Daily Times

Afghanistan has become embroiled in a multifaceted crisis. The relationship between the unity government and the Afghan national army is in strain due to the president’s confused political and military approach towards neighbours. The unity government is moving one step forward and two steps back. The level of corruption within parliament, ministries and law enforcement agencies is extremely high. Since October 2014, the government has been struggling to form a multi-ethnic government but failed; month-long fighting between them ended with the establishment of an incomplete cabinet of most wanted war criminals and tax evaders. On February 15, 2015, the speaker of parliament criticised the government about how 31 provinces are still under the control of acting governors. In the past 140 days, he said, only 30 percent of the cabinet had been completed. “Unfortunately, the delay in completing the cabinet and introducing new governors is worrying,” Executive Director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum Aziz Rafiee said.

The current stalemate situation and the cold war between the military establishment and the government resulted in the removal of five generals from their posts in the ministry of defence. The list of other politically affiliated generals is in the process of preparation. President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani is aware of the irritation of the Afghan national army’s military command over India’s weapons’ offer but he refused to receive weapons from India. The Afghan army is facing serious challenges and continues to sustain high rates of casualties. The US’s top commander in Afghanistan estimated that as many as 7,000 to 9,000 Afghan security forces had been killed or injured during combat operations in 2014.

In 2013 and 2014, former President Hamid Karzai had provided a list of weapons to the Indian government, which was initially rejected, but later on Delhi agreed to assess it. I think Mr Ghani understands that the Indian denial was a complete humiliation. President Ashraf Ghani now looks towards Pakistan for military assistance but the army commanders do not want the low-grade Pakistani weapons — they want Russian weapons. Now, military experts view this crisis as a deeply complicated one as Pakistan would be unable to meet the demands of the Afghan army.

Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, General Asad Durrani, recently warned: “The Afghan national army, without an overarching political consensus, cannot ensure security, except at a few selected places, and is no longer contested. Though a declining number still argues that backed-up by the residual NATO forces the army could pull through, the old guard pleads that for durable peace the Taliban should be accommodated.” From 2002 to 2014, Pakistan trained, armed and supported Taliban terrorist groups and used them against Afghanistan, while the Afghan army in the past often accused Pakistan of interference in Afghanistan. “We live in a dangerous neighbourhood; you can pick your friends but you cannot pick your neighbours,” Afghan Army Chief General Sher Muhammad Karimi told a delegation at the International Armoured Vehicles Conference.

The recent statement of former president General Musharaf enraged the entire Afghan nation. Mr Musharaf revealed that the ISI cultivated the Taliban to counter Indian action against Pakistan. In his short interview with the Guardian newspaper, Mr Musharaf said: “In President Karzai’s times, yes, indeed, he was damaging Pakistan and therefore we were working against his interest. Obviously, we had to protect our own interest,” the general said. Last Friday, Pakistan’s interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s statement further conflagrated the strained relations. Mr Nisar Ali Khan claimed that Pakistan’s army and the NATO forces had carried out joint military operations inside Afghanistan. In response to the statement of the interior minister of Pakistan, former President Hamid Karzai said that if Chaudhry Nisar’s words were anything to go by, then Pakistan had committed a blatant act of aggression against Afghanistan. The statement adds that Afghans have suffered much at the hands of Pakistan for its interventions in Afghanistan. “Interventions of other countries in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and violation of its sovereignty are disrespect to our independence, which is highly intolerable,” Karzai said.

Pakistan’s overt and covert support to the Taliban against the Afghan army and the arrest of Pakistan trained terrorists in Helmand and Kunar provinces raised serious questions about the country’s sincerity and cooperation with the Afghan national army in its fight against the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) forces. “Afghan and India focused militants continue to operate from Pakistani territory to the detriment of Afghanistan and regional stability. Pakistan uses these proxy forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and to counter India’s superior military,” the Pentagon told Congress in its latest six-monthly report on the current situation in Afghanistan. In a recent letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and US Representative Eliot Engel sternly demanded to consider implementing travel restrictions, suspending portions of assistance and sanctioning Pakistani officials who maintain relationships with designated terrorist groups.

The problems of Afghanistan are numerous, which cannot be discussed in this small article. Recently, the CIA warned that the country is in danger of turning into a sanctuary for IS. In my previous column, I expressed the same concerns about the sanctuaries of IS across the country. Afghanistan and Pakistan need to sincerely cooperate against this common enemy and undermine all issues that create misunderstandings between the two states. Pakistan has been hosting more than three million Afghans on its soil since the 1980s, which gives it the right to expect the same behaviour from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, Afghan governments never thought about the safe return of these refugees to their country. The government has also been slow to recognise these people as a vulnerable population. Internal displacement in Afghanistan is more complex. Over 100,000 families are internally displaced. The cold war between the unity government and the Afghan national army has now reached the lower ranks of the armed forces, which has badly impacted the military operation against the terrorists and extremist forces across the country.

The writer is the author of Punjabi Taliban and can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com