The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War

Preface to the 2002 Edition: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Global Terror, Inc.

Preface to the 2002 Edition: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Global Terror, Inc. AS A NATIVE AFGHAN and a naturalized citizen of the United States, in the very tough days following September 11, 2001, I found myself in a very serious predicament. My adopted country, the United States, is at war with my homeland, where my natal family, my siblings and their children, are living. As many of my other compatriots from Afghanistan have been, I'm torn. Should I support America, my adopted country, or Afghanistan, my homeland? All of us have been challenged by the events of September 11 th to try to make sense out of this senseless crime. Crimes of this magnitude challenge us simply because they pose fundamental problems of meaning. Why could such a thing happen? And why in a place like New York? Some people who call themselves Muslims are implicated in this crime, and this puts an additional burden on the 1.2 billion Muslims around the world, including myself. How could members of the religious community I belong to commit such a crime? Suicide bombings have happened in other places, but they were far away from our shores. This time it has happened in the safe haven of the United States. After September 11th, some newspapers reported that the churches were filled. When we are faced with problems of this magnitude, when we are called to make sense out of an apparently senseless event, we often turn to religion. Within a religious context, such problems are sometimes resolved for us, and ix x Preface to the 2002 Edition people can somehow come to grips with such a disturbing reality. But in a secular society such as this one, we also rely on certain metaphors to explain events that may not have an easy explanation. Indeed, there has been considerable reference in the media to a particular metaphor or model to explain why these senseless events happened in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. That model has been one of a "clash of civilizations": it happened because the alleged perpetrators are not like us, but are some kind of beasts belonging to another and radically different civilization! They don't value freedom, don't share our values, and are something other than human beings. They are not civilized. Of course they hate us, and that's why they committed this crime against us. Unfortunately, this clear-cut construction of the problem as "we're in the right, they are in the wrong" because of differences in religion and civilization has led us to a policy where our president has enunciated a very clear partition of the world as we know it. Those who are with us are our friends, and those who are not with us are with our enemies, the terrorists. I don't think of myself as either an Afghan or American nationalist . In that, I don't have a choice. If I pronounce myself an Afghan nationalist, I cannot be an American nationalist, and if I pronounce myself an American nationalist, I cannot be an Afghan one. The definition of nationalist to me is someone who supports his country and government, right or wrong. But I hope that I am a good Afghan and American patriot at the same time. The distinction is that I am willing to support the U.S. government when it does the right thing, and I'm willing to criticize my government when it does the wrong thing. I would like to speak the same way about Afghanistan. That country hasn't had a government to speak of for many years, but if Afghanistan's new government is in the right, I will be a patriotic Afghan in supporting their policies, and when they do the wrong thing, I won't be with them. Unfortunately, after September 11 th many people in the United States used the word "patriotism" in ways that made a joke of the concept. Many were acting like nationalist Americans, but wrongly calling themselves patriots. They acted and are continuing to act like nationalists, and nationalism ultimately becomes fascism. There is nothing that nationalism could lead to other than fascism. EXPLAINING TERRORISM President Bush is not alone in using the clash of civilizations model to explain the problem. Those who watched Osama bin Preface to the 2002 Edition Xl Laden's videotapes, released after the United States began bombing Afghanistan...