Qatar قطر

I first arrived in Qatar in the year before the turn of the new millenium. It was for me the first time that I'd lived in a new place and was, for three years, my home. After the initial settling in period, I grew to love the place as did my young family and we have fond memories of our time living in Al Khor in the north and discovering a new and exciting region. In the interim, I have lived and worked in other places, and passed through Qatar, staying in Doha en route to the UAE where I also made my home. Today I return to the country that was once home, with an older family, and to a much changed country. I am here this time for a family event, but amongst the most exciting aspects I hope to experience, will be to return to those places that were familiar, when, fifteen years ago, this was a fledgling country with a mere population of 600,000. The Gulf isn't quite out of my system, I confess. For example, when I send an email, I edit the signature tag that still carries my old cell number.  Also, when I write this blog, whilst the dates are accurate, the times that are published by each posting actually reflect Gulf Standard Time. Memories perhaps?

Qatar. I am home. Enjoy the film.

Sacrilege

Eventually there is a tipping point. The Afghan protests following the burning of the Quran by Americans in Baghram have escalated and have broken out across the country. Several deaths - first Afghan and now American - and a NATO shut-down have not slowed down the outrage.

Photo: MSNBC

The key to understanding the reaction to these events is simple. Muslims revere the Quran. Afghans are Muslim. Americans, allegedly trying to prevent Afghans in detention passing messages to insurgents deemed as Taliban sympathisers, incinerated copies of the Quran that were supposedly being used to pass on messages. The truth about the Afghans held in detention and to whom the messages were going was handled insensitively and with disrespect. US officials, even up to the US President himself have made attempts to apologise. In reality, however apologies don't always work, especially if they are seen as token and tensions are already high due to an over-long and unpopular occupation. The truth is the Afghan insurgency gains strength from just this sort of action.

Déjà vu

One day the Americans will need to leave Afghanistan and a dignified exit would always be the best way to go. The problem with occupation is that it is closely coupled with arrogance and the message that should be learned is that respect and humility is good. Neither have been shown and this is bound to accelerate calls for the Americans to go. History is testament to the fact that in Afghanistan, eventually, it is the Afghan way that prevails.

Déjà Vu

AfPak/PakAf

Rudyard Kipling once wrote, "Asia is not going to be civilized after the methods of the West. There is too much Asia and she is too old."

... I'm not at all sure about the recent AfPak/PakAf strategy emanating from the US. The Americans are failing miserably in Afghanistan because increasingly the Afghans associate them with military and not aid and development. There's a protracted war with the Taliban where there are many civilian casualties. Then there are the Drone Attacks launched by Americans in the Pashtoon belt to target the militants (whilst Washington and Islamabad look the other way). This does the Americans no favours amongst local civilians. Kinds of feeds the beast they say that they are trying to tame. See Eric Maroglis's commentary on the issue.

The AfPak/PakAf strategy sets out a pathway, that we've been along before. US failure to bring peace and order to the Pashtoon belt, is now the joint responsibility of the US and Pakistan military. There's lots of talk about financial aid, military upsurges, engaging Pakistan's civil and military leadership and nation building through increased diplomatic ties etc. There are promises of huge amounts of US dollars being pumped into Pakistan to manage (through brute force if needed) the restive Khyber. With an impoverished economy, the obligations to comply are self-evident. The US calls the shots. Pakistan pulls the trigger.

Déjà Vu: Circular History

Isn't this a case of US policy to Afghanistan being directed through Pakistan another instance of déjà vu? Think Afghan Mujahideen vs the Soviets - it was to all effects America's war too, chanelled through Pakistan. Whilst it is acknowledged that the restive areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the tribal Pashtoon belt are important, the press-release of the AfPak/PakAf strategy doesn't really talk about engaging with the leadership in Pashtoon areas. It focuses mainly on the establishment - the military and the weak governments in Kabul and Islamabad. 

Does anybody believe that the military campaign in the Malakand Division and the displacement now of about 2.5 million people, that the US (renting out the Pakistan army) will break the Pashtoon spirit? The Taliban came from somewhere, someone trained and armed them and they have drawn their recruits from amongst the disaffected and unemployed in the tribal areas. But the Taliban and the Pashtoons are not the same. The sad part is that from deep within the Pashtoon areas, the Taliban have risen from apparent obscurity and have shaken the notion of what it is to be Pashtoon by means of violent break with our cultural past. Two and a half million people displaced, so far (and likely to increase), scattered and broken and living on the plains in tents are not Taliban.

There's a lot at stake here and one can see why some may blame the Americans if the Taliban are not broken soon. The track record doesn't make one very optimistic. American involvement in Afghanistan puts us all in the situation that we find ourselves in today. Afghanistan and Pakistan need roads, and electricity, they need clean water and development so that people can go back to their villages and live a decent life. Disengage with people's long term needs by destroying their lives and livelihoods and keeping them in camps makes them vulnerable to the messages of swift justice, revolution and order of the Taliban. If the US doesn't deliver and displaced people are sent back to the tribal areas, then the human time bomb ticks on.

History is a great teacher if we look back and are prepared to learn. The Brits, the Russians and the Americans have all been caught up in fighting protracted wars with the Pashtoons, so Pakistan should know better. The difference between the aforementioned examples and the Pakistan military operations are that the former were/are fighting in foreign climes. This is Pakistan's own backyard and the perception is that Pakistan is doing Americas dirty work. Also crucially, for the Pakistan army the situation is even more critical - warfare weaponry and techniques have changed and arial bombing by the technologically superior is met with suicide blasts by those on the ground. Of course, both hit the innocent - ordinary civilians - women; children; menfolk. This is where I'm most saddened.

Muted Voices

I wish the world could see it from another perspective. Pashtoons are tired of the wars in Afghanistan; tired of great games played out between the Russians, the US and earlier British Imperial forces. Tired of the war on terror, and tired of being associated with the Taliban. Tired with the hopeless lack of investment by successive governments on the receiving end of US aid to build up utility, education, communication and road infrastructures. Tired of being exposed to third-rate schooling options. Tired of being considered backwards and treated as so, and tired of being muted and constantly ignored.

Blood Stones

Diamonds are Forever

Diamonds are Forever so the James Bond film went. Indeed even before that Diamonds, apparently were, a Girl's Best Friend. But it is the West African diamond trade as exemplified in the film Blood Diamond that brings a whole new dimension to the real values attached to these precious stones.

The film showed - and many had claimed before the issue was really taken public - that diamonds were being used to contribute to human rights abuses through exploitation and torture and financing the civil unrest through the activities in African conflict zones. This is a contemporary tale of enslavement, human violence and brutal exploitation and is a remarkable film, bringing home to the audience how simple folk with very normal agendas are dragged into the conflicts around them. When people fear for their children, when they fear for their lives, extreme things can happen. The film makes the suggestion that diamond traders in far away places know exactly about the actions of War Lords operating in Africa and the human issues at steak. The viewer is left with a hanging thought - the continuing trade of blood diamonds serves to keep pockets within Africa in a state of lawlessness and that ultimately we have a moral duty to ensure that diamonds sold for thousands in Europe and the US have not at some point been mined by children, amputees or torture victims for little or no pay.

It's a powerful statement - there are diamond traders, jewellers and people with money in elite European and American circles literally wearing the blood and sweat of exploited Africans, around their necks.

Emerald City/Gemstone Graveyards

Closer to home, the valleys of Swat in Pakistan and Panjshir in Afghanistan hold amongst the biggest deposits of precious stones in the world (check out the map above). In particular, Emeralds. My mother relates a familiar story from her childhood of how foreigners would descend on the emerald mines in Swat, pay a pittance to the miners (often minors) and leave with pockets full of gems. Even at that time - the British Raj was drawing to its close and the emergent state of Pakistan had just come together - the international gem trade had its eye on Swat. It is, by all accounts, a tale of exploitation.

Fast forward to today. When I take a look at Swat's emerald trade - the parallels with Africa are disturbing - the Emerald mines are now almost totally in the hands of the Taliban, who are engaged in their own reign of fear and repression. In a twist that is a classic case of déjà vu - the emeralds of Swat, mined by the locals are being used to finance activities that do not benefit them. There are buyers out there, in far away places, who marvel at the crystal green beauty. Except take a little look closer, and what you may see, is the colour of blood.