Page 2 of 2 Lies and illusions in Afghanistan
By Ann Jones
I've elaborated here on Olds's quick history lesson to more fully explain why
you may be finding it hard these days to understand how we got into what's
already being called "Obama's War" - and how to get out. Think of it this way:
everything that happens in Afghanistan is based on (1) a lie, (2) an illusion,
or (3) both. Then throw in mass illusion as well, carefully constructed so that
each person tells others only what they want to hear.
Which brings us back to Fixer, a film steeped in stories of duplicity
and self-delusion that are the personal and political currency of Afghanistan
today. In one telling incident, Parenti pushes to observe the famously corrupt
Afghan judiciary in action. He's rewarded with a front row seat at a murder
trial, only to learn
that it has been staged for his edification.
In fact, a court official admits, the production Parenti witnessed didn't
depict the way the court really works, but the way "it should work" according
to international standards. The judiciary knows those international standards
very well, since NGOs and private contractors supported by the US Agency for
International Development and other aid agencies have offered them training,
and what's called "capacity building", for years. The trainers report success,
which of course is what the aid agencies want to hear; and the trainees may be
encouraged (as in this case) to perform for the public. If Parenti had played
the part assigned to him in this exercise in mass illusion, he'd have reported
a glowing story about the success of Afghanistan's new rule of law. (He
didn't.)
Afghans have an expression - "pesh pa been" - referring to people who
move relentlessly ahead by watching their own feet. Parenti, at least, could
see when he was being tripped up. But the incident leaves you wondering: if
officials of the Karzai government go this far for a single American reporter,
what extravagant performances have they mounted all along for junketing
senators and cabinet members, and the likes of Donald Rumsfeld and Laura Bush,
not to mention the recent rounds of Obama era visitors?
Even Ajmal the fixer repeatedly misjudges situations and his own people; and in
the end, he proves to have been more of an innocent than Parenti. In an eerie
moment captured on screen, Parenti predicts that one day the Taliban will
kidnap a Western journalist. No way, says Ajmal, assuming that he and his
clients are protected by Pashtunwali, his (and the Taliban's) tribal code of
honor. Later, working for the Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, Ajmal
fixes a fatal appointment with Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah. Taken
hostage, Ajmal reassures his family in a Taliban video: "These are Muslims. We
are in the hands of Islam."
Behind the Hescos
Illusion and duplicity entrap the fixer, too, and spin his personal story into
a political event. The Italians, who notoriously negotiate with hostage takers,
persuade Karzai to exchange five Taliban prisoners for Mastrogiacomo and Ajmal.
In the excitement of being freed, however, Mastrogiacomo fails to keep track of
his fixer. The Taliban see an opportunity to recapture Ajmal and demand the
release of two more prisoners. Karzai and his foreign minister, having freed
the foreigner, then scramble to the moral high ground, refusing to negotiate
with terrorists. Orders come down from Pakistan to kill Ajmal - on April 8,
2007 - to make Karzai look bad in the eyes of his own people. Mullah Dadullah
sends a video of the beheading.
Ajmal's stricken father asks, "What kind of government doesn't protect its own
citizens?" The answer is: a government that's bought, paid for, and answerable
to outsiders, a government that has neither the need nor the inclination to
care for its citizens. As Karzai explains the matter, "The Italians built us a
road."
That's the government the international community is now spending more than
$500 million to reelect. (Most of that money comes from the US.) International
election officials, of course, are neutral - so neutral that they look the
other way as Karzai makes deals with rival warlords to ensure his reelection.
One by one they come over to his side, and word leaks out about which
ministries they've been promised.
International agencies responsible for mounting the election have already
abandoned the goal of a "free and fair" vote. They're aiming for "credible",
which is to say, an election that looks pretty good, even if it's not. In the
context of accumulated illusions, this goal is called "realistic", and perhaps
it is. As the fixer's grieving father says, "Our government is a puppet of
foreigners. That is why we expect nothing from it."
As I write, 4,000 newly arrived US Marines are trudging through the blistering
heat of Helmand province to push back the Taliban so local Pashtuns can turn
out to vote next month for Karzai, their fellow Pashtun. What's wrong with this
new Obama strategy? For one thing, in some areas the local Pashtun population
has instead turned out to fight against the foreign invaders, side by side with
the Taliban (who, it should be remembered, are mostly local Pashtuns). They're
as fed up as anybody with the puppet Karzai. Like millions of other Afghans,
they say Karzai has done nothing for the people. But saddled with history,
Karzai remains the horse the US rode in on.
Let me make it clear that Olds and Parenti don't draw these comparisons to
current affairs in Afghanistan. Fixer is simply and appropriately
subtitled The Taking of Ajmal Nashqbandi. It's a tribute to a trusted
colleague. But watch the film yourself and you'll be immersed in duplicity:
officials manipulate the truth, citizens fear to tell it, Americans can't bear
to look it in the face. Watch the film and maybe you'll understand how hard it
has become, here behind the Hescos where history is being re-spun, to size
anything up, pin anything down, recognize an enemy, or help a friend.
Ann Jones is the author of Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in
Afghanistan (Metropolitan Books, 2006). She is in Kabul this summer, working
with women's organizations, as she has done intermittently since 2002.
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