The Legacy of War

Conflicts of the past and present continue to cast an uneasy shadow in Hungary

Krisztian Nemes was buried on Monday in the town of Magyarkereszturon with full military honours. Nemes was an explosives expert working in Afghanistan with the Hungarian armed forces. Hungary maintains a small contingent of a hundred or so soldiers in Afghanistan. This contingent is mainly involved in reconstruction and bomb disposal work. It was during one such instance a little over a week ago that Nemes was killed. An explosion occurred while he was defusing a home-made bomb.

This was the second such tragedy for the Hungarian contingent in Afghanistan in the past few weeks. Ironically, Nemes went to Afghanistan to replace the first Hungarian soldier that was killed under similar circumstances. An investigation was subsequently launched into the matter to determine why two soldiers were killed in such a short period of time doing the same type of work.

What has already raised some eyebrows is the fact that the Hungarian contingent wasn't even required to do bomb disposal activities in Afghanistan, prompting questions as to why the soldiers were involved in such work. There is also a certain amount of disquiet as to why to Hungarians are in Afghanistan in the first place.

The answer to the latter is quite obvious. Hungary has done its best to present itself as a willing and reliable partner of the western world, to which it now feels it belongs. As a result, the country has often implemented policies which run counter to its national interest. This includes participation in foreign adventures in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, albeit the country is no longer involved in the latter conflict.

A war is no laughing matter

Throughout the region it's an inescapable fact that countries of the former East Bloc have put the national interest of others (namely the US and the EU) above their own. This can be clearly seen in the Czech Republic, where the government has been keen to take part in the US plan for a missile defence shield despite public opposition. Such policies have, in turn, alienated politicians from the rest of society. In Hungary, for instance, this alienation is such that many simply refer to the country's political leaders as the "political elite", a mildly degrading term akin to that of nomenklatura which was widely used throughout the communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the 1980s.

In spite of the ambitions of the Hungarian government in trying to make it look like they are making a significant contribution to the western military alliance, the amount of resources the country can donate are minimal at best and a bad joke at worst. Economically speaking, the Afghan resistance is able to wipe out the Hungarian contingent. It has been suggested that the Taliban offers 10,000 dollars for each Hungarian soldier killed; this represents almost the annual salary of a Hungarian soldier serving in Afghanistan. Thus, for a mere two million dollars (or a couple of kilograms of heroin) the Taliban can easily fund the Hungarian retreat from Afghanistan.

This explains why the Hungarian government was so concerned at the loss of two of its soldiers recently. Any such loss is a major blow to the country, not to mention a certain loss of prestige for the government. Not only this, it makes people aware that what was is going on in other parts of the world is serious business and that simple political gestures can have a substantial cost. In other words, a war is no laughing matter.

This was made more apparent to many in Budapest last week at about the same time that Krisztian Nemes was killed. A 500 kilogram bomb from the Second World War was found in the north of the city prompting an evacuation of local residents. The scene was somewhat chaotic as many were unwilling to leave their homes.

Every year, unexploded devices from the Second World War are still found throughout the country, usually during construction work. What was especially significant about this find was the size of the ordinance. It took the authorities over six hours to finally remove the device. However, most of this time was spent on evacuating some 10,000 people from the area; the actual job of defusing the bomb took experts only about an hour and a half.

Such events should be a sober reminder that the legacy of war remains long after it is over. Ironically, this same legacy that the people of Hungary are still living with is now being passed on by them to the people of Afghanistan. Although many Hungarians may object to this noting that the Hungarian contingent is doing "humanitarian work" and that they are not the ones dropping bombs, the country is nevertheless complicit in the atrocities taking place by virtue of simply being there.

From a historian's point of view, Hungary's participation in the war in Afghanistan is that much more ignominious given the ideals the country supposedly celebrates every March 15th when it commemorates the Revolution of 1848. Not only did Hungary then struggle for freedom in all its forms (political freedom, a free press, etc), but one of the main objectives of the revolution was also that all foreign soldiers leave Hungarian soil -- and that no Hungarian soldiers serve on foreign soil. In many respects, this was also one of the main objectives of the revolution in 1956 as well. It's sad to think that such progressive ideals have been left to simply rot on the trash heap of history.