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Good religion or bad religion? Secularism and the Afghan question

By:   []

Date: 2021-11

While Islamist apologists attempt in their writings and public statements to dampen the shock of the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan, many around the world are genuinely alarmed, expressing particular concern about the fate of Afghan women, children, artists, scholars, journalists and the like.

The hasty withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan is sometimes blamed for this outcome, but US involvement and responsibility clearly date back to the 1970s. Observers agree that both the longer-term and immediate origins of the crisis lie in the failure of US foreign policy, including the 20 years of aimless occupation that ended through negotiations of undisclosed terms with the adversary.

Involvement in Afghanistan was part and parcel of the US ‘green belt’ policy against Soviet communism and Third World nationalism. This policy of relying on Islamists to counter the communist and nationalist left in the region directly or indirectly resulted in the rise of Islamism and culminated in 9/11. The Islamists then became the new enemy and the attention of NATO, and the Western world more generally, shifted from the specter of the now defeated erstwhile enemies to the threat of Islamism that had begun to enter the heart of European nations and the US.

The recent fiasco in Afghanistan ensued from this misguided policy and in turn generated disquieting reactions from the leaders of those ambivalent allies who had previously aided and abetted the US in its affairs. The president of Turkey announced after the Taliban takeover that Turkey “has nothing that contradicts their beliefs,” causing public reaction. The prime minister of Pakistan declared that the Taliban have “broken the shackles of slavery” by freeing themselves from subservience to Western culture. Multiculturalist sympathizers of Islamism in the West might take note.

In her important recent book, ‘Beyond Religious Freedom’, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd addresses the role of religion in US foreign policy and notes a growing tendency after 9/11 for “government engagement with faith communities” to reach political ends. The various cases that she examines do not include Afghanistan, except for minor references in passing, and her main concern regarding the post-9/11 context are the US efforts to counter ‘bad’ (radical) religion by promoting ‘good’ (moderate) religion.

But her observation can be extended back to the pre-9/11 period, as she rightly observes that a similar policy of promoting religiosity was also pursued during the Cold War years in an effort to “weaken the appeal of communism”.
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