From Kabul to uOttawa: student seeks resolution to Afghan conflict through communication
by Isabelle Marquis
A few years ago, Dr. Farouq Samim had to put his career as a physician on hold because it didn’t allow him to support his family. He instead became a guide interpreter or, in journalist parlance, a “fixer.”
In Afghanistan, it’s actually easier to make a decent living by helping Western reporters than by saving lives. Thus, after 9/11, Farouq Samim worked as a guide interpreter for staff from the Chicago Tribune, Al Jazeera and the Canadian media.
Born in 1977 in northeastern Afghanistan, Farouq Samim is now a University of Ottawa master’s student studying organizational communication. Though he’s thousands of kilometres from his country of birth, he spends most of his time studying and analyzing the Afghan conflict. He wants to find a way to help stabilize the political situation in Afghanistan—a formidable challenge.
Samim’s approach to resolving the conflict contrasts with conventional military procedures. He is studying communication strategies designed to resolve (or at least stabilize) the conflict using Pashtun rhetoric. The Pashtuns represent more than 40% of the Afghan population. “The armed forces clearly lack strategies for communicating with representatives from Afghan tribes,” says Samim, a recipient of the Afghan Communications Scholarship, an initiative of the Soros Foundation that grants fully-funded fellowships to qualified citizens of Afghanistan to complete a two year MA in Communications at the University of Ottawa.
“If the groups involved are not communicating, there is virtually no chance of resolving the conflict. I’m therefore trying to understand Pashtun rhetoric so I can then use it to convince tribal representatives to support peace instead of the Taliban.”
Samim knows his field of study all too well, having lived almost all his life in Afghanistan and having worked with foreign journalists there from 2002 to 2009. The conflict is complicated, as is the country. A number of regions in Afghanistan are led by tribes whose cultures and customs often differ. “Americans tried to establish contact with certain tribes, but they failed. Their approach is too general—they’ve tended to see the Pashtuns as a single group, but there are striking differences among Pashtuns from different regions,” explains Samim, who is himself Pashtun.
Samim believes that efforts need to focus first on one strategic, yet very unstable, region: southeastern Afghanistan. The Taliban are recruiting soldiers in that area, which borders Pakistan and the al-Qaeda supporters located there. Pashtuns form the majority in southeastern Afghanistan, and the tribal structure is strong. Samim believes that through successful talks with the leaders, international forces could stabilize the region and then proceed to other regions.
In the short and medium term, Samim believes that any work to stabilize the situation must be done in co-operation with the tribes involved. It’s a complex task, because no single strategy will work for the whole country, which has been led informally by various tribes for the past 250 years.
“I don’t think we can move away from tribal structures in the short term. Rather, we should use the tribes’ influence to stabilize the situation and keep the country safe,” says Samim. “Once peace has been established, we can restructure the country by introducing a high-quality education system and human rights for all. Education and urbanization will weaken the tribes in the long term.”
Samim knows the challenge is huge. “I’m going to develop an approach that will help the Americans and the international forces interact effectively with Pashtun tribes. You have to go through the tribal leaders to reach the people, and you have to respect their customs and hierarchy in the process. Everything hinges on our ability to communicate with these people, both respectfully and convincingly. By using so-called ‘soft power,’ or the power to convince, intelligently, the Americans and their allies could produce astounding results,” Samim says with hope.
The International Office at the University of Ottawa currently manages three fully-funded graduate scholarship programs in partnership with the Open Society Foundations. They include: the Afghan Communications Scholarship, the Doctoral Fellows Program and the Civil Service Awards Program for Georgia and Moldova.
Farouq Samim likes:
The Taliban Shuffle, a book by American journalist Kim Barker that features him, and The Future of Power, by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
He gets his news from Tolo TV, Al Jazeera, the BBC and NewsNow.
You can reach him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Comments (8)
that was great story and Samem is good friend of mine, and i think the writer of the article Isabelle Marquis, had made his justice by one eye, ” from where he got to put the percentage of more then 40% of pashtoon population” which balance is that, that he kept in the story, i think it is the same as American started in 2001, that Durani tribes are friend and Ghilji are not, and they push Ghilji by Durani back to Taliban regrouping.
By muhib habibi on 2011 06 30
Comments (8)
Il aurait été intéressant que vous mentionnez dans votre article que la présence de cet étudiant et de ses collègues afghans est le résultat d’une entente signée entre l’Open Society Institute et l’université d’Ottawa, plus particulièrement le Bureau International.Il s’agit d’un élément de contexte qui aurait pu jeter un éclairage intéressant sur la présence de cet étudiant.
By Gilles Breton, on 2011 06 30
Comments (8)
Bonjour
Étant moi-même afghan et bientôt étudiant au doctorat en science politique, j’aimerais souligner l’importance d’étayer la complexité de la situation en Afghanistan et donc des possibles pistes de solutions, afin d’éviter les pièges trop fréquents de la simplification. Il appert que ce n’est pas tant le manque de communication avec les chefs tribaux qui cause problème, mais bien davantage de rester dans la même logique de domination de ces chefs sur la société. Cela fait des siècles que l’on pratique cette politique tribale qui est, entre autre, la source même des conflits passés et actuel.
By Abdulhadi Qaderi on 2011 07 13
Comments (8)
Dear Mr. Qaderi, Very proud to hear you are planning to do a PHD in political sience.Our beloved country will really need your knowledge.
Your claim in your comment is dabateable and I would like to keep in touch with you and ask for details about your opinion. I do not claim that tribal politics have not been played in Afghanistan, but I do claim that very little attention has been paid to consultation southeastern Afghan tribal community, where the tribal structure is more intact and stronger. That is what my first hand data says. Unfortunately most of the assumptions people make about Afghanistan is based on secondary sources where people rely on data from internet medium.
I have explored the building blocks of two theories—Arestotalian persuasion and Soft power in that tribal context which I think not only help with peace building but inform other researchers and policy decision about that the porticular cultural domain possessing its own social arrangements as well as warrants.
Many thansk,
Farouq Samim
By Ghulam Farouq Samim on 2011 07 14
Comments (8)
Simply being able to communicate with representatives from Afghan tribes is not going to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. Communication and dialogue is the key factor in bringing about peace in Afghanistan. However, focussing on the differences of the Pashtuns in different regions may take time and effort, which may or may not help Afghans in long run. Instead, it is essential to look at a common aspect of all Afghans, such as the religion rather than culture differences.
The US government has made numerous efforts to communicate with different tribes and their failure lies on the fact that they have already established themselves as the “occupying force” or the “invader.” No matter what cultural background you represent in Afghanistan, foreigners with their mighty military, tanks, airplanes and ammunitions are sensed as threat and “foreign.” In fact, this puts alot of strain when it comes to communicating with these tribes, which leads to failures in communication with the tribal leaders. Presence of any military power in Afghanistan will continue to have such an effect in the mindset of the tribal leaders.
The recruits by the Taliban don’t only consist of individuals who are out there to fight because of US invasion. They consist of individuals as follows:
1. Some of these Afghans tend to see the foreign forces as “foreign” invaders. Their culture allows them to stand up against invaders and historically they have done so in the past. Thus, some of these fighters arm themselves for their country and removal of the invading power.
2. Religion plays an important factor. Muslims are allowed to fight back if invaded. Therefore, some individuals band together and form resistance with the intention that they are defending themselves and their country as allowed by Islam.
3. The invasion of Afghanistan and the bombing of villages and towns and disrupting lives of Afghans has bred its own problems, one of which is ordinary Afghans arming themselves in order to revenge the death of their family members, parents, wife, children who have been killed by the bombing. Those who have lost family members may arm themselves in order to “revenge” the death of their family members and this has led to resistance in many regions in Afghanistan.
4. The economy of Afghanistan has been shattered due to war. Many have extended family members to support, so they join one group or another to get paid for building resistance against the US military in order to feed their own family.
Cooperation of the tribes, education of Afghans that involve both academic and religious aspect while focussing on the commonality may contribute towards the peace process, but the involvement of any “military power” will contribute towards failure in communicating with the tribal leaders.
By A.Q on 2011 07 15
Comments (8)
D’abord, je suis heureux qu’un débat d’idées se fasse sur ce sujet important. De plus, je remercie monsieur Samim de son message et de son invitation à échanger.
J’aimerais également préciser que le commentaire publié avec la signature A.Q (qui pourrait porter à confusion avec mon nom) apporte un élément important à l’analyse. Plusieurs autres éléments cruciaux dans les analyses ont été, et doivent aussi être considérés, tels, les enjeux de classes, les enjeux régionaux et internationaux. C’est pourquoi, je faisais référence à la complexité du conflit afghan (cela s’applique d’ailleurs à tous les autres conflits).
Mon mémoire de maîtrise porte sur la révolution afghane de 1978, la situant dans un cursus historico-politique et proposant une mise en lien de différents auteurs qui se sont penché sur le sujet ainsi que des cadres théoriques qui sous-tendent leurs analyses (http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/1998/1/M10847.pdf )
Abdulhadi Qaderi
By Qaderi Abdulhadi on 2011 07 21
Comments (8)
Dear Abdulhadi Qaderi and Mr. AQ. Thanks for your informed analysis. I would like to share this link with you both. It is new and the author has field experience in Afghnistan with United Nations:
Gregg, T. (2009, October). Caught in the crossfire: the Pashtun tribes of Southeast Afghanistan. Retrieved August 27, 2010, from Lowy institute for international policy: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=1157
Once again, My thesis is about building blocks of persuasion and attractive power towards south-eastern Pashtuns in Afghanistan. If we can persuade them and influence them, we can use them as a powerful potential third-party to start ending conflict from Loya Paktya region in Afghanistan. Loya Paktya with its long border with Wazirestan, and being the gate to Capital Kabul and stronger and more intact tribal structure is a perspective location to start to work for peace. there is no one all-inclusive approach to Afghan conflict. In other words, for complex situation in Afghanistan, there is no one generic approach.
By Farouq Samim on 2011 07 25
Comments (8)
Dear Mr. Qaderi and Mr. AQ.
For your information, I would like to share this link with both of you and other respected readers of this article. It is the first hand data collection and the support of other experts for my approach, which I would like your attention to. It is an article from Chroncle of Higher Education in the US.
Here is the link:
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/documents/pdf/Afghan_front_by_Monica.pdf
By Farouq Samim on 2011 07 25