghan women. I just want them to be safe.
Your visit and in the End your telling of a story is in my opinion a lot much terrifying. Okay, we all know that the third-countries do not live as we do.
For us figures that we live in a good live-situation. Our country has money, has a regular standard. We have shelters which we can visit if we need urgend help. We have the alternative to get money from our state.
In some ways thats very helpful for us end-comsumer.
But thats our view of life, because we witness it every day.
And if we read something about another culture, at first its very terrifying. Isn’t it normal that we are react shocked about that lines?
but back to the topic. As I read about Norine, I want to shoot and kill her! Sorry. She’s freezing, she’s hasn’t a warm heart! She inclined likes a sergeant. That’s dauntin. Alone the imagination that she looks like a villain with breasts.
I’m speechless about her. She only thinks that everything is solve with violence. But the hasn’t a mind with a IQ!
To build "a love shack" - haha. what a stupid idea. Sorry.
The humans livesalready in fear and terror and which such a dumb turkey isn’t lighter.
On Norine’s thoughts:
Poppies for morphine would be great, if you can get the farmers out from under the Taliban thumb. Same problem applies to coca farmers in South America: they are encouraged to grow for the cartels both by better prices and by the threat of violence. There may be a need to co-opt the Taliban on projects like this.
The issue of the unmarried young men warrants attention; "Love Shack" might be a silly name, but it’s a serious idea. It is true that married, settled men usually are harder to recruit into violent activities. Check out China: with its shortage of women today (a story in its own right), China has nearly 30 million men who have little chance of ever finding a wife… and some analysts believe their military buildup is partly to provide a place for those men, in recognition of the problems that arise from an aimless, unattached male population.
The US military is already doing a lot of development and aid work. See "Provincial Reconstruction Team." I agree they should not just "stay in their compounds." That’s useless.
Crossing into Pakistan after insurgents: there has already been much discussion, much done, and much fallout from that. She tosses the notion out there as if it’s a simple thing. It’s NOT.
On dispensing aid through the hands of the Afghan women: that’s the same approach Grameen Bank and other micro-lenders use in developing countries (including Muslim ones like Bangladesh), with great success. There may be some possibilities in that, but cultural differences will have to be accounted for; there needs to be a system that keeps the women in control. There will be a high risk not only of husbands intervening, but of armed groups intervening.Lila - on some of Norines thoughts as well ~~~~
Very interesting thoughts. After reading this article the other day one point kept sticking with me, and as the mother of young men I took an exception to one of the conclusions - that since boys and men from 15 - 25 are unemployed and don’t have wives they are so frustrated that they go out and kill. I find that a remarkable perception on Norine’s part. I understand the reasoning, and have expressed some of those thoughts regarding the influence of the Immans in the Mosques on young men, but mostly because they were taught to go kill the infidels - it isn’t because they are 15-25 and unemployed. It seems to me there are many places in the world that have unemployed young men who are not that sexually active, and they are not out killing. You mentioned China and odd ratio of men to women, well China has had that situation for a long time and those young men are not spreading out across the planet killing people or learning the fine art of suicide bombing. Have you heard the recordings between the "director" of the terror attack in Mumbai and the young men that took part in it? It’s chilling.
During the Great Depression, there was mass unemployment all over the world, and due to different cultural mores than what we have today, it was not expected that young men be out and about always obtaining sex. As the cultural restraints on sexual behavior have declined it seems to me that now it is an expected idea that boys have to always be out getting some. Am I the only one, or does that perception seem odd to anyone else? Why would the conclusion be that if they don’t have sex or jobs they will kill. That doesn’t happen in most societies.
Young men in Afghanistan are not supposed to have relations with young girls, so they have them with each other. They have parties and dance with each other and have "special" relationships until they move on to women. While my son was over there I read everything I could on Afghan culture, society and news. I came across more than one article talking about how the boys solved their sexual drive. My son also told me about the boys and their boyfriends.
There are also reams of articles about the Afghans have a culture of fighting. Not necessarily warfare, but fighting. When soldiers were there and couldn’t tell the difference between Al Queda and civilian Afghans, and there was a disarmament program, the men would not give up their guns because they said their wives and children would laugh at them - a man without a gun was like a man without arms and hands.
I don’t know about now, but when my son was there they did not just stay in their compounds. He says there are a lot of FOBbits (you know how a Hobbit doesn’t like to leave the Shire, well some soldiers don’t like to leave their Forward Operating Base - hence FOBbits - since you are former military, I thought you’d like that), but mostly they are out and about.
Frannie,
You are right about the young men’s "special relationships." Arabs do the same, and it’s a long tradition… Lawrence of Arabia witnessed it during WWI. It’s one of those dirty little cultural secrets that is not much discussed and they don’t see it as the On unattached men and violent Jihad, I think the reason marriage generally has a "calming" effect is not because of the sex, but because of sense of responsibility as the provider, especially if there’s no one else to take care of the family if the man dies. Being a family patriarch is a BIG part of a man’s identity in that region. And FWIW, I have noticed the same thing among my Army colleagues, both men and women: those who are raring to go off to the far-flung, adventurous, dirty and lonely assignments when young and single, often pull back quite a bit once they have a family in tow.
As for China, they are not so prone to Jihad but the large number of unattached men is a cause for worry: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/19/china-usat.htm
I remember Fobbits (it’s more polite than REMF)! It’s fun to see the old terms are still being used. I think you also mentioned BOHICA before.
There are none so blind as those who will not see and I’m afraid some of the Code Pink members along with Britta are among them. Of course if presented with a false choice…development or the military…someone is going to say development. Norinne’s point is that there will be no development without security the military needs to be visibly providing the security. No one is going to dig a well if they fear being killed or captured by the Taliban if they venture out of their homes with a shovel. And frankly, I will take her assessment of the situation (since she is actually there DOING something at no small risk to her life) before some Code Pink member (Medea) who flaunted her western clothing in some childish rebellion which could have made the whole group a target not to mention Britta’s opinion which appears to be based on thin air and not any knowledge of what is really happening over in Afghanistan.
I’m impressed with Sara Davidson’s attempt to be objective and learn.
This is a country where a human female is considered only to have slightly more value and worth than a goat. If the money is given to the females who live there and there is no military to enforce the law of ownership then the men will simply take the money by whatever force is needed. I’m not sure I believe even 50% of what any journalist writes but there have been enough reports about the attrocities practiced upon girls and women in that country that I shutter. Yet, still, there are women who have become human bombs, mothers who have endorsed their son’s suicides. If we know of only one of these for fact, then how many are there of which we do not know?
Not all military is bad, not all military action is bad. When the police are too afraid to act then the only solutions are the military or surrender.
Regardless, we should not be there. It is civil war and no matter what we do there it will make matters worse for everyone, them and us. We are all too familiar with our own civil war and the horror of what it cost our country well over 100 years ago, but we cannot stop another country’s civil war. We have tried that before, on more than one occassion, and nothing we have ever done has stopped a civil war but perhaps only delay it.
Finally, we must remember that these cultures in the middle east never forget or forgive anything. For crying out loud, they are still talking about the crusades today! It is this type of grudge bearing that leads to more wars and less civilized behaviour. If we don’t want to be fighting the entire Middle-east in the next decade or so, then we should just wish them well and hope they find a civilized path while we turn our backs and walk away.
Afghanistan is not a civil war. It is what the Stockholm Peace Research Institute ("SPRI") calls an assymetrical conflict, meaning a situation in which civilians are being attacked by militias from a neighboring power, i.e., Pakistan. The Taliban is not an Afghan movement, nor is it a Pashtun movement, it is a Pakistani paramilitary organization, created to suppress Pashtun and Balochi nationalism within Pakistan and to keep Afghanistan unstable and/or under Pakistani control in order to prevent the Afghans from asserting renegotiation of the 1600 mile border known as the Durand Line. The Durand Line was named after Sir Mortimer Durand who arbitrarily drew it on a map in 1893, thus cutting Afghanistan in half. The country previously extended east to the Indus River. The Punjabis who dominate Pakistan’s military and government (same thing) believe that in order to keep their territory, they must inflict horrific nightmares on the people of Afghanistan and western Pakistan.
The problem of Pakistani aggression is one that will not go away. Therefore, if the US/NATO withdraw from Afghanistan before the country has recovered enough from over 30 years of war to defend itself, there will be a blood bath. Conditions are right for a repeat of the 1990s, during which time over 400,000 Afghan civilians were killed. US/NATO soldiers are currently preventing that. More soldiers will help them to do a better job of it.
For a clearer explanation, check out the link to my Huffington Post story from Decemer 2, 2009.
Nice article ! Myself I cannot help but think that were playing cowboy aginst the indians again. Trying to tame the barbarian again. I cannot help but think that if we just gave them food, water, and helped them when asked. We would be better looked at as a friend rather then just another low-life trying to tell them what they need to do!
I don’t know. It’s nice to think a little bit of education would solve a lot the worlds problems. What harm would it do for everyone to learn how to read. BUT - didn’t the people who crashed the planes into the towers learn how to do that right here in the USA? At what point does teaching anyone what they want to know become dangerous to us?
As for " there’s a bulge in the population of males between 15 and 25.". Why is that exactly? For 10 years fewer girls have been born? Or maybe they were born but male children were/are preffered so the females were starved or allowed to die in favor of the male children? For ANY culture that squeezes out a significant number of females, they are eventually going to have this problem. There are a few places in the world where a wife can have multiple husbands (polyandry), and any children the wife has are considered the children of all the husbands and the husbands care and help provide for all of them as a family unit. There are ways out of this problem they are simply ignoring. If a culture paints itself into a corner, I’m not seeing why it’s up to anyone else to get them out of it. If the culture can’t evolve out of it’s dead end, then maybe it should die out.