Taliban takes over Kabul - American's white man burden?

 

Actually, if you think about it, both the US and Taleban share something in common: Human ideals and hubris. 

For both claim they want to make the world a better place. Both want the best for their country. But, when you mix ideals with hubris together, you get chaos. 

Of course, in terms of material success and national development, Taliban is light years behind US, in their throwback practices, brutal treatment of women and tribalistic, patriarchal mindset. 

But, in terms of similarities, both held on to their self-referential ideals as if their lives and pride depended on it, and with some measure of success, they let it pollute their political will and unanchored minds. 

Alas, the best means to building character (or a nation) is consistency, regardless of the shifting times, and when you adulterate ideals with hubris, you get a yo-yo-like existence - up and down, up and down, never progressing towards your ideal affirmatively. 

When the top Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, took over the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, he made this most idealistic declaration: “We have never expected to reach such victory - we should show humbleness in front of Allah. Now is the time when we will be tested on how we serve and secure our people, and ensure their good life and future to the best of our ability.”

Well, if Kabul’s airport is any indication, where thousands are fleeing their country knowing what to expect when Taleban rules absolutely, many know a crab can’t walk straight. 

They also know that it is going to a selective development led by the Taleban leadership, where, yes, they will show humbleness, but it is a humility demonstrated only if you bend to their will, surrender to their uncompromising beliefs, which always subject their right to express and rule over yours. 

And the good life under them is a life that is defined by them. That applies to the future too. Abdul Ghani said: “The Taleban (fighters) have won with their judgments of their sword and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen.” 

And it’s no less a Freudian slip that he mentioned “countrymen” - underscore “men” - because out of the abundance of one’s heart, the mouth speaks and the hands get busy. It can’t be denied that by honour, they are referring to their honour, and the women and girls are the extension of that honour, which if, once defiled by the slightest of indiscretion, like the showing of one’s ankle, the consequences for the victims would be unthinkable. 

And it’s also mortally frightening when honour, property and self-preservation are most times translated to mean vindication, nationalisation and, well, self-preservation speaks for itself. 

Indeed, it is what it is, and the Americans shouldn’t have any illusion about their imagined exceptionalism, if it still believed today. They have indeed reaped what they have sown, and it is a gap that history has proven that they will never bridge. That gap is ideals and reality, where the means crushes the end. 

Former undersecretary of defence, Michele Flournoy said: “In retrospect, the United States and its allies got it really wrong from the very beginning. The bar was set based on our democratic ideals, not on what was sustainable or workable in an Afghan context.” 

That is so true, that is, a truth that is the curse of American exceptionalism, one that ironically culminated to the raid on their own Capital in January this year. And that is a lesson not in the pursuit of ideal, but one led by arrogance and Taliban-like ego. 

Alas, from the Jericho chant after 911 to the US$83 billion spent and to a 20-year occupation, Biden, like all his successors before him since Bush junior, has fallen to the one sin all leaders of great civilisations make, and that is, the sin of overestimating their intelligence and the reach of their influence and power. 

When you overstretch your ideals to fit your unrealistic ambitions, you break the protective refuge you take shelter in, and the result is sadly a humanitarian crisis; or at least, soon to degenerate into one as UN’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: -

“There continues to be reports of serious human rights abuses and violations in the communities most affected by the fighting. All abuses must stop. He calls on the Taleban and all other parties to ensure...the rights and freedoms of all people are respected and protected.” 

Unfortunately, UN lecturing the Talebans and hoping they will listen is like refracting light into a black hole and hoping it will bounce back on a positive note. 

In fact, Pentagon has forewarned Biden even before he took office that Afghanistan will be taken over by Taleban in about 18 months should they pull out. But, that was another overestimation, because it took only about one week. 

Imagine that, for a 20-year occupation and billions spent, what you get is a lot of carnival-like activities on the surface, but there’s no deep roots in the soil and soul of the people’s hearts. It was supposed to be engineered as a people’s war, but it turns out to be a war of egos between different American leaderships with a very high attrition rate. This somewhat breathes new meaning to the phrase, you may win the battle, but it is the war that I have won...tragically.

But then, maybe there is a morbid silver lining here. If on both sides, it is a war of the perversion of ideals and hubris, we can then expect a yo-yo-like transition, between the victors and in this case, the retreaters, and back again - all this done to the haunting tune of the Einsteinian insanity chant: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

But why morbid, Mike? Because the collateral casualty of the games (and experiments) that the powerful and mindless play is, without fail, always the innocent people, young and old, hopeful and otherwise.

 

Biden & Trump Saga 6.

Who cares if a leader “grab ‘em by the pussy,” just as long as he is committed to overturning Roe v. Wade (abortion) and Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage), and calls for prayers and reading of the Ten Commandments in school. 

Recently, I have been reading about the mixed reactions to the new Biden administration. Many local churches here are disillusioned by the Inauguration of Biden-Harris. They have been praying in groups for a second term for Trump because they are really hoping that Trump would make American (or the World) great again by first and foremost making God great again. 

Trump the man was the dawn of a new hope for their faith. He was the believer’s Cyrus the Great, “whose deeds were foretold by Isaiah, and achievements have changed the course of history for the Jewish people.” 

He is their Isaiah 45 president, and yes, reading Isaiah 45, and you will find the feats of Cyrus...coincidence or foretold? 

Alas, Trump, despite all his eye-rolling shenanigans, was their only hope. He is known as ”the wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness”. And since we are at it, you may as well add ”the elitist establishment” to that wrecking ball list. 

And leaders like him don’t come often in this age of post-enlightenment. Trump is rare (as elected Commander-in-Chief). So, you just have to grab him by the brassy, that is, all of him, the good and the bad, when he happens to walk your way...right?

In fact, a more rational and sincere sentiment about the former Twitter-in-Chief came from the feedback of a 33-year-old member of a local charismatic church. He said: “Most Christians I spoke to were very torn during the election. On the one hand, we wished for a Republican victory, on the other, we couldn’t imagine another four years with Trump.” 

(reported by Justine Ong - “Biden presidency a relief even as some regret Trump’s exit”). 

Another respondent, Mr Ang, prefers Trump because of his support for Israel - including recognising Jerusalem as its capital in 2017 - was more aligned with the interest of Singapore because Israel had helped us build up our military in the 1960s. 

In sum, it is about a divine-like compromise, choosing of a lesser evil, between Clinton and Trump, and now between Biden and Trump (yet, honestly, as a side-note, surely it is not about choosing the lesser of two evils, right? But, it is about choosing the one who had, at Calvary, dispelled all evil). 

Anyway, coming back to that dastardly choice, even a research professor of theology and biblical studies, Prof Wayne Grudem, said this (when the electoral contest was between Trump and Clinton).

“It isn’t even close. I overwhelmingly support Trump’s policies and believe that Clinton’s policies will seriously damage the nation, perhaps forever. On the Supreme Court, abortion, religious liberty, sexual orientation regulations, taxes, economic growth, the minimum wage, school choice, Obamacare, protection from terrorists, immigration, the military, energy, and safety in our cities, I think Trump is far better than Clinton. Again and again, Trump supports the policies I advocated in my 2010 book Politics According to the Bible.”

Mind you, Biden will not be that different from Clinton. He will let Roe v. wade dogs lie and he is open to the garden-variety types of marriages. You can say that, although they share the same faith, even that of Prof Grudem’s faith, Joe and Hillary are two resonating peas in the same political pod. 

I know what I have written thus far doesn’t help with your Sunday morning hangover, waking up to find that a new leader of dubious/pretentious Christian background will be leading a supposedly God fearing nation for the next four years, or god forbid, more than that. Alas, you know where I stand when it comes to Trump - never been a fan before, during or after his presidency. 

Yet, I can sympathise with that “torn feeling” many are having between Trump and Biden. You see, both are Christians, declaring the faith in public, yet, one has a character of a pagan and their other the policies of a heathen. 

Who then is the real wolf invited to the chicken coop then? Who is more of a Christian, that is, Christlike, Trump or Hillary/Biden? Whose face shines with the real favour of God? 

Well, I really don’t know (for sure). There is so much more that I am ignorant of than those things that I can confidently claim I know. But, one thing I am clear of, that is, by their fruit you shall (over time) know who they really are. 

The fruit Trump has borne after his departure is quite clear. Just to name a few, he has divided the country, made it worse than before. Under his pandemic watch, the last count is 400,000 deaths. And the raid at the Capitol is the last straw (at least for Congress) of a man’s destructive ambition when he doesn’t get his way. 

Having said that, that is, listed the fruit of Trump’s term, let me just caveat that the numbing peril of the likes of Trump is that it is not inconceivable to expect one to swallow whole a rotten fruit and still praise Trump for being juicy and tasty. Nothing ought to surprise you anymore. 

Mind you, the appeal of Trump is not at all subtle. It is not a frog-in-the-pot kind of thing. It is more like dialling up a pot full of frogs to full flame from zero in a short span of 4 years, and then, you can still expect many believers to boil over with unconditional support for him. The boil is the confirmation bias the believers need to seal their devotion to Trump. Go figure. 

Ultimately, torn or otherwise, history, especially the history of religion, always repeats itself, ad nauseam. Our faith is regrettably a very emotional, excitable and impressionable kind. It is also unfortunately myopic or narrow in nature. Most times, such narrow mindset sees things in binary fashion, driven by a pristine, crusade-like ideological POV. This just raises the yeast of self-righteousness even more. 

And, by way of a lamentation, if our faith and hope had been one planted by the good soil of the Sermon on the Mount, that is, one rooted in values that are not of this world, we would not have cared so much about who’s elected, who’s not, or who’s more Christian than who. It seems like no one really cared much about what Jesus once said to Pilate - that my kingdom is not of this world. 

In any event, like it or not, we have been repeatedly reminded that politics and faith are potent, even toxic, mix. And if we are not careful, our allegiance can be easily corrupted because you can’t serve two masters and then boast that you are still anchored and unshakably discerning. That boast is nothing but the self-delusion in us preaching. 

For when you politicise religion, you weaponise faith with the tendency to exalt self. In other words, you are giving it a power that often grows beyond you, with the aim to overwhelm you, and to bring the most carnal desires inside you out in blinding colours. 

Alas, hasn’t history taught us about this before? And no, we are not any different from those who have gone before us. Neither is Trump any different from the leaders before him. The Good News is thus neither new nor old; it is just good, and that should never change. 

And it is good because it is not concerned with the often chaotic affairs of this world, but the change of one’s heart - a change that brings real, enduring change, not one just for show, just for a season.