The pen is not always mightier: the search for a non-military solution in Afghanistan and Iraq

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” Look it up in a dictionary of cultural literacy or other phrase book, and you’ll find it called an aphorism or adage. It’s a quick, dramatic way of saying in the long run, ideas are what matter. In the long run, the people who write the histories decide who the “good guys” and the “bad guys” are.

You won’t find “the pen is mightier…” listed under practical strategies for self-defence. When accosted by a mugger, the pen is a feeble defence. Later on, you can use your pen to write scathing articles that will shape posterity’s view of the mugger. But in the moment of conflict, the pen is not much use against a knife or pistol.

“The pen is mightier…” is a proverbs of guidance that gives advice about the values we choose. It is not a literal statement of the way things work in the real world. Though these days some politicians seem to act as if it were.

“Bring the troops home” an increasing number of people and leaders say. “There is no military solution.” “We need to pursue negotiations, not confrontations.” Statements like that echo through the halls of government as leaders debate the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Somewhere out there is a treaty the parties could sign that would bring peace and stability.

Does anybody remember who the Taliban are? Does anybody remember what they did when they ruled Afghanistan? They executed people for teaching girls! What compromise is there with this kind of ideology?

Does anybody remember why Muqtada al-Sadr is an anti-US cleric? It’s not the lack of progressive social services in the west. It’s things like rock music and freely-available alcohol and the way women can go out in public uncovered. It’s the way we in the west don’t enforce a strict morality like the sharia code.

What potential compromise is there with forces like these? What is there to negotiate about? The Taliban will not change their beliefs on the role of women in society because western troops pull out of the country.

What could we accomplish by bringing the troops home? What kind of agreement waits at the end of the negotiations some say should replace confrontations? Well, there aren’t too many specifics about that. With a resigned shrug of the shoulders, people admit ignorance but hope it will be better than what’s gone before.

Using the pen to sign a treaty may make some in the west feel better, but it’s a weak protection indeed against those who choose to use their swords against their opponents. All the pen really accomplishes there is to put down some ink stains that dry upon some line. And, to borrow the phrases from the Jimmy Webb song, a truly determined person won’t be shackled by those kinds of forgotten words and bonds.

Sometimes we can resist evil with the power of words and ideas – the realm of the pen. But sometimes it takes more. Sometimes it takes the sword. And woe to us and those who count on us for protection if we use a pen when we need the sword.