The answer to, the rationale for ‘why we are in Afghanistan’ could come from reading fiction. In novels, thinkers can and often do express views and explore possible scenarios without risking a political position, personal reputation or career. This might be one of the functions of works of fiction. It must be true that most people, including political leaders, are seminally influenced by the books they read whether this be the works of Mao Tse Tung, Karl Marx, the Bible or Koran. There are powerfully influential fiction books that can define a nation’s attitude to situations. You only need to mention titles such as Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Gulag Archipelago that immediately conjure up mental explorations of tragic and awful situations that humans get themselves into and the consequences for societies.
A novelist can take a character into situations and see what happens. A novelist can take the guise of a character and have him express an opinion or hidden agenda to educate or persuade their readers of their point of view, especially if they can engender sympathy for the lead characters (heros). It can also help to define in a reader’s mind who are the heros and villains of a particular course of events or situation. The novelist can also put forward complex backround historical and timeline arguments in support of a premise and take that to a logical or extreme conclusion – ie. see what happens.
Politicians all over, from US President Obama to the protagonists themselves are struggling to find justifications and rationale for the fighting in Afghanistan. These range from ‘fighting terrorism’, ‘getting rid of Al Qaeda’, ‘re-instating women’s rights’, ‘fighting militant Islam’, to combating heroin drug trafficking. All good reasons but these appear to have little or no resonance with the ordinary public who just see the cost in mounting casualty figures, the financial drain on the economy and political drift and confusion. There are no easy answers to why we are in Afghanistan and there never have been. What we can do is come to a better understanding of what motivates the protagonists by reading the literature and fiction that explores these topics.
Recently, I have been re-reading two novels (see below) that add to this huge body of literature. Political leaders need to ‘take time out’ to do more reading of books like this.
Norman Mailer : Why we are in Vietnam
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