Organizing for America | Tyler Folsom's Blog: Afghanistan

Afghanistan

By Tyler Folsom - Oct 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pm EDT

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Thirty-one years ago I bicycled from Islamabad, across Pakistan's Northwest Territories and over the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. I biked to Jalalabad, Kabul, Bamian and Mazar-i-Sharif. I then took a light vehicle to Herat and biked into Iran. See http://www.tfolsom.com/About/World.html for photos. My impressions may be a bit dated, but not by much. Afghanistan had not changed much in the 3000 years before my visit and I doubt that it has changed much in the last 30.
Several things struck me about the Afghanis:

They can be righteous when demanding several times the normal price.
The culture that you see in an ethnology museum in Tehran is the way of life in Afghanistan.
Afghanis are fiercly independent.

Bush made the right decision to invade Afghanistan, but the wrong decision to try to stay and hold the country. Both Obama and McCain are wrong about occupying Afghanistan. The British couldn't hold it in the 19th century, the Russians couldn't in the 20th, and the Americans won't in the 21st. The people do not tolerate a foreign army. By staying there, we make the Taliban into nationalists and strengthen their weak position. The way to fight the Taliban is to work through local warlords.
The government of Afghanistan is corrupt and has limited influence outside of Kabul. It has always been that way, and it will continue for the forseeable future. The country is feudal.
To travel in the region, you need to understand the tribesmen's code. I never camped, since then I would be fair game for anyone. If I couldn't reach a town with an inn, I would come into a village and ask the school teacher to give me a place to sleep. If you ask for hospitality, you become a guest and he must defend you with his life.
Pakistan's Northwest Territory has no law. The tribesmen permit the national government the fiction of owning the region in exchange for leaving it alone. All the tribesmen are armed. The Pakistani army never sends troops there. The Pakistani government couldn't capture Osama even if they wanted to. Osama is a guest of the tribesmen. Whether they like him or not, the code demands that they defend him. Since he brings great wealth to a desperately poor part of the world, people probably do like him. When Bin Laden was beseiged by Afghani soldiers at Tora Bora, he was able to bribe his way out. Hint to CIA: if you don't know Osama's exact location, find out what region has a sharp increase in buying consumer goods.

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