If the western world thinks keeping a bunch of semi-literate tribesmen in the remote hills of Afghanistan is a difficult task, heaven help us if a nuclear armed sleeping tiger ever wakes up and gets mad. Given the unofficial bombings by remote operated US military drones on their 'ally' Pakistan, along their border with Afghanistan, it would not be surprising if the tiger started to stir somewhat. If that happens, what's next?
Last week parliament debated the merits of continuing the war in Afghanistan and on Q&A, a clever questioner asked how long Australia would remain if America withdrew from Afghanistan. The question was taken as a comment, possibly because the answer is embarrassingly obvious. For all the political posturings about the War on an Emotion (namely, 'Terror') and how bad it would be if the Australian Defence Force up and left Afghanistan to the Afghanis, there is no clearer reason for why Australia is there than simply that it is an ally of America, and for the time being, America is there. When America leaves, the entire rationale for Australia being there will suddenly evaporate. Afghanis may well be as disappointed when this happens as French resistance fighters were when Germany withdrew from France after WWII (apart from those lining their pockets under the auspices of the current administration).
In the meantime, the carnage continues and the world stirs up more wars and rumours of wars than ever before and the finger pointing against Iran continues. Even though Iran is surrounded by countries with nuclear weapons, like Pakistan, India and Israel, they are not even allowed to build civilian nuclear capability simply to provide modern medicine or cheap energy for their people, without sanctions being imposed on them. Don't even get ideas about miltary capability to protect against the very real threats in their region. While we sit comfortably in our armchairs in Australia, terrified of an angry kitten miles away from us, our nation supports sanctions against another nation that has very good reason to seek to protect itself, but only seeks modernisation (a fatwah was issued there against nuclear weapons). Iran is a developing nation that has no history of occupying territories beyond its borders (unlike America and its allies). While the step from cilivian nuclear capability to military capability can take place in a single sentence in a news report, there is a far far larger gap in reality.
Australian Christians may think these issues are not really directly relevant to them and so there is much that is simply accepted unquestioningly at face value, which stifles a true voice for the oppressed and against injustice. While countries like Afghanistan and Iran may not be models of how we here would like to live, it is a hard task to speak out in love for the oppressed in those countries when from a country participating in and causing much of the current oppression. There is also the rising number of refugees from countries where our nation's wars have left ongoing devastation and instability. What is the Christian response to rising numbers in detention centres? "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest" is a familiar refrain, but not much heard in response to refugees fleeing war torn regions. My hope is that it will be Christians who are the first ones to reflect on and see past the rhetoric of politics and self-interested nationalism and not be afraid to speak out against participation in the causes of oppression, like war or unjust sanctions.