Obama speech on Afghanistan war: the missing moral victory

Haqqani Taliban fighters in theirmountain camp in eastern Afghanistan.

No matter what President Obama doesafter his speech on a partial troopwithdrawal in Afghanistan, it isAfghans themselves who must rise up againstthe brutal tactics of the Taliban.A bit of hand-wringing must have precededPresident Obama's decision on how manytroops to pull out of Afghanistan. How doesanyone really know when America's longestwar will reach a turning point?

One clue may come from Iraq and a keyturning point in that war – long before thesurge of US troops helped quell it.

In 2005, anti-American Sunni insurgents inIraq began to feel a revulsion toward the barbarictactics of their foreign comrades, thelocal branch of Al Qaeda. While the bombingof US soldiers was accepted, the Sunni fightersnonetheless drew a moral line at the beheadingsof Iraqi civilians.

The constant decapitations by the local AlQaeda offended the religious sensibilities ofmany Iraqi Muslims. "Islam is peaceful, notbeheading and killing," an Iraqi woman toldNPR in 2006. "Is this the Islam they want tobring us?" Even Ayman al-Zawahiri, who isnow the head of Al Qaeda after the killing ofOsama bin Laden, told the branch in Iraq tostop the practice.

But it was too late. The United States was able to win over tens of thousands of Sunni militants in what became known as the Sunni Awakening. Might a similar moral awakening now be under way in Afghanistan, one that compels civilians as well as low-level Taliban to turn against the brutal tactics of the Islamic militant group?

Afghans know how ruthless the fanaticalTaliban leaders can be, especially in suppressingwomen. They lived under Taliban rule inthe late 1990s until the US invasion of 2001.Polls confirm the group's unpopularity.But Afghan society is more fragmented thanIraq's, which makes finding moral commonground more difficult. President HamidKarzai has tried to appeal to the Taliban asAfghans – and not as part of a terrorist network.But defections have so far been few.

The US surge since 2009 has pushed theTaliban out of many of their strongholds. As aresult, they've become desperate, resulting inan increase in suicide bombings as well as beheadings,mainly of civilians accused ofworking with the government. The fear ofdying in such a way, or being mutilated,makes it difficult for US forces to win overcivilians.

Yet even Taliban leaders have shown concernabout their own tactics. In 2008 Talibanchief Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered anend to beheadings of "spies" working forAfghan or foreign forces. In 2009, he issued a69-page "code of conduct" aimed mainly atpreventing killing of civilians. But both ordershave been largely ignored, and perhaps evenreversed. With the Taliban fear tactics on therise, many international human-rights groupsnow talk of indicting its leaders on war crimes– because their atrocities account for morethan three-quarters of civilians killed.The apparent acquiescence of manyAfghans toward Taliban intimidation musthave its limits – just as the Sunni tolerance towardAl Qaeda beheadings did. Finding thatmoral limit could be the key to ending the warin Afghanistan.

Many countries have a history of rising upagainst a barbaric practice. In the US, for example,the moral leadership of a black womannamed Ida Wells-Barnett helped end moblynchings of black men by racist whites.

Muslims in Afghanistan need to uniteagainst the violent Islamists who rely on tacticslike beheading. Recognizing a commonrevulsion against the practice is the first step.Then Afghans must create a culture of shameso that even the Taliban know when it is timeto quit.

(Courtesy: Christian Science Monitor)

"In 2005, anti-American Sunni insurgents in Iraq began to feel a revulsion toward the barbaric tactics of their foreign comrades, the local branch of Al Qaeda. While the bombing of US soldiers was accepted, the Sunni fighters nonetheless drew a moral line at the beheadings of Iraqi civilians."

"But Afghan society ismore fragmented thanIraq's, which makesfinding moral commonground more difficult.President Hamid Karzaihas tried to appeal tothe Taliban as Afghans– and not as part of aterrorist network. Butdefections have so farbeen few."

"Many countries have ahistory of rising upagainst a barbaricpractice. In the US, forexample, the moralleadership of a blackwoman named IdaWells-Barnett helpedend mob lynchings ofblack men by racistwhites."