One is often made to believe that powers that be are never interested in peace. The calls for peace are raised just to fool common citizens. Because peace is not as unattainable as it is made out to be, and yet, it is portrayed as so elusive.
As the situation in Syria and Afghanistan escalates we need to focus on the larger problem at hand and then solve the problem in a modular manner. No purpose is solved if Russia and Iran side with Assad and America and other NATO countries side with anti-Assad forces. They will keep using the government of Syria and the opposite forces as pawns and people will keep dying, and totally unrelated people will have to pay a heavy price.
Russia and America, the two most powerful countries in the world, are constantly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries for various strategic reasons. India has had to bear the brunt of America's constant interference in Pakistan and Afghanistan. You may say that the ball was set rolling by Russia (Soviet Union at that time) by suddenly invading Afghanistan, but once the ball was set rolling, America never allowed that ball to stop. America supported the Mujahideen who were fighting against Russia and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (remember those Rambo movies in which the Mujahideen were the good guys?). 9/11 was a culmination of that support to the Mujahideen.
Right now the biggest threat the world faces is terrorism, and by terrorism I don't mean your disgruntled neighborhood psychopath with a traumatic childhood who sprays bullets in a suburban mall. I'm talking about organized terrorism underpinned by religious fanaticism with cross border operations. This terrorism comes from the ISIS, from the Muslim Brotherhood, from Al Qaeda, from the Taliban, from Hamas, and many such organizations that either presently get massive support from America, Russia and other countries, or used to get the support.
These organizations attract recruits from all over the world in the name of waging a holy war to establish the fabled Caliphate. They also send out recruits to different parts of the world to carry out terror strikes. They are nobody's friends. Their only allies are other ruthless individuals and organizations that dream of a worldwide Caliphate. There is no strategic advantage of supporting them against despotic and autocratic regimes, as the world has already seen in Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Afghanistan. Using them is like using such a strong pesticide that your field's every subsequent yield becomes poisonous.
These organizations, as just mentioned above, are provided support in the name of assisting forces trying to overthrow despotic and autocratic regimes. For example, America has been supporting the ISIS and its various subsidiaries that are trying to overthrow Bashar Al Assad, who in turn gets support from Russia and Iran. The irony is, the biggest humanitarian crisis in Syria has been caused due to the game of one upmanship among these competing countries. Many western countries are having to take in millions of refugees and none of these countries are asking the U. S. why it is supporting these warring factions and contributing the refugee crisis? The entire demographies of some countries are being changed.
The same happened in Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Western countries started meddling in the internal politics of these countries and created Frankenstein's monsters. Can you list one Asian or African country where prosperity and peace prevails after the West has helped the rebels overthrow dictators and despots? Iraq is ruined. Libya is ruined. Egypt is ruined. We all know what's happening in Syria. After years of "war against terror" America recently had to use the biggest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan. If the policy was so effective, why the need to take such a drastic step?
Just imagine, just a few decades ago, 80% Afghani women had jobs and now people are stoned to death merely for attending school. Western intervention has turned a culturally and economically thriving country into a wasteland.
Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt, and now Syria, should have taught these western countries that supporting terror outfits in the name of carrying out some resistance never works. This is because these warlords and tribal leaders are not driven by a strong sense of morality and civilization, they are driven by religious fanaticism, power lust and extreme greed.
In Syria for example, the ISIS warriors are not fighting against the Assad government because they think he is unjust and they're going to provide justice, they are fighting for a bigger cause mentioned above.
Countries like America may think that by supporting local resistance groups they are playing very strategic games and gaining some sort of regional advantage. No, these groups just use America to carry out their holy war. Even Pakistan has been taking America for a ride in the name of war against terrorism or for its geopolitical coordinates to thwart communism. Roots of almost all major terror attacks in the world can be traced back to Pakistan, one way or another.
The irony is that most of these terror organizations derive their power from the very same countries who are supposed to be fighting against these very same terror organizations. It sounds like a racket being run by these countries as well as the terrorists, with the common public having to pay a heavy price in terms of the taxpayers money and life and limb.
On their own these terror organizations don't have the means to carry out sophisticated operations. They can't develop their own weapons and communication systems. Heck, these organizations and the regions they rule can't even manufacture safety pins, forget about automatic guns. Where do they get their weapons from? They get their logistic support either from the so-called "democratic countries" or their proxies like Saudi Arabia and Iran (although on the surface they all seem to be working against each other). In the name of fighting anti-democracy forces and even in the name of fighting terrorism, lots of pretense goes on.
Where does the problem lie? The problem lies in the fact that there is no clear definition of terrorism, the way we have a clear definition for paedophilia or murder. There needs to be a worldwide consensus, that no matter what, terrorist organizations will not be, logistically, politically, ideologically, and economically supported to throw out regimes, no matter how despotic they are.
What constitutes of terrorism should be clearly defined. The nonsense like "your terrorist is my freedom fighter" should be severely criticized.
Terrorists are nobody's friends. Pakistan, for instance, supports various terrorist outfits that work against India, and these same outfits (or the outfits subscribing to the same ideology) blow up schools, colleges and mosques within Pakistan, slaughtering their own citizens. Terrorism is that proverbial fire you should never play with, because eventually you will get your own hands burned.
It may take months but for once and for all, the international community must, clearly, unequivocally, define terrorism and then let that definition be written in stone somewhere so that no one gets confused.
Then, collectively, countries should wage a war against terrorism because it is the most pressing problem the world faces. Countries can take sides during wars, but they shouldn't be allowed to take sides between terrorists and established governments no matter how despotic those governments are. The despotic governments can be dealt with the way everybody deals with North Korea or the way South Africa during the days of the apartheid, or if need be, even invading those countries, but without the help of terror and extremist organizations. There must be something like the Geneva Convention that makes it illegal to aid such groups and organizations.
Eliminating terror organizations is not a problem actually, the problem is the lack of will and the lack of clarity about how to define terrorism. Once we are able to define it as a global, civilised community, and once we set clear guidelines on how to deal with terrorism, the rest of the problems will be easier to solve.
About the author: Amrit Hallan is a well known blogger and tweets at @AmritHallan
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