Blog Topic #7 -- What's Up with Afghanistan?

Our next stop is a less than peaceful area of the world.  Today we head to the dry, semi-arid, mountainous country known as Afghanistan.  The name is very familiar in the world because of the U.S.'s ongoing War on Terror that is primarily centered in that region.  But before we jump into that, let us take a quick look at the background of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is a multinational state meaning that its state contains more than one nation.  It covers a landmass of about 250,000 square miles or about the size of the state of Texas.  The land is covered with mountains making it one of the most mountainos countries in the world.  Its name literally means "land of the Afghans"; Afghans are another name for the Pashtun tribe.  Although the country is very diverse in language and tribes, the Pashtun tribe is the largest ethic group in the country.  In fact, the country itself was founded in 1747 by the uniting of the Pashtun tribes.  Unlike other areas in the region, Afghanistan was never colonized by an outside force, such as European countries.

Over the years, Afghanistan has been a hot spot for fighting.  During the colonization of the region by the British Empire, the Afghans resisted and fought the British forcing them to eventually give up.  The Durand Line Agreement, an agreement between British India and Afghanistan, formed the border between British possessions and Afghanistan.  To this day, the 1,600 mile long line serves as the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 



In 1979, the USSR attempted to overtake Afghanistan.  Like the British, they were met with resistance in the form of Mujahideen freedom fighters.  However, many Pashtuns fled the country into nearby areas such as Iran and Pakistan.  It was during this time that the famous "Afghan Girl" picture was taken for National Geographic's cover.  With the support of the U.S. government, the Mujahideen pushed the Soviets out of their country in 1989.  However, this led to the rise of another term most people are familiar with, the Taliban.  After the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., troops moved into Afghanistan and removed the Taliban from power in 2001.  Ever since, U.S. troops have been fighting insurgents, terrorists, the Taliban, and other groups in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Recently in class we watched the movie "Restrepo", a documentary like movie that follows one platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley for a year.  With real footage and interviews with the soldiers, it makes the war in Afghanistan come to life, and the picture is not pretty.  Because of the mountains, rough terrain, changing climate, and many other factors, fighting in Afghanistan is not easy.  The British and Soviets were defeated for a reason.  The Korengal especially is a difficult place and considered to have been the most dangerous postings for a U.S. soldier. 

U.S. troops first began fighting insurgents in Korengal in 2005.  Through the hard work and bravery of groups, like the platoon in Restrepo, the U.S. managed to gain a foothold three miles into the valley.  Because of lack of roads, transportation was a problem.  The residents of the valley were also not always pleased by the troops stationed there.  During weekly shuras, or meetings, with local village elders, troops would try to talk about important issues with the elders.  However, often these talks did not accomplish anything.  With the insurgents having free reign of most of the territory and because of lack of cooperation, in 2010 the U.S. government decided to pull out of the Korengal.  All the work and progress that had been made was lost, but it was considered by the government to be an acceptable loss. (I personally feel it is not, especially after watching the movie).

Although we all are familiar with the War on Terror, there is another war going on in Afghanistan, the War on Opium.  Very little land is usable for crops and unfortunately the crop of choice is opium.  In fact, Afghanistan is the world's leading country in opium production.  Under the Taliban, Afghans had no restrictions on what they could do so many made good money by smuggling opium over the borders into Pakistan and Iran.  Since opium is an illegal drug, U.S. Marines have made it their mission to rid Afghanistan of opium production.  This is accomplished through methods such as seed and product confiscation.  In addition, U.S. and British aid agencies have supplied money to fund make-work projects in hopes of turning opium farmers attention to other lines of work.  Although there has been a decrease in production, locals are none too pleased with the interference and continue to try to grow opium rather than wheat or another crop.  Because of this, the war continues on same as the other war.

Visit...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0311_020312_sharbat.html

...to learn more about the Afghan Girl and how National Geographic found her.

For more information about the Korengal and the U.S.'s withdrawal, go to...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/14/AR2010041401012.html?sid=ST2010041401263

To read more about opium in Afghanistan, check out... http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0112/How-US-is-tackling-opium-trade-in-Afghanistan-poppy-heartland

That's all from Afghanistan!  If you get a chance, I highly recommend that you watch "Restrepo" as it gives you a good look at just what our troops are doing.