Slightly different entry (hurr hurr) from me (sorry ;)) this time. Followers of this blog will know that mostly, I just prattle on about whatever I've been up to in the thinly-veiled hope that someone somewhere finds it interesting. I'm back in Abu Dhabi now and things are moving along nicely, I'll post an update soon I'm sure. This post isn't really about me though, it's about someone I met. It's vaguely relevant as it was a meeting that happened while I was out here (before Xmas actually) but mostly, it's going in because I just couldn't not. I heard two things yesterday that prompted it.
One was a good friend posting an article on Facebook that the protest against the Afghanistan War had been moved on from Parliament Square after over a decade. Read the link, Westminster Tory Colin Barrow (whose website I can't actually get to from here in UAE - sigh) actually tried to spin it as a relief. As if people got to use it as a public space anyway. It was quite recent that they were forced onto the pavement but it would seem they are now to be completely evicted. Other news today suggests that they might actually hold on until a court case in March. Who knows.
The second piece of news I heard yesterday on Twitter was of a petition to stop US drone attacks in Pakistan under the umbrella of the current war. This was the news that really resonated with me and prompted me to get the writing of this blog into the "today" section of my to-do list. Yes, it has sections. So there.
My blog isn't a political forum and I don't profess to being the best researched person in the world. Especially when, in a shock event of poor/good timing Wikipedia is down as a protest against new censorship legislation in the US. I tried. The facts are, in this situation, their own rhetoric and we all also, I'm sure, have our own opinions on our right to protest so I won't bother with that either. I will simply tell you what happened, who I met and what they said.
I was in a cab back from Dubai, a long journey and the cabbie was Pakistani. We got talking about our lives and I asked him about his home Country. He is from the mountainous part of Pakistan that borders onto Afghanistan. To all relevant intents and purposes economically and in many other ways, the same place. Or it was.
My ears first began to prick up beyond the small-talk niceties at the point in the conversation when he told me about his 6 -month-old daughter whom he had never seen. He spends about 13-15 months working here in the UAE and about 4 months at home. The reason for this is very simple - his country's economy has been completely fucked by the War. UAE Dirhams can get him a lot of money back home due to the weakness of Rupees plus, produce cannot get in or out and there is no money to be made in farming villages in those areas until the sanctions are lifted and people start buying things again.
His country is not at War but they are basically screwed until it ends. The impression I got is that all of his village have accepted that basically their lives are on hold until the US decide to get out. Nothing's being built, no-one's planning a new business, nothing. Imagine just being in a country that's in stalemate like that. Remember - they've been there a decade. 10 years of just waiting to be allowed to get their country back on its feet. Mental.
Not only this, but the cabbie told me there is no chance of America actually *winning* the War when alls said and done. 80% of the country are loyal to the Taliban. 80%. And being "Loyal to the Taliban" isn't like screaming nonsensically for some overpaid bunch of wankers on a football pitch because they happen to be winning the soap opera that is the game that week only to defect the next day because your mate Darren likes the other lot (OK...I'm allowed *some* kind of dig - right? At least I stayed away from the politics) These are proud people who are every bit prepared to die for their Country or Religion.
Right or wrong. In order to win this War, in the opinion of the cabbie, they'd have to wipe out most of the Country. This presents a problem, obviously they can't do that. Not only that, but the other 20% is (obviously) partially composed of US sympathisers or collaborators and as soon as the US pull out, those people will be in big trouble. Pretty tough situation and hence the actual stated, albeit convenient reason for the US staying.
It gets worse. The cabbie told me also that he has had to move his wife and daughter from the village they love to the city because of, you've guessed it, the Drone attacks. Basically, if you're a Pakistani villager and you don't like someone for whatever reason, all you have to do is go to see the US Army. They will give you a GPS chip to put into the house of anyone you "suspect" is a Taliban loyalist. That house will then be bombed. The cabbie lost 2 Uncles to this type of attack not because those Uncles had anything to do with the War, but because a local vendetta was escalated and the US Army manipulated as a tool. The Drone attacks are apparently pretty indiscriminate, powerful and are carried out on suspicion without proof. Not so great if you live next door to someone who happened to upset anyone. Like, ever. Remember, Pakistan is not even officially in the war.
It was really interesting to hear first hand what is going on from the other side of the fence. Or, not even, on a side of the fence, someone just wanting it to be over. We in the UK are told certain things about who's right and wrong - but we aren't the ones being bombed and financially buttfucked. Those people don't really care who's in power - they just want the fighting to stop. I asked the guy if he thought things would be peaceful if the Taliban were to gain control. He was very clear that whatever you think of the Taliban, them being in charge was better than them fighting the US to decide who is in charge and they are, like it or not, a lot more in touch with the country's needs that the US Government. Crazy, I know.
In short, in the opinion of one Pakistani national, the US cannot sustainably control the situation and every day more innocent lives are lost because it is never a politically good time to pull out and rip off the bandaid of public opinion. Or it hasn't been for the past 10 years anyway. On the subject of why they were there in the first place, he had little to say. I even asked him if he thought it was about oil, he shrugged and said that by now, no-one cares. They just want it to be over.
So yeah, slight tangent from the norm. But I thought if you're reading this, then you deserve to know at least one man's truth.
