"I am a terrorist, not a killer." Russian Marxist Vera Zasulich shot and wounded a Russian police commander who was known to torture suspects. She threw down her weapon without killing him. The phrase "War on Terrorism" was first widely used by the Western press to refer to the attempts by European governments, and eventually the US government, to stop attacks by anarchists against leaders and officials. But then over the years it has been redefined by the west in accordance to their meeting with the term but the most modern would be the one coined after the September 11th incidents.
In a worldwide address the then president had stated - "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
Since then Afghanistan was taken and Iraq quashed, but terror of the “Terrorists” still looms large. Iraq may have hogged the limelight but it was Afghanistan where the “Real War on Terror” was supposed to be fought. Iraq was just a state on the US radar to occupy before its self destructive nature led Iraq to destroy its most valuable resource “OIL”. What initially was the only was to vent out the frustration of suddenly becoming helpless US went to war to nail down the “Al Qeada”. The mission was not to wage a battle against terrorism. Bin Laden and his group was just the face of the worldwide terrorism network and Afghanistan was not the only place they existed. But still NATO and coalition forces did go there and now they are finding it increasingly difficult to accept the fact of losing any more lives there.
The US went to the war with its allies and found strong support over the time spent there, but as time moves on most of the coalition forces has agreed to the fact that it no longer had the political or moral resolve to do what it takes to win over Afghanistan. . Britain can barely stomach the death of 200 soldiers; a reinvented Germany can't get over the collective trauma of having ordered the bombing in Kunduz. The west now tired of trying to fight a war which has led them to miles across they own country into one whose ideologies and people it can barely understand. The commitment that led the forces to try and avenge 9/11 has been slowly vanishing. Helping “Ourselves” has become the first priority and willingness to fight the “Just” war has died down. The country too is difficult to understand and the best example comes in with the top man himself. Hamid Karzai was like a breath of fresh air once the Taliban were ousted. A few years later he is being called a “Ballot Thief”, rigging polls with money coming from drug barons.
Tired and beaten up from the long waging war and sick of the “Fouling” tactics of the home team the coalition forces main aim seems to be safeguarding itself. They have realized (quite the hard way) that the Taliban or the Al Queda won’t just die down by sheer force. They are not a military force and will not wage open war with a well trained and equipped enemy. Thus now if the Taliban and Al Qaeda would to give assurance of not mounting attacks on the west it would again earn on itself the right to rule the country as it wanted.
As the looks of it right now the west seems very inclined to move away and if f it did it would mean another triumph for the “Jihadi’s”. Much like their cold war opponents the US would be the next “Superpower” who would be beaten away. But then if the coalition forces do leave it would also mean Pakistan breathing a sigh of relief. It has been much criticized by the other nations for being a US puppet and now with the US leaving it would hope to enjoy the similar kind of leverage it had with Afghanistan before the coalition forces came down. What it would also mean is a resurgent Iran who along with Pakistan would be the second nuclear capable state to have close ties with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The biggest “Loser” in this would turn out to be India. A rebellious Pakistan and its allies on the west and a emerging dragon on the north east, we seem to be cornered from all corners. We can proudly state that we are probably the only country in South Asia where sanity does exist and the US does agree to the fact. India may not be as important as Iraq in the US’s quest for oil but we do help protect the multi billion dollar trade route in the Indian Ocean. The recent allowance by the US to allow the Indian navy to acquire the P 81 reconnaissance planes and the advanced Hawk Eye platform has been taken to see the important trade route is well protected.
But then the forces have still not moved away and it is time the US showed enough reasons for people to call it a superpower. The status does not come merely with having the best fighting force it comes with having the moral strength to bear down even the most resistant of the enemies.
Iran, Pakistan, China, North Korea these days does ring a bell. Its time the US rather than doing away with the coalition tried forming new ones.
