Daily Times

On November 21, 2014, The New York Times reported that President Barack Obama had quietly approved a guideline to allow US commanders in Afghanistan to continue to target Taliban insurgents. This guideline means that US and NATO forces will remain in Afghanistan for quite a long time. The main purpose of this guideline may possibly be to contain China and Russia, and their influence in South Asia. Recent political developments in South Asia, military rapprochement among Russia, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan, and pressure from neighbouring states forced the Obama administration to stand behind the Afghan National Army for its fight against terrorism beyond 2014. The US and its allies reviewed their past decision to end the combat mission in Afghanistan and perhaps there could be a bigger US military presence than what Obama had earlier sanctioned for 2015.

On November 23, 2014, the Afghan parliament approved the long awaited security agreement between Afghanistan and the US. The approval of the agreement and the military guideline of the Obama administration raised serious questions about the hegemonic designs of US and NATO member states in the region. According to the US military intelligence report, as Taliban and other ethnic groups have become increasingly influential, the presence of US forces in Afghanistan is a constant need to help stabilise the country. Conversely, addressing a seminar in India, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that in the presence of US forces in Afghanistan, peace and stability would not return to the region.

Though Pakistan’s role for peace and stability in Afghanistan has been central in all diplomatic and military manoeuvres among regional states, recent allegations in a Pentagon report against the country’s proxy war in India and Afghanistan contradicted its stance of desiring a peaceful Afghanistan. The release of the Pentagon report caused misunderstanding between the two states, while India, naturally, applauded the release of the report. The foreign ministry of India remarked, “If the international community is saying Pakistan is using terrorists as proxies to counter the Indian army then it is welcome.” All these allegations were levelled against Pakistan shortly after the tail end of the Afghan president’s visit. The Pentagon report deeply criticised Pakistan for its clandestine support to militants to carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan. There are mixed reactions in political and diplomatic circles. Some repudiated the report while some endorsed it and said Pakistan uses jihadist forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and to counter India. Pakistan termed this as baseless.

During his visit to Islamabad, President Ashraf Ghani tried to convince Pakistan’s military leaders that his government sincerely wants peace in the region. Conversely, Pakistan’s military establishment acted differently. They demanded the handing over of Mullah Fazlullah and Umar Khalid Khurasani, and putting within limits the political and military role of India in the country, which may be difficult for the unity government.

Amidst exacerbating differences between the two states over the role of India in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s army chief, General Raheel Sharif, visited the US to discuss Pakistan’s future priorities in Afghanistan. This visit and the recent contradictory statement by former army chief General Musharraf caused further distrust surrounding the relationship between Kabul and Islamabad. General Musharraf’s statement washed out all efforts of confidence building measures. He said that Indian influence is a danger for Pakistan: “That is another danger for the whole region and for Pakistan because Indian involvement there has an anti-Pakistan connotation. They [India] want to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan. If the Indians are using some elements of ethnic entities in Afghanistan, then Pakistan will use its own support for ethnic elements, and our ethnic elements are certainly Pashtuns,” the general said.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacted angrily from New Delhi and insisted that his country would not allow itself to become the battleground in a proxy war between India and Pakistan. In his speech in Delhi, Mr Karzai repudiated Pervez Musharraf’s statement. “Of course Afghanistan will not allow a proxy war between Pakistan and India,” Karzai said. Pakistan supports the Afghan Taliban, thus the war in Afghanistan is causing discontent and hopelessness. According to the summary report of the department of defence’s inspector general, the US lost 15,600 weapons valued at approximately $ 4,19.5 million. These weapons may possibly be used against the Afghan security forces. The Pakistan army will also face the same fate as the Taliban and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are joining hands for the establishment of an Islamic state in the region.

The security situation is deteriorating by the day while the unity government is unable to show a positive response to the terrorist attacks across the country. In these attacks, the involvement of the Afghan army and police officers was confirmed by first Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum last week. Speaking to journalists at the site of a terror attack in Kabul, warlord Dostum said insiders who worked for anti-government forces should be identified and arrested. On November 23, 2014, more than 60 innocent Afghans were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a volleyball ground in Yahya Khel village of Paktika province.

The government has no proper contact with the citizens and continues to alienate them from the state. Afghans are profoundly dissatisfied with the Ghani-Abdullah government’s performance. Citizens deeply resent the abuse of power, impunity and lack of justice. Murder, extortion and land mafia groups within parliament have gone unpunished. The Afghan National Army is corrupt, incompetent, politicised and increasingly weakened by corruption. Thousands of recruits are quitting the army and the police every month. They often open fire on their colleagues in the battlefield and sell weapons and ammunition. In Kandahar, Helmand and in some northern provinces, the police have not been paid their salaries for months. Therefore, police officers are increasingly selling their weapons to the Taliban. Weak regulations allowed warlords and army generals to seize three hundred thousand hectares of land in Afghanistan over the last 13 years.

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