Daily Times

The killing of Hamid Karzai’s half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, governor of the Kandahar province, is a major setback to the Afghan government, NATO and the US. Taliban stronghold Kandahar is the province where foreign forces have faced the toughest resistance. Ahmed Wali Karzai was a controversial figure due to his alleged links with drug mafias but exercised considerable influence in the area and served as a lynchpin of the Karzai government in southern Afghanistan. His killing by one of his trusted protectors at a time when the US is moving towards its scheduled withdrawal from Afghanistan has raised suspicions that the killer might have been working for the Taliban. The Taliban, too, have claimed responsibility for the attack, but there are denials from within the Karzai government of the aide’s links with any external element. They are blaming it on his habit of drug use. However, this does not rule out the possibility of the Taliban’s involvement in shaking the Karzai government at a critical time.

Ahmed Wali Karzai’s death will create a vacuum in Kandahar, something the Karzai government can hardly afford right now. However, the difficulties in the withdrawal phase notwithstanding, there are not really any other choices. The momentum for withdrawal is now virtually unstoppable. The American and European public are not ready to extend this fight anymore. Therefore, despite all the difficulties, the process will continue. Sadly, the foreign forces have not been able to achieve the targets for which they invaded Afghanistan and have been compelled to come to the negotiating table with the Taliban ten years down the line.

In this situation, the inescapable lesson is that ambitious projects of this sort have never succeeded anywhere in the past. After the recent ‘humanitarian’ intervention in Libya, the west is looking to meddle in Syria’s internal affairs. The lesson to be learnt is that you cannot sort out everything by behaving as an omniscient and omnipotent regulator of the world. Many have tried this in the past to eventually come to this conclusion. Therefore, this interventionist policy should be shunned. It should be left on the people of these countries to sort out their problems. After huge loss of time, life and money in Afghanistan, the west, too, has come to the conclusion that this is an unwinnable war. Better late than never. *