Eggs Laid by Tigers

Monday, August 17, 2009

Karzai, the Taliban, Brave candidates; Brave Troops

The New York Times reports that the Taliban have ordered a boycott of the upcoming presidential election, including in Helmand Province.

The present president, Hamid Karzai. a Pashtun, is favored, but the Taliban boycott threatens his reelection.

To get n idea of other candidates in the race, go here.

The election stirs up great excitement in Afghanistan. Look a little like Iranians. Afghans are dedicated politicians. To find out what the candidates say about negotiating with the Taliban, go here. Karzai comes out strongly in favor of it, though he has not proved to be very vigorous in the pursuit of negotiations for the past five years. Or perhaps he has had successful negotiations with the Taliban, only about how to divide up opium profits, when we want negotiations to be about ending the War. One candidate, who has scant chance of willing, says, "Going down to defeat is no disgrace; being a coward is." Sounds like pashtunwali to me.

Most of the Taliban are Pashtun. It is as if Mitt Romney were running and the Mormons boycotted his election by threatening to chop off a finger of anyone who voted for anyone. Query: has Karzai done something un-Pashtun, so as to render him an outcast by all Pashtun? Or is Taliban loyalty to their religion so strong as to overcome, in some Pashtun, the normally strong Pashtun bonds, giving vent to the hatred of us and out allies.? Will the boycott have an effect on the outcome? Is Karzai our opium-growing puppet and nothing more?

Here is the "city" of Garmsir, referred to in the Times article. Garmsir is a place where voting is to take place, if it happens in the South. Garmsir is the capitol city of Garmsir District in Hellmand Province.

These pics were taken in 2008. Might look different now.

Looks like Lyford, Texas, on a really bad day.

Folks do live in Garmsir. Here's a pic of some of them meeting with Marines in a Shura, which is what passes for Democracy in the Muslim tradition. For a discussion of Shura, go here. It's pretty interesting.

Some of the dudes pictured here are destined to be friends with our young Marines; others of them will kill a Marine or be killed by him. General McChrystal can, I suppose, tell which of these men is destined to be our friend and which, foe. Can you?

Here is a pic of two of our fresh troops, dressed in their colorful traditional costumes (as it might seem a local Pashtunwho has never seen an American dressed otherwise) on a mission to make friends and to and kill if unavoidable, talking to a farmer who lives in a village of 150 other folks about 12 miles from Garmsir. The farmer was friendly enough, according to the Times. Corn looks good.

Imagine, you are an Afghan, dressed as our Marines are dressed, having a conversation through an interpreter with Buck Boswell, a good 'ol boy and a farmer in Raymondville, Texas, who just won an award for good conseervation practices. How would Buck likely react to dressed-up foreigners, toting guns, talking with him about, say, the value of switching to opium production. I don't think Buck would take kindly to it..That'll give you an idea of the task General Mcchrystal has set for our guys and gals.

All indications are that our Marines are accepting the task with vigor. My admiration for them reaches the sky.

Allah Akbar! God is Great! Or at least He is good enough for creatures such as we.

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Here's some of our hard-working Heros in Garmsir, after a day's work at a near-impossible task. I honor them. At least one of these boy-men may be a boy some of us know and love. It's so hard not to polarize, not to harden my heart against an enemy. Buddha could do it, it is said. South Texas boys seldom grow up to be little Buddhas. Ah, well. Keep at it, I suppose.