Chris Seiple, president of the Institute for Global Engagement, argues that America’s success in Afghanistan will depend on its ability to respect, and to incorporate into its strategic outlook, the Pashtun Muslim notion of justice:
The idea of “justice”—of an orderly, moral governance—is deeply appealing to the 40 million Pashtun Muslims who live on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan (“Af-Pak”) border. Unless the American counterinsurgency strategy understands and respects this principle, no amount of troops or drones will prevail.
The chief minister [of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), Akram Khan Durrani] later invited me to Pakistan several times as his guest, providing me with unique access to the people there. Conversations with Mr. Durrani and other Pashtun leaders, religious and political, revealed a deep resentment for Washington and Islamabad. America had abandoned them after the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, leaving the NWFP overwhelmed with 6 million Afghan refugees. And Islamabad had never properly funded the NWFP and tribal areas, resulting in widespread poverty, rampant illiteracy, and poor police protection for the Pashtun people.
The multiple Islamist, mostly Pashtun, groups that now make up the Taliban use this perceived injustice to their advantage. They enter a village and establish Islamic courts that prohibit “un-Islamic” activity such as pornography. They adjudicate local disputes, and prosecute local criminals. They then kill the local tribal leaders, providing no alternative to their rule. The people accept this “justice” because they have no choice—their local government is unwilling or unable to stand up to the Taliban.
A US counterinsurgency strategy should focus on demonstrating a vision of just governance that is different from the insurgents. To be sustainable along the Af-Pak border, that vision must account for a Pashto-Islamic understanding of justice.
Read his full commentary here.