Afghanistan war: Another angle
Photo: Romeo Gacad/afp
THIS article is primarily in response to Mr. Billy Ahmed's article on 10 October 2009 entitled "Afghanistan War: Can the US win?" The writer, like so many others, painted a gloomy picture of war where US was portrayed as the aggressor and ordinary Afghans as the victims. According to him, the Talibans were engaged in a war of resistance and further US reinforcement into Afghanistan would only cause more US and Afghan casualties. The end result, according to him, would be a Vietnam-like debacle for the US and the West. He quotes a number of anti-war critics, as well as a "Leading Islamic Scholar" in USA named Imam Zaid Shakir, whose prescription for President Obama to end the war in Afghanistan was to "blame it on Bush and get out." I would argue that despite the bad news coming out of Afghanistan, all is not lost. While most of the infrastructures in Afghanistan were destroyed in three decades of war, thanks to the international assistance and the indomitable spirit of the Afghan people, the nation is well on the road to progress and prosperity. Afghanistan needs our help at this critical juncture in the form of military aid, economic assistance and human and logistic support. Abandoning Afghanistan to the Al-Qaeda and their cohorts, the Taliban, could be an easy way out for the world community, but would be suicidal in the end. The "International Terror Inc." would spread like cancer to strike at the core of modern civilization. A victory of the Taliban and its associated Islamic militant forces in Afghanistan would pose a serious existential threat to South Asia and beyond. If we compare Afghanistan in 2001 when the Talibans were driven out of Kabul, and Afghanistan today, we see a vast change for the better. Let's list some of their achievements. While Taliban government was recognized by only three countries in the world Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, the government of Afghanistan today is recognized by the world community. It is a member of the UN, OIC, SAARC and host of other international organizations. Whereas the educational institutions were closed down and destroyed by the Talibans they have been rebuilt, opened and are teeming with thousands of students. Girls are once again back in school despite frequent attacks by the Talibans. A recent survey says six million children are in school, two million of them girls. Thousands of Afghan women who were confined in their homes, deprived of any form of livelihood are today engaged in useful employment. BRAC Afghanistan (Bangladesh), an offshore branch of BRAC, is today operating in remote corners of Afghanistan. A visit to their website (http://www.bracafg.org/) would give the reader an idea of the extent of BRAC operations there. Along with BRAC many other foreign and local NGOs are operating across Afghanistan, engaged in all kinds of nation-building activities, something that would not be possible under the Taliban administration. Afghanistan had never seen democracy in its history; autocratic rulers and warlords have run the country for centuries. Yet, amidst the devastation, they drafted a constitution in 2003, and then elected a President in 2004 and a Parliament the next year. The result of the latest presidential election in August 2009 is being challenged by the opposition and a recount is going on. This is itself a test for democracy. Where in the Islamic world could such a thing happen? In the Islamic world, the sitting Head of State generally gets 99.9% vote till one fine morning he is removed in a coup or is killed by an assassin. We have just witnessed how those who challenged the election results were treated in Iran killed, beaten up, raped and jailed. Political parties are banned in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and in countries such as Egypt, Syria or Jordan can operate only under severe restrictions. Compared to the rest of the Islamic countries, Afghanistan is decidedly the winner in the exercise of democracy. Despite constant terrorist threats, the fact that nearly half the population, including a large number of women went to vote, speaks of the Afghans' desire to see a democratic order in their country. The press here is agog with the waning popularity of President Karzai, but what about the popularity of the Talibans? The vast majority of Afghans despises and detests the Talibans. According to an ABC News/BBC/ARD poll taken in February 09, support for the Taliban hovers just above 6%, support is essentially zero among the non-Pashtun majority of the population. Despite recent rise in insurgency activities, Taliban influence is limited along Pak-Afghan border. The Afghan government, of course, suffers from endemic corruption, nepotism and lack of governance, but those are true for most of the developing countries. Afghanistan, despite sharp fall in poppy production in recent years, still produces most of the opium in the world. Meanwhile, the Talibans have metamorphosed as the single largest drug cartel in Afghanistan. Recent NATO operations against the Taliban strongholds have unearthed, along with weapons and explosives, large cache of opium, ready for trade. Iran and Pakistan, the world's two largest opium consumers, are the markets next door; incidentally both are Islamic Republics. A look at the economic front would reveal that despite an ongoing war, Afghanistan had shown remarkable recovery. Since 2001, the economy has grown 10%annually in aggregate terms and non-agricultural economy has grown by 14%. A country, which had no bank, now has nearly a dozen commercial banks, including foreign banks operating across the country. There are half a dozen private airlines, beside Ariana, the national airlines. Newly rebuilt Kabul Airport is something that would make any Afghani proud. There are a number of international hotels and a large number of high-class restaurants in Kabul catering to the increasing number of foreign visitors, even tourists! The traffic in the streets of Kabul is as awful as in Dhaka cars buses and trucks jockeying for space. Of course, in the Central district open boulevards, shopping malls and residential quarters are splendidly laid out. Much of the battered road networks have been rebuilt and modernised. There are five mobile telephone companies and a number of private TV channels are in operation. There has been steady progress in electricity generation, rural development, sanitation and housing. In short, the overall development in every sector is clearly visible. Much has been written about the huge NATO-US military build up in Afghanistan. There are only about 10,000 NATO troops and 40,000 US troops there. One has to remember that not all NATO troops are engaged in fighting. A substantial number is engaged in training the Afghan National Army and Police, reconstruction and development works, humanitarian assistance, anti-narcotic operations etc. For the last eight years, the government has been trying to build a national army and police that are now about 90,000 and 50,000 strong respectively. Bangladesh is one fifth the size of Afghanistan and there is no war going on here, yet we have an army and a police force much larger than Afghanistan. It may, therefore, be easily understood that there is a "need to put more boots on the ground". Rebuilding a national Army or Police force from scratch is not an easy job, especially in a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, tribal society where a bulk of the people is illiterate. Yet, the Afghan army and police force are increasingly taking over operational tasks, just the way it is being done in Iraq. Under the pressure of the NATO-Afghan operations, the Afghan Talibans has already shifted their bases into Pakistan's FATA region, where it is presumed Al-Qaeda leadership too is sheltered. What is needed now is a joint NATO-Af-Pak military operation to deny safe haven to the terrorists and launch a pincer movement to press and squeeze them from all sides. Gen. McCrystal's request for additional 40,000 troops is in line with this strategy. Now that the Pakistani forces are finally going for an all-out offensive against the Taliban, there is a need for closer political understanding between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, overseen by the USA. There are many in Pakistan, especially those on the right, who believe that the Taliban operations are being orchestrated by the Indo-Israeli-American axis and their cohort - the government in Kabul. According to them, the aim of the Talibans is to weaken and destabilize Pakistan and then annex NW Frontier to establish Pakhtunistan. The opinion persists even after the killing of Baitullah Masud by the US drone and the most recent declaration by his successor Hakimullah Masud that after converting Pakistan into an Islamic Caliphate, their next target would be India. Assuming that some people would always miss the writings on the wall, the US needs to provide strong guarantee to Pakistan that their border with India will remain secure and that Pakistan could move troops from the Indian frontier to the western borders. Pakistan must also be assured by the Afghan government that it would recognize the Durand Line and would not raise the Pakhtunistan issue again; here again US coaxing could work. While the military operation goes in full swing, the efforts to win over the local Pakhtun population on both sides of the border and isolate them from the Al-Qaeda-Taliban forces must continue. There must be genuine effort made by all powers to improve the socio-economic condition in the Pakhtun areas. Especially, the much discredited Sardari system should be done away with, replaced by democratically elected local government institutions. That the Pashtun people want democratic reform is evident from the result of the last election in the Frontier where the religious parties were routed by the left-leaning Awami National Party (ANP). The American offer of $7.2 bn in assistance to Pakistan, if properly utilized, will go a long way in rebuilding the economic infrastructure not only in FATA, but also in other deprived areas such as Baluchistan. Does Bangladesh have a role to play in the unfolding scenario? In my opinion, we could have chalked out an important role for ourselves in Afghanistan long time back. However, it is never too late. We need to immediately open our embassy in Afghanistan. We need to develop closer economic, cultural ties with that country. There are huge construction works going on throughout the country. They need engineers, architects, doctors and health workers, business executives, and a host of other specialists. Only in the education sector, they would need many teachers from kindergarten to the universities. India has gone in a big way; why should we be sitting on the fence? India has been offering thousands of scholarships to Afghan students; these are their investments for the future. We could also offer scholarships to Afghan students in our institutions of higher learning. We could start air link between the two capitals, both the capitals are strategically positioned for onward connections to Europe and SE Asia. Indeed, we need to partner ourselves with the people and the government of Afghanistan for our mutual benefits. Meanwhile, we must do everything possible to win the war in Afghanistan, because it is our war too. The author is a freelancer.
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