Exit Strategy, Nation Building, State Building or What—III?

Exit Strategy, Nation Building, State Building or What—III?

So what are we doing--Nation Building or State Building? The line between the two is very fine and trips us up in our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nation Building is about bringing together differing racial, ethnic, religious and political groups and persuading them to identify themselves as a “nation” rather than individual groups or tribes. Such groups are more or less loyal to a common cause.

We began nation building in this country by trying to brew tea in Boston Harbor. Two and a half years before we declared our independence from Great Britain, Massachusetts’s colonists rebelled against another tax, the Tea Tax, since it was another tax imposed on them by people who were not their elected representatives. This nascent effort was the first of many steps to the “shot heard ‘round the world”, on April 19, 1775 at Concord, Massachusetts. Ralph Waldo Emerson captured this historic moment some sixty years later in his Concord Hymn published in 1837—

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard 'round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee."

If you have been to Concord and stood in this spot and touched the “votive stone” as I have, you cannot help but be caught up in the aura that seems to exist there. It is hallowed ground for Americans—it is the birthplace of our Nation. Our Nation—50 states strong, many religions, 300,000 million people all with a common cause—the preservation of our Nation.

So how does this apply to places like Afghanistan?

Terms like democracy, representative government, duly elected representatives, vox populi, non-fraudulent elections and freedom of the press are not to be found in the lexicon of the ordinary Afghani.

While there is some evidence that people have been in that area for 50,000 years and although Afghanistan borders on the “cradle of civilization”—ancient Mesopotamia—it is far from a “civilized” nation or peoples measured by any modern yardstick. There have been so-called capitals over the millennia; I think they might more appropriately be called “city states” much like those of ancient Greece, with a modicum of fealty from bordering tribal areas.

Although Afghanistan had been multi-religious (Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Zoroastrians and others) for centuries, Islam came to Afghanistan in the 7th century and after Mohammed died, the Islamists split between Shias and Sunnis. And so it is today. Not only are there tribes, but also there are differing religious sects among the tribes. Although Pashtuns make up the largest segment of the population (about 42%), there are also Tajiks another 25% of the population), Hazaras, Uzbeks, Aimaks, Turkmen, Balochs, and others.

In addition to tribal and religious divisions, the country has as many six languages are spoken (Pashto, Dari [often called Afghan Persian], Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, Pashai and along with dialects among these languages). For the most part, when we decided we wanted to be a nation, we all spoke the same language—English—or as I like to call it Vulgate English or American. Yes, many other languages are spoken here, but the lingua franca is English/American.

While all of these people may identify themselves as Afghanis, this veneer is extremely thin. They are quick to point out their tribal and religious affiliations. I believe it is safe to generalize about this phenomenon for the entire region. While I do not know anyone from Afghanistan or Iraq, I do have friends from Iran. In one instance, the family has a 400-year history of living in Iran. Do the people identify themselves as Iranians? No. They are Armenians. Not only that, they are Christian Armenians. In the other instance, a Muslim woman I know does not identify herself as an Iranian either—she is a “Persian”. I once made the mistake of asking her if she was an Arab—and the lecture, well…

Here in the United States, most of us are what I call “Heinz variety” Americans, a mixture of many nationalities. For example, I am English, Irish, Scot, German (Pennsylvania Dutch my maternal grandfather called it) and a smattering of French. My wife is Irish and Scot. Most of us just identify ourselves as Americans, but some chose to identify themselves as hyphenated-Americans—African-American, Italian-American, Irish-American, Mexican-American, German-American, etc, etc, etc. And in many cities, we have “tribal” areas such as Chinatown and Little Italy. But in the main, we are Americans.

Also common in the Middle East is to attach the place of your birth to your name. For example, Saddam Hussein’s full name was Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid (father’s name) al-Tikriti. (Saddam was born or near where he was born) Hamid Karzai (born in Karz). Also the honorific hadji or hajji is used to address an individual who has made the hadj/hajj to Mecca, which every Muslim is expected to do once in their lifetime. Unfortunately, the term has become a derisive term used to refer to Iraqis and I suspect for Afghanis now that there is a greater troop exposure to Afghanis.

Many have come to Afghanistan but few have stayed. Indo-Europeans, Indo-Aryans, Persians, Macedonians, Islamic Arabs, Mongols, the British and the Russians. And now, The Americans with a coalition force consisting of troops from Britain, Canada, Holland France, Denmark, Australia, and Estonia. While some have left their mark, they have mostly disappeared for various and sundry reasons. In the mid-19th century, Britain lost all but one person of some 16,000 who fled Kabul after an Afghanis revolt. It is thought that Dr. William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army was spared to serve as a witness about the massacre.

The bottom line for all of this—nationalism must well up from inside the people like an artesian spring. Outsiders cannot impose nationalism on a people. Trying to accomplish nation building by force is like herding cats. State building is an entirely different issue.