Afghans in a quandary on eve of US elections

For over the past five decades, the normal diplomatic practise has been to refer to the Indian sub-continent as South Asia. This region was described as extending from Pakistan and India in the west, to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the east. Sri Lanka and Maldives were civilisationally an integral part of this geographic space, across the Indian Ocean.

But, in reality, the subcontinent has extended civilisationally into Afghanistan, from the days of the Indus Valley civilisation and Alexander the Great. Moreover, the authority of Imperial British power ended at the so-called “Durand Line”, drawn arbitrarily by the British to mark the north-western frontier of Imperial India.

This border was never accepted by the Pashtun (Pathan) population, which has lived unitedly for centuries in territories up to the Indus River. No Afghan Government has recognised the Durand Line as its border with Pakistan. Even the Afghan Taliban have never accepted that their country’s borders end at the Khyber Pass. The Pashtun homeland, for them, extended till Attock, on the banks of the Indus.

The Soviet invasion and the subsequent withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the virtual division of Afghanistan, following a civil war waged by the Pashtun Taliban, who constituted 42 per cent of the population. The majority 58 per cent of the population comprised Tajiks (37 per cent), and relatively smaller numbers of Uzbeks, Hazaras (Shia), Baloch, Turkmen, and others. The resistance to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan was led by Afghanistan’s legendary Ahmed Shah Masood, who, thereafter, spearheaded the resistance against Pakistan and its Taliban protégés who were seeking exclusive control of the whole country.

It was Ahmed Shah Masood who forged a military grouping called the Northern Alliance to resist advances by the Pakistan-backed Taliban. The Northern Alliance was given political and military support primarily by India, Iran and Russia. But, as far as India is concerned, a federal homeland for Afghans extending from the Indus River Basin to its present borders would be no different from what existed before British Colonial Rule. How the ethnically diverse Afghans live within their pre-colonial borders is for the people of Afghanistan to decide.

Governance issue

As the Americans prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan in the coming months, every effort is being made for the Afghans to agree on how the country will be governed, after the American withdrawal. The American intervention has lasted 19 years thus far, with an estimated 112,000 Afghan soldiers and 45,000 civilians losing their lives.

A united Afghanistan, living at peace within its borders, will not suit the interests of Pakistan’s military. There is no love lost between the people of Afghanistan and the Pakistan Government. There is also no love lost between the Pakistani Pashtuns living in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, and the Pakistan Government.

An estimated 22,000 Pashtun civilians and 2,400 Pakistani soldiers lost their lives in military operations in North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan, in 2014-16. The Pakistan Army and Air Force were brutal, in their operations against the tribal population, which have left deep scars in the minds of Pashtuns, in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The net result has been the emergence of a popular people’s resistance movement, spearheaded by Pakistani tribal Pashtuns, called the Pashtun Tahafuz (Freedom) Movement (PTM). This movement is being brutally suppressed by the Pakistan Army. Punjabi Generals like Raheel Sharif have evidently forgotten what happened in Bangladesh following their crackdown on innocent civilians in 1971.

Amidst these developments, the Americans, through their Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, have pressured the Pakistan and Afghanistan governments to back a peace process, involving talks between the Afghan and Pakistani Governments, aimed at promoting direct talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. The Afghan delegation to the proposed talks is to be led by Abdullah Abdullah, the Chairman of the “High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan”.

Abdullah’s father was Pashtun and his mother a Tajik. He joined Ahmed Shah Masood in the struggle against the Soviets and the Taliban, becoming a close associate of the Tajik leader. The Afghan Government thus has an experienced political leader to head the government delegation in talks with the Taliban.

Peace agreement?

Whether the exclusively Pashtun and religiously fundamentalist Taliban, which believes in ruling by the gun, will negotiate a peace agreement that provides for a democratic federal structure is questionable. Given the authoritarian and religiously fundamentalist propensities of the Taliban, it is unlikely that a stable peace will return anytime soon. More so, as the Taliban leaders regard the country’s Shia population as infidels.

India has undertaken projects worth $3 billion in Afghanistan, with an additional $1 billion pledged in 2016, under the “new development partnership” scheme, since 2001. India’s assistance — which has extended from construction of dams, hydro-electric power plants, electricity transmission lines, roads, and hospitals, to higher education, vocational training, midday meals for school children and university education — has been widely appreciated. It has won respect from people across Afghanistan.

While the US is determined to withdraw its combat troops from Afghanistan, much will depend on what the new Administration decides after the November 3 Presidential elections. The Afghan Government will find it difficult to manage without financial assistance from the US and its allies. The presence of US air-power will also be necessary to prevent a Taliban takeover.

How the US will react is still the biggest question mark on the future of Afghanistan. New Delhi would, however, be well-advised to keep in touch with the Taliban, amongst other reasons, to ensure the safety of its nationals in Afghanistan.

China has thus far played safe, having a very small presence of Chinese nationals in Afghanistan. It has provided precious little by way of economic assistance for Afghanistan. Consistent with their polices of exploiting the natural resources of others, the Chinese have displayed great interest in the mineral resources of Afghanistan, including the mining of copper.

The Taliban surely knows that over two million Muslim Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang Province are in custody. Muslims are being persecuted in every conceivable manner in China. Some of the persecuted Muslims in Xinjiang will inevitably be compelled to move into Afghanistan. Will the Taliban look the other way at the sufferings of fellow Muslims living virtually next door, or will they remain committed to backing such causes like they did when their founding father, Mullah Omar, and Osama bin Laden were close friends and comrades?

The writer is a formerHigh Commissioner to Pakistan

COMMENT NOW