Perspectives

If Mullah Omar came to my office and said, “You know, Barak, I don’t think this democracy thing is going so well in the US. I’ve read the public opinion polls. The president is unpopular, you view Congress as somewhat of a joke, and your idea of freedom of speech is the right to burn other people’s holy books. I think you might like a society based on Pashtunwali and Sharia. Its worked very well where I come from for hundreds of years.”

I would probably respond to Mullar Omar by saying, “Well, you know, Omar, you’re right in a lot of ways, but you must understand that even though we often do not think highly of our leaders, democracy, as flawed as it in the US, is part of our culture and we would like to stick with it even if it doesn’t always give us what we want. Also, very few people in the US want to burn Korans. The media loves to hype crackpots to boost their ratings.”

“I understand.” Mullah Omar might respond, “But Islam is a religion of peace and hospitality is central to Pashtunwali, so I think you will like it just fine. In fact there are many democratic aspects to Sharia and Pashtunwali. You have a Congress, we have Jirgas, so they are basically the same thing. Oh, by the way, we are going to have to blow up large parts of Washington, DC and kill lots of your friends and family in the process of building this new political system which you will like very much.”

Would I be wrong to doubt the benefits of Sharia if the only Sharia promoters I met were the ones who blew up my house? I am not saying that I am against trying to bring democracy to Afghanistan, but can we really be surprised at resistance to it if people hear democracy and think it means violence?