Brute force alone lost on Afghan people - Letter | The Columbus Dispatch

Recent incidents such as the Quran-burning episode, the footage of soldiers urinating on dead bodies and the atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib prison are equally disturbing. The code of conduct exhibited so far is far from a step in the right direction. 

Abdul Samad, whose 11 family members, mostly women & children, were
murdered by a US soldier, reportedly on a killing spree.
(Photo: Getty / NY Times)

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Columbus Dispatch
By Sohaib Awan |  March 15, 2012

“Swords can win territories but not hearts, forces can bend heads but not minds” is an excerpt from a speech delivered by Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the previous supreme head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, to Queen Elizabeth II on establishing peace, a phenomenon that we can relate to in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is as much a psychological war as it is a physical one, and in terms of the psychological war, we seem to be taking two steps backward for each step forward.

On Sunday, one of our soldiers went on a killing spree in Afghanistan, murdering 16 civilians. The psychological state of the soldier and the civilians affected are both a cause for concern.

Recent incidents such as the Quran-burning episode, the footage of soldiers urinating on dead bodies and the atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib prison are equally disturbing. The code of conduct exhibited so far is far from a step in the right direction. For a change, we must win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.


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