Taliban Reprisals and Lex Talionis

Many people seem to be shocked that the Taliban are going door to door looking for those who collaborated with the previous regime. They are especially looking for those who worked in a military or intelligence capacity, but they're also looking for translators and others who worked alongside NATO.

What did you expect? The media seems to present this as the targeting of civilians. Is it?

 

I'm reminded of a story I heard years ago - it was either a documentary or radio programme. A fellow in either Iraq or Afghanistan who decided to work with the Americans was warned by his father to wait and stay out of it because the Americans weren't going to be there forever. The older generation (it would seem) has a better sense of history and the course of society. Young people look for opportunities and the Western invaders offered all the promises and hopes - or so they thought. They also offered employment but there's a cost, one some are now having to reckon with.

In addition to historical shortsightedness there's the failure to work through the ethical implications. You've allied yourself with a power that has come in, bombed, maimed, and otherwise killed women and children. They have kicked in doors, assassinated people by death squad and drone, kidnapped and imprisoned thousands and have established a puppet regime characterised by its corruption.

And now you decided to hitch your wagon to this machine and profit from it. In the eyes of many you're a traitor, one who has worked with the death machine that invaded the country. It's a simple case of lex talionis - an eye for an eye.

I've used this example before but consider - say, China (under false pretenses) invades and conquers the United States or even just part of it. Likewise they bomb, utilise drone and death squads, set up torture centres, kidnap people off the streets, and establish a corrupt regime that's tied in with drugs and all kinds of other illegal activities. They tear apart society and occupy the land for twenty years. Everything is broken, families are torn apart, and in addition the weapons they used are making people sick and causing birth defects and the like.

Then the Trumpites with their pick-up trucks and assault rifles drive them out. Do you think the Trumpites aren't going to go door to door and hunt down every American who worked with the Chinese, helped their regime, worked with them (while they engaged in their brutal operations) and also made money from the occupation?

It's all wrong of course. Every bit of it. This is not meant in any way to support the Taliban. They're wicked but again I ask those who worked with the United States - what did you expect? The minute you signed on with the invaders, you were now part of the invading army. You may not have carried a gun but that hardly matters. In every military organisation there are dozens of support troops from every one that's actually carrying a gun. They're no less part of the machine and hardly exempt from the responsibility associated with its deeds.

There are trapped NGO workers in Afghanistan and while we might perhaps feel a bit more pity for them, it's not always that simple. Money is being made and while aid is being brought into the country there's often a 'missionary' element to their work. I'm not referring to Christian missionary but mission in the sense of Western Liberalism and its values. It's akin to socially transformative Christian missionary work in places like China after the Opium Wars and it's not hard to see why such work is resented by social conservatives in the subject country. It's viewed as being part of the overall colonial project. I cannot speak for the NGO's but the Church should always divorce itself from imperialism. Sadly this has rarely been the case when it comes to modern missions.

There are others trapped in Afghanistan - contractors and the like who are little more than profiteers. While I don't wish them physical harm I marvel that so few seem to grasp that when you came in carpetbagger-style on the coattails of the imperial conquest, did you think that you were somehow morally separated from its deeds and consequences? You're part of it, part of the larger machine and thus any resistance force is going to view you as a hostile entity.

These people who signed on to the imperial invasion are part of its violence - though I grant they don't see it that way. But I can assure you many ethicists see it that way and you can be sure the Taliban does as well.

This is why Christians (generally speaking) need to think through these issues to a great degree. This is why Christians cannot be part of the state. The state is the sword, both at home and abroad. It serves a purpose in terms of Providence but as citizens of the Kingdom we must make sure we're not part of it and what it does. We don't sanction its actions. We condemn it but we don't resist it. These vital lessons have been lost and once again the corrupt leadership of Evangelicalism and other movements within the larger Christian sphere will miss the point and misdirect the Church's attention and energies - toward the world and away from Scripture. This has been an ongoing struggle ever since the days of Constantine and the shift his ascendancy represented.