The Hidden Wars

I previously posted on The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan by Artyom Borovik. Last night my book club discussed the book.

We are a pretty liberal bunch, but one of the conclusions might be of interest. We all felt that the objectives of the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan should be stabil societies that did not harbor or support unacceptable numbers of people who would threaten terrorist attacks against the United States, and there was agreement that stability in these societies need not be based on homogeneous nation states with participatory democracy, and indeed that such conditions could hardly be expected in the short term in Iraq, much less Afghanistan. There also was a general perception that the U.S. forces should be drawn down quickly in Iraq and eventually in Afghanistan.

I made the point that we Americans focused too much on the short term military crises and not enough on the long term efforts needed to build a culture of peace. There are a number of failed states in the world today, and if the terrorists are expelled from Afghanistan they can and probably will move to another place where angry people will support them and governments will be powerless to contain them. In the long run we need societies that will not produce nor support terrorists.

Education is probably the strongest weapon in the long term fight against terrorism. Yet as experience with madrassa based promoters of terrorism, schools can be perverted. There has been a huge global effort to promote education over recent decades, and it has been quite effective. Yet it has also failed to achieve its benchmarks and there are still some 75 million kids of primary school age who are not in school. It is the failed and failing states that have the worst record in educating their children.

One of the best instruments that we have for promoting education for all is UNESCO. It has a demonstrated record of promoting education, and is an acceptable source of help in places in which direct U.S. assistance or assistance of former colonial powers would not be accepted. Yet UNESO's education budget is less than fice percent of that of my local school district! And the United States government consistantly militates against increases in that budget.