A Grudging Forgiveness !

For centuries, Afghanistan has been a country invaded and fought over by the great powers because of the position on the world map that it occupies.  Its proximity to India brought a disastrous British invasion in the nineteenth century that ended in a historic massacre from which just one man emerged alive.  It is very much a tribal country and its residents have been long denied the right to choose their own destiny.

In our eyes it is a backward place of strong religious convictions. These impose what we consider a way of life reminiscent of the Middle Ages where women are subservient and girls are uneducated.  They are farming folk and invasions by the Russians, followed by the Americans have been strongly resisted.  This has resulted in a long war against a local resistance which is known as the " Taliban ".

Australia was part of that American occupation in which they tried to impose democracy on an unwilling people. It degenerated into a guerilla war in which we suffered casualties.  We tried to train a local army to bring peace to the country after our departure and this sometimes brought attacks that we deemed " treachery ".

Afghan soldiers under training would sometimes turn their guns on their trainers, escape with their weapons and rejoin the Taliban.  In one instance, in August 2012 a man named Hekmatuliah gunned down three Australian soldiers who were playing cards during a training break.  Later in the war, this man was recaptured and sentenced to death for his part in these killings.

The world has wearied of this long Afghan war and Afghan president Ghani is fast reaching an agreement with the Taliban to end hostilities.  As a part of that agreement, some five thousand Taliban prisoners are scheduled to be released - and Hekmatuliah is one of them.

That has created strong opposition in Australia.  The fact that three of our unarmed soldiers were mercilessly slaughtered by a trainee who had willingly joined the Afghan army goes against the grain. That death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment and the Australian government  is appealing to Ghani to have that release cancelled.

It all depends on how we see his action and that depends on our point of view.  To many Afghans the invading Americans and Australians were part of an overwhelming force to be resisted by whatever means were possible.  They would compare their actions to the people of Europe who opposed the invading German army with sabotage and partisan killings to weaken their enemies.

All wars eventually come to an end and some sort of agreement seems to be reached with the Taliban to end the killings.   To achieve that, a line has to be drawn under the past and usually that contains measures that are distasteful to both sides.  In this instance, a man we consider a murderer will regain his freedom.

Such is the price we have to pay, but that never changes in the aftermath of countless wars.  It would be nice to think that wars would be fought strictly in accordance with the rules that apply within the Geneva convention, but war brings out the worst aspects of humankind.

Now is the right time to draw a line under the Afghan war !