Lebanese Conflict Reverberates in Afghanistan

The fighting in Lebanon has created disquiet and strengthened anti-American sentiment almost across the board in Afghanistan, potentially weakening a government closely aligned with the United States.



As in other Muslim countries, Afghans feel sympathy for the Lebanese and anger at Israeli incursions, in particular attacks which have caused civilian casualties.



Islamists and former mujahedin groups quickly positioned themselves to channel the anti-American feeling. Meanwhile, those who have generally been positive about the US-led Coalition, its support for President Hamed Karzai and its war against the Taleban and al-Qaeda, are left feeling short-changed.



Many observers warn that the perception that the US is standing by doing nothing as its ally pounds Muslim villages can only play into the hands of the insurgents in southern Afghanistan.



Officials have tried to deflect public anger with denunciations of the Israeli offensive.



"We are concerned about the killing of civilians in Lebanon,” presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi said at July 25 press conference. “We strongly condemn the killing of innocent people including children and women."



The Afghan parliament, elected last year and less uniformly supportive of the US presence in the country than Karzai and his cabinet, stepped up the pressure the following day.



Addressing the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament, speaker Mohammad Younus Qanuni called for an immediate end to the Israeli offensive.



"I am certain that Israel’s aggression and oppression directed against the people of Palestine and Lebanon have caused pain in the world community, particularly in the Muslim world," he said.



Apart from worrying that the Lebanese crisis might encourage more Afghans to side with the Taleban, Karzai also risks losing important political points to the “jihadis” – the loose grouping of former anti-Soviet mujahedin groups whose leaders are generally Islamic conservatives but opposed to the Taleban.



Jihadi factions came together for a rally in Kabul on July 31 where the main slogan - “Israeli crime, American support” – delivered an abundantly clear message to a government that owes its existence to the US and its western allies.



Speaking at the rally, former mujahedin commander turned politician Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai raged, "It is shameful that the Afghan government and people still remain silent. They should have reacted against Israel and America already."



He added, "America is acting contrary to its stated principles - it proclaims slogans about human rights, yet it violates human rights. America calls for democracy, yet takes away the freedom of nations.



“Afghans now realise that America is lying."



Ahmadzai, who was no friend of the Taleban and left the country when they captured Kabul in 1996, now says the United States and Israel, rather than al-Qaeda, are “the real terrorists”.



He warned, “Popular hatred of America has increased. The ranks of the Taleban and al-Qaeda will be swelled as a result, as their anti-American propaganda has been transformed into reality."



Another speaker, Mohammad Sediq Afghan, who heads the Global Mathematics and Philosophical Research Centre, told those assembled, "Today is not a day for crying. It is a day for taking decisions. Muslims should unite with one another. There are one and a half billion Muslims around the world. If they unite, they can destroy Israel just by spitting at it.”



As for the United States, he added, "[President George] Bush is like a mouse in the face of the Muslims… if they are united."



Many ordinary Afghans interviewed by IWPR spoke of their anger and disappointment with the United States for backing Israel in the conflict.



Wala Jan, 45, a teacher in the eastern province of Nangarhar, said, "Since the fighting [in Lebanon] began, I have grown to hate the very letters with which ‘America’ is written…. The real face of America has been unmasked; the ugly visage of this world-consuming beast has come into view.



“It is now the duty of every Muslim to struggle against this villain using words, the pen, weapons and every other means."



Salma, 35, a public servant in Kabul, said she now regarded human rights as a relative concept.



"The terrorist is the one who fights against American interests and defends his own freedom and beliefs. Human rights means American rights. It means that if the Americans kill innocent people, women and children, it doesn’t matter…. Democracy means that Americans can freely attack other’s beliefs, insult them and do whatever they like."



Many interviewees highlighted the danger that increasing public disillusionment with America could provide the Taleban with encouragement and fresh recruits.



"The fighting in Lebanon may strengthen terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq," warned political analyst Fazul Rahman Orya.



Abdul Shakur Waqif Hakimi, a spokesman for Jamiat-e-Islami, one of the main jihadi factions that fought the Taleban, said, "America has revived terrorism in Afghanistan after it had been defeated, and has opened up better prospects for terrorism and al-Qaeda activities in this country."



Despite repeated efforts by this IWPR reporter, it proved impossible to obtain a comment from the US embassy in Kabul.



It is too soon to assess how the Lebanese conflict will impact on the insurgency in southern Afghanistan, but a story told to IWPR by a deserter from the Afghan National Army, ANA, offers a possible indicator, albeit anecdotal.



This man – who did not want to be named as he still was on the run - said he and five comrades turned tail and fled when they found local people in southern Afghanistan were taking up arms against them.



Originally from the north-eastern province of Badakhshan, the soldier was deployed far from home with an ANA unit in the troubled province of Kandahar. Before the Lebanese conflict began, he said, many Kandaharis were neither for nor against the Taleban.



“Once the fighting started in Lebanon and Palestine, the locals joined the Taleban and began fighting us," he said.



The new battle lines are “between Muslims and non-Muslims”, the deserter said, adding, "I do not think the army will fight the Taleban and al-Qaeda any more, because now it's become clear that they are right, and the Americans are the enemies of Muslims."



Hafizullah Gardesh is IWPR’s editor in Afghanistan.