South Asian Ghosts Posted by Patrick Barry

Browsing Informed Comment today, I came across this interesting post by Manan Ahmed on the U.S. and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.  I should say that I don't wholly agree with Ahmed's objections to military action, and I would rather do without some of his more provocative remarks about American Imperialism, the piece, is on-the-whole quite thoughtful.  Ahmed effectively pokes and prods at the assumptions that often characterize the way people speak about these issues, making for quite a good read. 

Ahmed's take on then Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton's exchange with Sen. John Kerry during Clinton's confirmation hearing, is particularly illuminating:

"The Obama administration will need to stop reading Rudyard Kipling and start reading even the wide-circulation daily Urdu and English press from Pakistan. It is quite easy, they are all online. It will have to know Pakistan’s hopes lie with civilian institutions, civic bodies which protect women and minorities, elementary and secondary education for all, strengthening the judiciary, invoking land reform. It will have to know that the military is the largest land-owning entity, one of the biggest business entity and the greatest consumer of US AID. The Obama administration needs to focus on the people of Pakistan, in the PRESENT and not in some distant past surrounded in unknown terrain, if it hopes to combat escalating extremism in the region. Collectively, there are over 200 million inhabitants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are mega-cities like Karachi with populations over 19 million. We are not dealing with hamlets and pockets. And the global context is certainly clear to the terrorists in Mumbai. In the violence they spread, over three days, and their targets and their statements, they drew upon this language of political violence. Nariman house to Gaza, Kashmir to Taj Hotel are not teleologies of tribalism and we make a grave error if we read them wrongly."

Ahmed observes that phrases like 'distant pasts,' 'hamlets and pockets,' despite retaining incredible historical resonance, are better suited for a Victorian novel, than a sober-headed SFRC confirmation hearing.  While I think he's being a little unfair to Senator Kerry, who used these descriptions to warn against us going into a perilous region with anything but our best wits about us, it's absolutely accurate to say that Kiplingesqe rhetoric, and overdrawn historical teleologies can cloud as much as they reveal.  Afghanistan and Pakistan have histories of occupation, stretching from Alexander to Imperial Britain to the Soviet Union, and it is wise for us to learn from that past. But in the rush to avoid replaying those tragedies, let's not forget the qualities, landmarks, and circumstances that make today's region a unique and modern challenge.

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