Years ago, when the usa military action against Afghanistan first started - back in 2001 - only a month after the tragedy which occurred in New York City - I wrote several faxes to different members of congress, imploring them to think of the good of the Afghans first and foremost as they went about this military agenda. I used the word "nation building" in those letters; it had not been a idea which had come up before then. Perhaps that phrase infused the discussion in Washington DC because of my letters. I will never know.

At any rate, I eventually gave up with the letter writing agendas as it dawned on me that the more the public became critical of the wars in the middle east, the more obstinate folks on capitol hill and in the Whitehouse became in regards to that agenda.

Just recently, I've started following the rss feed from Al-Jazeera English's youtube channel. And I've found it's hands down the best source of news about events all around the world in different countries. Recently, there was a two part segment about the politics of warlords in Afghanistan. It's very quaint to see the social dynamic around such people like Rashid Dostum. One can see in folks' attitudes around these people what would have happened a thousand years ago in europe with all the different kingdoms and fiefdoms. The main problem I see is that people don't feel a loyalty to the central government... but their loyalty and sense of civic pride has coalesced around these various warlords. People are so passionate about Dostum in some parts of Afganistan that they will tell you point-blank that if Dostum tells them to vote for Karzai, they will vote for Karzai, and that they will rally around and fight for Dostum's causes. In other parts of Afghanistan, people with one voice condemn Dostum as being the person who has destroyed their lives and sent them into refugee camps.

Afghanistan is a very quaint country in that way. Similarly, I remember early in this first decade reading a National Geographic article about Tibet - and it struck me that Tibet was a region which was a throwback in some ways to a thousand years ago, when monasteries and religious traditions had a certain prominent role in Europe. In the last five or eight years, however, China has been trying to railroad change into the region. And I think that Tibet is changing rapidly with more trade ties and more immigration of ethnic chinese folk into the region.

The answer that I see which would solve this problem in Afghanistan also will sadly destroy the old culture that they have there. What I would suggest, is that Afghanistan needs a very big infusion of communication technology - computers, telephones, the internet, and so forth. Those people who hate Dostum need to have some cultural exchange and some discourse with those people who feel loyal to Dostum. Folks in government tend to get big heads, and they believe that they govern the affairs of the country. In practical senses, however, governments have so few resources, that they can't do much to influence the course of a country. Really, it's the people in every town and city who decide what kind of country they will create - what kinds of civic live they will institute, and how they will live with their neighbors day by day.

For the Usa to try to influence the politics of Afghanistan - by playing off one warlord against the other, and what have you is never going to effectively create the needed change in Afghanistan. The only way things will change is if the people themselves see a need for change, and want to work on effecting it.