Held by the Taliban | The Incredible First-Person Tale of the Taliban by David Rohde
October 23, 2009 10 Comments
Perhaps I need to be more careful where I travel, but this story of David Rohde hit me between the eyes and is on its way to being a screenplay for sure. Don’t miss this incredible story–that has a happy ending. As he says, “We were extraordinarily fortunate to have escaped from the Taliban mini-state in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Countless others have not been — and will not be — so lucky.”
A Reporting Trip Becomes a Kidnapping
via Held by the Taliban – Interactive Feature – The New York Times.
No matter how much I learn about the Taliban, I still cannot decide what the best course of action for the United States is. This incredible first-hand account just throws me for a further loop. Even though we should acknowledge our faults and do our best to only attack militants, I fear that complete peace will never come except by violence. The war of ideas has infected these poor young men with a virus of hate that breeds on misunderstanding. I think that the best approach is to start fighting the media/propaganda war that the Taliban fight so well. General McChrystal is correct; we need to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan and Pakistani people. With these, it will be effective to humble ourselves and accept responsibility for our faults. But with the hardened mujaheddin, I fear that humility works. We must fight them in their own culture, in their own language, and in their own minds.
We must also provide for and support a legitimate government–lest we slip into another Vietnamese debacle, supporting a corrupt and inefficient government. With a legitimate governmental option that gives adequate autonomy to the tribes, I believe that the people of Afghanistan will choose that over the cruel Taliban. An article in Foreign Policy deals well with this problem and the troop increase. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/22/time_to_strategize
As I watch this, I feel the same way as the previous commenter. I just don’t know what we can do to rid the country of people who think this way. I also am without hope that diplomacy with a group like this, or any other rogue regime. The way these people are brainwashed reminds me of the upbringing of southerners before the civil rights era, and it seems to me that no matter the amount of intervention or means of doing so, the only way the culture will be changed or the group will be exterminated is by a movement from within the muslim world. Unfortunately, with attitudes like the one in this article, that seems far from imminent. http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?220581
What struck me about this story is how Mr. Rohde and the two other hostages were held in the tribal areas of Pakistan. We usually associate the Taliban with Afghanistan, but I think that it is important to recognize how the Taliban have been building up a stronghold in Pakistan. In an article in The Economist, http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14686889,
it was reported that the Taliban in Pakistan have vowed to fight to “our last drop of blood.” Pakistan presents a serious problem to U.S. efforts to establish stability in the region. We seem trapped in a vicious cycle, where military action against the Pakistani Taliban only generates greater resentment and resistance. It is clear that the Pakistani insurgents have control over the region and every intent to continue to fight for it. Even if the U.S. succeeds in its efforts to take out Taliban leaders, the people are so conditioned to resent the U.S. presence that insurgency may continue to flourish.
The article that I read is a couple of months old but what it says I think still applies. That the reports from Northwest Pakistan are showing that people are blamming the government for letting the Taliban take control in the first place and “the damage wrought by the current offensive has made many even angrier at the army and government than they are at the Taliban”. Like the posts above I agree that something needs to happen to change the hearts and minds of the average local in these areas before they will start to fight against the talibans government. The article goes on to talk about how everytime the Pakistan army comes in and clears out the Taliban they end up coming back stronger than ever. The local populations are never going to go against the Taliban unless they hold staunch opposing views or they are sure that the Taliban will be kept from returning.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1902204,00.html
As I was watching the interactive part of the article, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the members of the Taliban. I just felt that if they maybe had lived under different cirumstances and maybe given the opportunity to have goals other than killing US citizens things would have turned out differently. I feel that all the members of the Taliban see are bombs and shootings by the U.S. they don’t seem to comprehend that there are innocent people here in the U.S and that the U.S. does in fact try and help people from other countries. What struck me the most was the fact that the Taliban continually contradicted themselves but didn’t seem to mind it if it meant that their hate was somehow targeted towards Americans. I found this video on Youtube which is an interview with a suicide bomber which tries to explain the mentality of the Taliban.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD-Nny3EP98
Reading these previous comments as well as other news articles I do feel a little confused about how best to approach the Taliban situation. Mr. Rhodes first hand encounter does much to enlighten what we need to do to counter the Taliban. I do agree with the comment that we need to win the hearts and mind of the people. I believe without the support of the people then basically we lose all our support and our fight becomes less credible. As we continue to support the Afghan people and ensure that we are helping build their nation then we can win.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Kidnapped-Journalists-Gripping-Account-Brings-New-Light-to-Afghanistan-Debate-1349
As a hopeful future journalist, I was amazed by David Rhodes story, and have been closely following it all week long. I think the most fascinating part was part three: understanding the captors because I think it shed a light on the Taliban members on a personal level that we, as Americans, never knew or understood before. Like the comments above have stated, we don’t know the correct course of action to take with the Taliban, but maybe understanding them better can help provide a new approach or way of thinking. I think its very fitting that Greg Mortensen is a guest speaker at BYU this week and maybe he can shine some light on this issue after being in Pakistan for so many years. Here is another story of a journalist captured by the Taliban and what he learned about them.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/10/afghanistan.reporter/index.html
This was an excellent feature for the Times. Hearing firsthand how the Taliban kept him locked up. I was really disappointed by the corruption in the Pakistani army that David Rhodes feared would get him sent back to the Taliban. In light of the forum today, I wonder what would have happened if the Taliban guards had been better educated, or for that matter their parents. Here is the website for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
http://cpj.org/
They have a great database of journalists that have been killed, gone missing, or kidnapped. Iraq is by far the most dangerous, but the rest of the list is fascinating to see. Even more interesting is the beat (genre of articles they wrote) that they covered. Go check it out!
What struck me when reading this remarkable series of articles was the compliance of the Pakistani army. It was chilling to hear about known Taliban members waving to members of the Pakistani army at check-points and to learn that Taliban didn’t have to unload their vehicles so they could better hide hostages. The problem’s facing us in the region are compounded by the fact that Pakistan is not doing their part to crack down on terrorism. We cannot force them to be more aggressive, but if nothing else, we should up our pressure on them to allow us more influence in the region. This article in the Christian Science Monitor gives an analysis on whether Pakistan has the man power to succeed against the Taliban. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1027/p06s01-wosc.html
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