Al Jazeera

WILL WESTERN LAW HELP?
February 26, 2011, 12:00PM EST
By E. Doll
Al Jazeera

During an unmoderated caucus in the General Assembly, as many of the delegates were discussing the situation in Afghanistan, Afghanistan’s own delegate stated, “We should engulf the population in Western ways.” As an Iranian, I personally found this comment appalling and ignorant of what the population in Afghanistan would most likely want, so I hoped to find some clarification in an interview. 

I asked her what she meant by the suggestion of forcing Western culture and law on the Afghan people. Her reply was, in part, “…Western law will prevent the Taliban from having more rights than the rest … and will help keep them under control.” I fail to see how enforcing new laws from Western society will help prevent the Taliban from acting out; just because there is a law, doesn’t mean people will abide by it. And if new laws are the solution, why adopt ones from a society that forces its culture and religion on all other countries it gets involved with? I feel that, as Afghanistan said, “enforcing Western culture” will only corrupt the people of Afghanistan and possibly pose a threat to other countries. Like the chain reaction of revolutions started by Egypt, Western ways could easily infect other Eastern countries if Afghanistan goes through with the delegate’s suggestion. It could only ever make the situation worse.