Time For An Olive Branch Time to Take Back the Moral High Ground

It is the classic tale of the Evil Empire and the righteous resistance. The Empire is run by Darth Vader or some other character and the resistance is run by some unknown and unimportant people as the soon to be heroes are as yet unknown and will make their mark in history by leading their band of misfit warriors to victory creating legends and rising to prominence. In fact, this band often becomes the defacto leaders of the movement. In America, we had our own band of misfit warriors that rose to prominence. Had the tide turned and the war gone the other way with King George having been victorious our band of warriors would have been hanged at the gallows. In each of the classic tales we always root for the regime that holds the moral high ground. In early America we look back on history and see that our founding fathers clearly held this moral high ground. One of the greatest documents ever to be penned came from this era and stated that “All men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Time Magazine’s Tim McGirk and Newsweek’s Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau have written articles about Afghanistan that paint a troubling picture of the Karzai regime as the human rights violator and ballot box stuffer, not the champion of liberty. Invading Afghanistan after the attacks on 9/11 was understandable. Today we should be very careful about proceeding. This election debacle, where fraud is well known, makes this a grave situation. Backing corruption alienates the people, grants the enemy the moral high ground, and puts our soldiers in the cross hairs. Many of the people that the Karzai regime brutalizes become candidates to join with the resistance who already have as their rallying cry Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of Afghanistan.

Mullah Omar was a fighter in the Mujahidin and was a marksman who inflicted much damage to the Soviet Arsenal. He was wounded four times and lost his eye for the sake of the Afghan people. Further Omar was known as the man who freed 2 girls that had been raped by warlords. He freed them with 30 men and 16 rifles. His courage is not in question. In April, 1996 there was a call for all religious leaders in Afghanistan to assemble. This was a very rare occasion and even more rare was the result. Mullah Omar was declared by every Mullah as the spiritual leader of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan still see him as the spiritual leader. It is said that Omar now wears a cloak that once belonged to Mohammad. Omar rose to prominence by fighting corruption and is already seen as the deliverer of Afghanistan from the grips of both Soviet power and corrupt warlords. With a 10 million dollar price on his head we have yet to be able to find him. Do we want to add to his resume: The deliverer from American Imperialists or Martyr?

Capturing or killing Mullah Omar, the man who wears Mohammad’s Cloak, would be a giant spark to inflame the Muslim world.

The only option is a diplomatic solution where we call for a meeting with key Taliban leaders and offer an olive branch where they participate in a renewed democratic process. Any Taliban Leader that agrees to participate in the future must be immediately granted a full pardon and offered a place at the table of the future to include Mullah Omar. We must take back the moral high ground and allow all of the people of Afghanistan their lives, liberty and allow them to pursue happiness.