Daily Times

Last week, the US signed a long-term strategic partnership agreement with an occupied, oppressed and ethnically divided Afghanistan. What is the importance of this agreement for a country without sovereignty, a professional army, air force, economy, critical national infrastructure, independence or national unity? What can this strategic partnership contribute towards relieving the grievances of a lost nation? In fact, Afghanistan lost its sovereignty and has been occupied since 2001 by more than 40 states with the help of their military might.

What interesting military politics has the US adopted by signing partnership agreements with slave nations to justify the killing of their innocent civilians. This is the superpowers’ great jeer at poor and powerless nations. The presence of foreign forces, intelligence networks, warlords, private militias, mercenaries and parallel governments in all parts of the country prove that Afghanistan is an occupied state where the government, the army and the people have no right to raise their voices against this so-called strategic partnership agreement.

How can President Karzai’s Afghanistan, whose ministers are on the US’s payroll, whose corrupt and ethnically divided armed forces and police are under US control and whose civilians are being killed and imprisoned in US-run jails, be viewed as a sovereign state? Karzai himself is physically guarded by Washington. Some say this is a strategic partnership with the Karzai regime, not with Afghanistan. How can Mr Karzai demand relations with the US based on equity or partnership between two sovereign states? “We want a strategic partnership but with specific conditions: our national integrity, no night raids, no house searches,” Karzai reluctantly told jirga members in Kabul last week. The US rejected his demand and said night raids were the most effective weapon against insurgents.

In fact, the US and its allies want to create a conflictual situation in South Asia. Before the agreement, the Afghan president had announced that Afghan soil would not be used against neighbouring states but a day after the signing of the agreement, NATO helicopters violated Pakistan’s airspace and targeted an army post in the FATA region. All neighbouring states understand that this agreement for permanent US bases will harm their security. Moreover, can President Karzai give guarantees to regional states that their sovereignty will not be violated in future? The answer to this question is ‘no’, because Afghanistan as an occupied state has no right to instruct the US, NATO and ISAF military commands. In spite of assurances from Afghan parliamentarians and community elders to neighbouring states that Afghan soil would not be used against them, NATO helicopters targeted Pakistan’s military outposts, killing more than 28 soldiers in Mohmand Agency. According to Afghan officials, a firefight was taking place in Kunar province between NATO and the Taliban when Pakistani forces fired at NATO forces and they called in air support. However, the truth of this is not confirmed. “This is an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty,” said Prime Minister Gilani. The Afghan-Pakistan border is a dangerous area for both states, with incursions and attacks taking place in both directions. This is the first gift of the US-Afghan long-term partnership agreement.

Pakistan sealed the Torkham border and called on the US to leave Shamsi airbase. Security experts understand that Pakistan has adopted a shameful policy of allowing US drones to use its soil against its own people. The Pakistan Army and political leadership are equally responsible for strengthening extremism and militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. What should Pakistan expect in return from the people of Waziristan and FATA, whose children are being killed day and night, and whose sick and injured men and women are dying without medicine and treatment?

Neighbouring states, specifically Russia, denounced the partnership agreement and said the long-term military presence of NATO and the US would not be helpful in bringing peace and prosperity to Afghanistan. In an exclusive interview with Afghan news agency Pajhwok, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan expressed his reservations. “By now we are not convinced that a long-term foreign military presence in Afghanistan will help to maintain security in the region,” he said. Moreover, last week, around 1,000 Afghans from Nangarhar province protested against the US-Afghan partnership deal. “We are totally against US presence in our country; they kill children and women in their operations,” protest leaders told newspapers.

The US-Afghan strategic partnership is seen by conservative Afghani, Iranian and Pakistani politicians and military experts as a plan for a permanent US presence in Afghanistan. At the loya jirga meeting, many controversies arose because of strong criticism against the deal and its consequences. Some leaders were astonished at how a great nation could endorse and accept an agreement for its long-term enslavement. Some said that this deal would strengthen the Karzai regime but weaken regional stability.

Opposition parties accused the government of using the jirga as a platform for its political agenda. Diplomatic circles analysed this agreement as the government’s attempt to repair its legitimacy, which was tainted because of controversies surrounding the last election and widespread security mismanagement that engulfed the country. At present, the most serious crisis of Afghanistan is that of committed leadership. In all provincial capitals of the country, provincial reconstruction teams are running parallel governments that challenge the central government. Mismanagement, indifference, corruption and authoritarian politics have raised many questions as the president plays his role as a US viceroy. The Karzai government is unable to launch any important initiative on its own for the purpose of reducing corruption, like appointing competent and committed officials. The failure of the present government is obvious from its achievements. NATO and the US have occupied Afghanistan and created problems for neighbouring states. They use Afghan soil for military purposes and have damaged the national unity of the country. In summation, Pakistan needs to review its policy of allowing American drones on its soil to kill and humiliate Pashtuns in both FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The writer is author of Afghanistan beyond 2014 and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com.