For the US Military, 18 more months. For Muslims, a Thirty Year War

In the 1600s, Europe tumbled into a bloody and intractable holy war, Christian against Christian.

For three decades, Protestants and Roman Catholics ravaged one-another’s territories, raping and pillaging and destroying much of central Europe.

I mention this horrifying passage because too often observers describe our current world dilemma as a new crusade, a clash of civilizations, Christian vs. Muslim.

President Barack Obama’s decision to send 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan will be seen by many as another step in that conflict.

As someone who’s lived in a Muslim country and developed a deep love for Islamic art, history and culture, I think that’s wrong.

I think what we’re watching is the first long clash in an essentially intra-Muslim conflict.

We’re seeing a rough but effective coalition of traditionalists and radical jihadists on one side and a clumsy, disheartened but vastly larger faction of moderate Muslims on the other.

The sorrowful thing, so far, is that so many moderate Muslims have chosen to direct their anger and their frustration in other directions.

In Pakistan, popular musicians rage against the United States, and against India, not against the Taliban who are murdering hundreds, burning girls’ schools, and assassinating their democratically-elected leaders.

In Muslim communities across the globe, the perceived villains are the Jews, the Christians, Israel and the United States.

And there have been legitimate grievances, atrocities, moments of greed and cultural arroagance.

But the truth is that there’s only one force on earth that can hold back the dynamism and richness of Islamic culture.

That’s the violent and intolerant fundamentalism growing within.

The export of Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia — a virulent and horrifyingly intolerant strain of Islam — has introduced fear and bloodshed into countries from Africa to Central Asia.

The metastasizing of Al Quaeda-like organizations throughout the world, including in Muslim communities settled in the West, is a similarly dangerous trend.

All of this is worth wrestling with for two reasons:

1. Unlike the Thirty Year War fought among Christians, this conflict won’t be settled on battlefields.

This is a challenge for neighborhoods, local Imams, law enforcement, community leaders, activists and intellectuals.

If individual Muslims don’t understand and accept the true nature of the threat to themselves and their children, this conflict truly will stretch out over decades.

Every responsible parent in the Muslim world should make it clear to their children that Osama bin Laden and suicide bombers (most of whom attack other Muslims) are unambiguously evil.

2. Unless moderate Muslims embrace the help and assistance that the West hopes to provide in this conflict, the work of NATO, the United States and other factions won’t do any good.

Many Muslims see this kind of intervention as another face of colonialism, viewed in the context of the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians.

I think a better context would again be the Thirty Year War, when some Christians reached out to the Ottoman Empire for desperately needed support and aid.

Ultimately, the future of the Islamic World will be decided by this internal conflict, not by the settlement of Palestinian exiles or the ultimate disposition of the disputed territories in Kashmir.

Will Muslim communities develop a functional relationship with Modernism, religious and cultural diversity, and democracy?

Will they embrace and defend the empowerment and liberation of women?

Or will we see more failed and illegitimate states in the Muslim world, such as Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia, where warlords, narco-trafficers and Medieval theocrats dominate?

These questions won’t be answered by the American military in the next eighteen months.

They’ll be decided by Muslims, day by day, one family at a time, one courageous decision at a time.