After twenty years fighting to uproot the bases of Al Qaeda and destroy the conveyor belts of global terrorism, the US and its NATO allies have done what everyone knew they would do. They have left a country they took by force. They have left Afghans and Afghanistan to their own devices. Some say they left in disgrace. Others say they left the country in tatters and their local allies stranded. Yet others say there is no better way to leave a messy situation. Whatever anyone says, there are unimpeachable lessons for all to learn from yet another misadventure in human experience. Here are a few:
- There is a limit to what force can achieve. No Army in the world is strong enough to conquer the will of a people fighting for what they believe in and willing to pay the price for their convictions. The German war machine failed in Russia during WW 2. The Americans failed in Vietnam in 1975. The Russians failed in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And the Americans just failed again in Afghanistan in 2021. So, those who place their faith on weapons of war and military jackboots will ultimately be disappointed.
- You can take a man out of the streets but you cannot take the streets out of the man. In the third decade of the 21st Century, the Taliban is seeking desperately for a return to Medieval practices like forcing women to wear veils, barring females from schools and amputation as a form of punishment. So you can take Western Civilization to Afghanistan but you cannot take primitive Taliban Instincts out of Afghanistan. Way forward: Let every culture stew in their own juices – as long as they do not insist on exporting it.
- From the number of Afghans now living in fear or desperately trying to leave their own country, it is clear that the Talibans are not exactly popular and do not represent all Afghans. They will only rule through fear and force. So, the seed of Taliban failure is already sown all over again. Those Talibans coming back to power in Afghanistan today must not gloat. They too will soon find out that every system which unjustly suppresses the human person, even a minority, has an early expiry date. It will sooner or later collapse from its own internal contradictions.
- In the end, to LIVE & LET LIVE is the wise and profitable way. Nothing beats a system which recognizes that nature is the author of diversity; that the way we choose to live is not necessarily the best way to live; that it is futile trying to force others to live according to our own precepts; that individual & group freedoms which do not infringe on the rights of others is still the best way known to man.
Victor Anazonwu is an author and member of the Renaissance Online Magazine Editorial Board. He writes from Lagos.
