The Wykehamist The Wykemamist Common Time 2017 No. 1474 | Page 5

Taliban to the Afghan government. The idea of
‘alternate livelihoods’ was to dissuade farmers
from growing opium. Luckily, wheat prices
had also increased that year, further
incentivising farmers to cultivate crops
provided by the government. However, there
were shortcomings. Many were reluctant to
affiliate themselves too closely as they feared
reprisals. Once these farmers had left the
soldiers’ bubble of control, the Taliban would
also often seize any goods provided. The
development goals were met by investment to
prevent local flooding and the building of
healthcare and education facilities. The key
mission in 2009 was to protect these areas and
promote their use. This mission was a success.
Through such investment it was easier to win
over the hearts of the populace. Col. Kitson
stressed this to be a vital aspect of nation
development and, as expensive as it may be, a
development arm must work in tandem with
the armed forces. Only in this way can
progress be made, and in his mind the western
approach has not completely mastered this.
In all this violence, he also talked of the merits
of the average Afghan. He said that ‘though it
is hard to generalise, I had personal
interactions with a lot of people who were in
the government and military. I found them a
hugely intelligent group of people with a good
sense of humour and mischief.’ It is important
to realise that the people of Sangin were locals
just trying to get on with their lives, the
majority had no particular love for the Taliban.
However, fearing reprisals they would comply
with their directions.
The conversation ended with the question of
what the future holds for Afghanistan. During
his time there, it seemed possible that NATO
and the government could eventually defeat
the Taliban. It was and is a question of time
and resources. Col. Kitson believed that ‘we
definitely got the upper hand over the Taliban
in our area, despite the number of casualties.
This victory was both militarily and in the
minds of the people. I do think it (eventual
victory) is feasible.’ He did, however, worry
that not ‘enough of what was being fed into
Kabul was making its way to Sangin. It won’t
be an easy process but through time, good
government, investment into underdeveloped
areas and patience, it is feasible.’
The End of History Postponed
Kryštof Jirků
The Great War of 1914 was supposed to be ‘the
war to end all wars’. After four years of
massacres unprecedented in human history, the
Ce ntral Powers were defeated and the new era
of human flourishment, an era without wars,
oppression, and tyranny, was thought to be
coming. And yet 20 years later, the greatest
conflict the world had ever seen erupted.
Decades later, in late 1989, witnessing the
collapse of the whole ‘Eastern Bloc’, Francis
Fukuyama wrote his essay about ‘the end of
history’: the ultimate victory of liberal
democracy and the final fulfilment of the legacy
of the French Revolution. Bearing Hegel’s
legacy in mind, Fukuyama expected liberalism
to emerge from the 20 th century as the best and
the only universally applicable system, one that
would spread around the world as Communism
was supposed to after the October Revolution
of 1917. But it takes only a short glance out of
the window to find out that, in the same way
that the history of war did not end with World
War One, and Marxism did not bring a global
revolution of the proletariat, neither did the
bright visions of Fukuyama come into
existence.
The 1990s were indeed a promising era for
liberal democracy. In 2000, American think-
tank Freedom House counted 120 states with
democratically elected leaders around the
world, the greatest number in history. And yet
the past fifteen years have brought little cause
for celebration. The attempts to establish
democracy in the Middle East have thrown the
whole region into chaos, the Russian Federation
under Vladimir Putin seems to have forgotten
the democratic optimism of Boris Yeltsin,
Chinese President Xi Jing-Ping is not very keen
to follow the economic reformation with a
political one. Moreover, the liberal foundations
of western democracies seem to be shaking
under the pressure of new nationalism,
represented by politicians such as Donald
Trump in the United States, Boris Johnson in
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