The Hindu Business Line : Indian `idol' in Afghanistan

A good example of India's growing influence in Afghanistan can be seen from the fact that in an Afghan TV show inspired by the US TV show American Idol, candidates sing Hindi songs despite the requirement to sing Afghan songs! Today, India is an exemplary example to follow for young Afghans thanks to the close cultural ties between the two nations. Since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, Afghanistan has become a playground for both the countries applying different methods to expand their influence here. But Pakistan's accusation that the Afghan government is pro-Indian is baseless.

The activities of the two governments determine their influence in the country. Measuring the impact of their respective long-term policies over Afghan people, one finds that India is increasingly being looked upon as a friend, while Pakistan's image has suffered, even among those Afghans who were given shelter as refugees in Pakistan over long years of the country's turbulent history.

The Indian policy has always striven for close ties with the Afghan government regardless of the colour or contours of the political power in Kabul. And this policy has been in place over three decades of internal conflicts in Afghanistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, has always pursued a scantily hidden agenda to dominate Afghanistan through puppet and subservient governments in Kabul.

It got directly involved in the Afghan internal conflict by providing military support to its Afghan surrogates, namely Gulbudin Hekmatyar (leader of Hezb Islami) and the Taliban movement. Since the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989 till September 2001, Pakistan has been a major regional player shaping the destiny of Afghanistan. General Zia-ul-Haq, a former Pakistan President, wanted to create a confederation of the two countries, with Pakistan being the dominant economic and political player.

In order to succeed with that policy, Pakistan's military authorities ordered the militant Gulbudin Hekmatyar to paralyse life in Kabul with deadly rocket attacks after the fall of the Afghan Communist regime in 1992. The aim was to force people to flee from Kabul, forcing major embassies and foreign offices to shut down. But when this objective did not materialise, the Pakistani establishment dumped Hekmatyar, and turned its military and financial support in the direction of the extremist movement of the Taliban, and helped it to overthrow the government in Kabul. The destruction and misery that Pakistan imposed on Afghans will be scrutinised by Afghanistan's future generation.

A friend in need

As opposed to Pakistan, India has never interfered directly in Afghanistan's internal affairs and conflicts. Unlike Pakistan, India's paramilitary forces have never been involved in the killing of innocent Afghans nor has it ever financed and encouraged foreign fighters to destroy Afghanistan's economic infrastructure and cultural heritage. In the eyes of Afghans, Pakistan is to be blamed for the destruction of the giant Buddha statutes in Bamiyan, which were considered a common cultural heritage for the whole region and indeed the world.

Since the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001, India has been an active and major contributor in Afghanistan's reconstruction projects. The Indian presence and economic assistance are much appreciated by Afghans. Despite having millions of poor and needy people, India has generously donated resources to assist the Afghan people. Indian doctors help to run clinics in Afghanistan and thousands of Afghan students are offered scholarships to study in Indian universities. Wealthy Afghans prefer sending their children to India, rather than Pakistan, for education.

Through its troubled history Afghanistan has seen bloodshed and destruction as horrific as or worse than the current one, and survived as a very poor, but very proud, nation. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan destroyed the country, killed and disabled millions of people and forced more than five million into exile. Yet Afghans do not hate Russians because it was the ruling Soviet government that ordered the invasion of their country.

Similarly, they know that Pakistani people are not behind the misdeeds of their government. But they are furious with Pakistan because they never expected that a neighbouring Muslim country could inflict such misery upon them. In fact, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the assistance that Pakistan had provided to more than three million Afghans refugees created a unique opportunity for Pakistan to expand its influence in Afghanistan through peaceful means such as peace brokering, economic development, cultural exchange. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pakistan got a new opportunity; it could have collaborated with the NATO forces to stabilise the country, helped block the infiltration of militant groups across the border into Afghanistan, and participated in the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Yet Pakistan's military authorities only created further resentment among the majority of Afghans by maintaining their rigid and ill-conceived Afghan policy and supporting the Afghan insurgent groups.

Afghans can distinguish between countries that stand up as friends and help stabilise their country, and those that try to destabilise it. In its present political and economic condition, Afghanistan cannot afford hostility with its neighbours. The Afghan people have always wanted close economic and cultural ties with all of their neighbouring countries.

Cultural ties

The majority of Afghans watch Bollywood movies and listen to Indian music as a unique source of entertainment. If all private and public Afghan TV channels and radio stations broadcast Indian films, TV serials and music, it is because there is a demand for these programmes. Indian TV serials have become a must-watch for the majority of the people. For instance, men negotiate with the Imams in the mosques to alter the evening prayer time so that they don't miss their favourite serials!

What would Afghans watch on Pakistan's TV channels or listen to on its radio? The news from Pakistan is depressing and fearsome for them. They hear about the imminent offensives of the Taliban from their bases in Pakistan, they worry about the next wave of suicide bombers indoctrinated in Pakistani madrassas, and they're shocked at the fatwas (religious rulings) given by Pakistani religious figures to legitimise the killing of innocent Afghans.

In addition, some graduates of Pakistani madrassas accuse young Afghans of committing apostasy by dedicating their time learning about the lives of Bollywood stars rather than concentrate on the teachings of their own religion. That Afghans prefer Indian schools or colleges to those in Pakistan should alarm Pakistani authorities.

Afghanistan's young generation formulates its impressions on Pakistan based on the images it receives from TV screens. Instead of being unduly concerned about India's growing economic and cultural influence in Afghanistan, if Pakistan wants to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people it should reconsider its policy in Afghanistan.

(The writer is the Middle East Policy Analyst for the International Affairs Forum. He served as an aide to the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan's former defence minister.)

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Indian `idol' in Afghanistan