An Afghan Spring

Written by Shoaib Harris and Najib Sharifi • August 2011

US involvement in Afghanistan has sparked pro-democratic movements in South Asian region – Iran included.

Seldom covered in the mainstream media, common people in Afghanistan and particularly in neighboring Iran, have had to live through the heavy-handedness of the Islamic republic for more than three decades now. But things are changing drastically.

Only a few months following the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime by the US and former Northern Alliance forces in November 2001, sudden democratic changes, prominently the Emergency Loya Jerga (Grand Assembly), which elected Hamid Karzai as the interim president of Afghanistan, reinvigorated the democracy spirit in the entire region. What many people forget to notice is the fact that there was a woman among the three candidates who ran for office in this traditional gathering. What a feat for democracy!

The Iranians following developments in Afghanistan closely noticed that it took their poorer and more conservative neighbor – Afghanistan - only a few months to transition from the hard line Taliban Emirate where a woman was not even allowed to venture out of home without male company to that where a woman could openly run for office.

In contrast, presidential hopefuls in Iran need the approval of Shurai Negahban (the Guardian Council) – composed of hard line Jurists – that makes it practically impossible for reformist non-ideological and female candidates to have a shot at presidency.

The US parallel strategy of fighting terror and promoting democracy sent encouraging signals to pro-democratic circles throughout the region –from Iran to Central Asian republics. The flourishing of democratic institutions in Afghanistan initiated an inspiring wave of change that engulfed the neighborhood. Freedom of Expression, the media boom and the passage of the new constitution, which reserves twenty five percent of the parliament seats to women, brought a wave that ran against the interests of closed non-representative regimes in neighboring states.

Spring2 Afghanistan became a sanctuary for Iranian journalists and civil society activists who were subjected to persecution at the hands of the ruling regime. In neighboring Central Asian republics, the civil society began to urge harder for openness as Central Asian journalists started pouring into Afghanistan to learn how the Afghan media managed to jump from one state-run media outlet, solely employed as the propaganda machinery of the ruling regime, to hundreds of outlets assiduously watchful and critical of government’s actions. These are significant gains that often get eclipsed by the talk of drawdown of the international forces and focus on the failures of the Afghan government to deliver on all fronts.

Nonetheless, it is irrefutable – as the Obama Administration has consistently acknowledged – these gains are still shaky and reversible. But in order to sustain and consolidate them, it is for the United States to provide an assurance of its long-term military presence in the country. The US military presence in Afghanistan is likely to provide a psychological bulwark for the prodemocracy currents in neighboring countries against the Gaddafi-style genocidal threats or massive crackdown by the ruling regimes.

If the US – like the Soviet Union a few decades back –gives the impression of leaving in haste and for good, not only can Afghanistan risk losing its decade-long democratic achievements, but also the neighborhood’s pro-democracy currents will start doubting the centrality of freedom, democracy and human rights to US foreign policy. This is likely to turn the tide against the popular democratic aspirations at a time when the Arab awakening has provided a unique window of opportunity for the entire region to rid itself of totalitarian regimes.

The United States needs to factor the strategic significance of Afghanistan, its democratic achievements, and the degree that developments in Afghanistan can have an impact over a neighborhood struggling under repressive regimes.

Given that United States has shed blood and resources in Afghanistan for a cause that has just started bearing fruit, caution is required not to render it meaningless now - by giving the impression of weakness in commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights. A retreat on values will not only tarnish the prestige of the US on an international level but it will also encourage despotic regimes like that of Iran to continue justifying its heavy-handedness by dwelling on the failure of the US efforts in helping build a viable democracy in Afghanistan.

Shoaib Sharifi Harris is the Director of Afghanistan's New Generation Organization, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Afghanistan dialogue with the World. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Columbia University and has worked for various humanitarian, media and entertainment organizations in the United States, Europe and Afghanistan.