HIRING and training policewomen have been key priorities of Western governments and funders. They reasoned that Afghan women and girls, who face high levels of violence, sometimes on a daily basis, would be more likely to report abuse or seek help if they could turn to other women, and that meant ensuring there were women on the police force, as per a report published on the New York Times.
Afghan policewomen, struggling to maintain good reputations, face a legion of logistical problems poorly understood by Western donors — a need for separate changing rooms in police stations, for example, since women are afraid to wear their uniforms on their way to work. After a decade and millions of dollars, even the modest goal of recruiting 5,000 policewomen remains a mirage. In fact, only 2,700 are on the force, less than 2 percent of the 169,000 members, according to the United Nations’ office in Kabul based on numbers from the Afghan Interior Ministry.
It is at times unfortunate that the West tries to embody its ideals on other nations which may or may not be prepared to accept them. This has occurred since the colonial era when the British, among other European nations, tried to impose its language, culture, and laws on its colonial subjects. While it has worked in the sub-continent — other areas where the British or others held power did not accept all the attachments of European rule. Most notably the drawing of lines on maps and calling them nations during 1917 onwards has led to nations being formed where previously tribes existed — which has led to havoc in those areas even now — examples being Libya, Syria, and Iraq. The process which led to the formation of nations in Europe from the splinter of the Roman Empire took hundreds of years — a natural process. Cutting the time down to a few days made the rise of ethnic and religious tensions inevitable.
Similarly when the Americans tried to intervene in Afghanistan by using the Taleban as proxies they invented the idea of a Holy War against the Russians — which has led to al Qaeda and ISIS. It is our viewpoint that this incessant meddling in the lives of nations whose average citizens are not at all interested in the forced imposition of Western ideals and culture upon them is nothing but irrelevant and unnecessary interference.
It is alright to have programme of empowerment of women through education and vocational training. But to train Afghan women as police is unacceptable culturally to whole Afghan people. This is the problem with American policy abroad. They easily hurt sentiment of the people while meaning well for the political. They understand war.
American foreign policy suffers from gross contradictions. The strong Jewish lobby in America should worry the American people. It is difficult for Israeli leader like Netanyahu not to behave abnormally in dictating the US policy toward the Muslim countries. Now he thinks he can challenge the US President by addressing the Congress on Iran policy. America had built Israel as a force against the Muslims of Middle East and it is doing everything to build peace between the USA and the Muslim countries as difficult as possible.
Not only in respect of Afghanistan but also in respect of other Muslim countries, the American people and the government must change their thinking while trying to understand the activities of the Israeli government. Israel is a war machine and wants war and not peace.
