Dr Akbar Ahmed, an internationally acclaimed scholar, has stressed on the importance of finding a mix of political and administrative solutions to militancy in tribal areas, saying that the use of force in the ongoing conflict only exacerbated the situation for the United States, central governments and the local populations.
Professor Ahmed, whose book The Thistle and the Drone critiques the Obama administration’s reliance on drones and the central government’s administrative failures in 40 tribal regions, pointed out that the US-led war on terror fought in tribal lands has been overly dominated by ideological narrative.
After the 9/11 attacks, the United States began the war in Afghanistan without understanding the tribal nature of the Afghan society and similarly since 2004, it has been waging drones over skies of Pakistani tribal areas with dangerous implications.
In his study, Ahmed concluded that the US had entangled itself in the war between central governments and tribal societies existing on the margins of the countries like Pakistan and Yemen. He says that 18 of the 19 hijackers involved 9/11 terrorist attacks had tribal roots, while al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden always relied on his tribal network.
History had repeatedly taught that excessive use of force was not the way out of insurgencies or unrest, Ahmed said.
Ahmed, who served as Islamabad’s political representative in South Waziristan in the 1970s, cited the example of British Viceroy to India Lord Curzon, who devised a creative new way of governing the fiercely independent tribal areas on the edge of Indian empire in the early 20th century.
Speaking on drones, he said that they killed some militants but they also created hundreds more. Ahmed’s comments in an appearance on US TV channel came days after President Barack Obama, faced with international and domestic criticism of drone warfare, defended unmanned aerial operations but vowed to limit their use with stricter oversight.
Ahmed also noted during the discussion that Boston bombings should be taken as a point to initiate America’s understanding of the marginalised people in tribal societies.
He explained his point by drawing attention to the fact that the Americans benefited enormously by learning about culture, traditions and way of life of the native Americans.
If applied to the tribes on the periphery of the Muslim countries, the same approach would help Washington deal with the problems in a much better way, he said.