Afghanistan and Pakistan: Brothers in Arms
Posted on 15. Jul, 2012 by Editor in Af-Pak
One major question that boggles many minds is why, despite the material and political sacrifice and socio-political suffering, does Pakistani role in Afghanistan continue to draw negative publicity? Why do our relations with Kabul fail to normalise? This perhaps, makes a peep back into history imperative.
By Farooq Yousaf
79’ Soviet war, Mullah Omar’s Taliban regime, the September 11 attacks, and now the 2014 pull out. Yes, I am talking about Afghanistan, a country that has provided justification to the US geopolitics for interventions outside the US, and fed the world media for over three decades. Ironically though, Pakistan has played the facilitator all through? hosted and trained AfghanMujahideen, and also sheltered over 3.5 million Afghan refugees.
One major question that boggles many minds is why, despite the material and political sacrifice and socio-political suffering, does Pakistani role in Afghanistan continue to draw negative publicity? Why do our relations with Kabul fail to normalise? This perhaps, makes a peep back into history imperative.
The Communists from the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December of 1979. They were invited by Hafizullah Amin, the then prime minister of Afghanistan, for the purpose of helping their common-ideology friends who were witnessing a civil war at that time. Although Amin was shot dead and replaced by Soviet-supported Babrak Karmal, the then Afghan ambassador to Moscow, the reality of this war is still obscured by distorted facts on the evolution of this conflict.
Many people may not know and what still remains a murder of history is the fact that the ’79 war was surprisingly initiated by the US government through an initial secret aid fund signed by Jimmy Carter on July 3, 1979. This fact was accepted by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the then US National Security Advisor, in an interview saying, “We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would (by funding the anti-Soviet forces). The day the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War… “
Unfortunately, Pakistan sided against the USSR and, thus, the seeds for a never ending spiral of violence were sown that are still haunting the Af-Pak region. Furthermore, the anti-Pakistan sentiment started to develop on the other side of the border. This is where the relationship started to wither and things started getting out of hands.
Although the initial toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001 proved to be easy proceedings for the coalition forces, but what really was in store is still making the headlines. Recently, the NATO forces, after a long struggle of 24 hours, ended the Taliban siege on a famous hotel in Kabul resulting in 20 deaths. Incidents like these are becoming the ‘new normal’ for Kabul.
The War against Terror has now become, without a doubt, a failed campaign. It is not me, or someone from the region saying this. Rather one of the West’s own, Sherard Cowper-Coles, the ex-British ambassador to Afghanistan, labeled the War on Terror as a ‘fiasco’ during his term of service. In his account of four years in Kabul, titled ‘Cables from Kabul’, he confessed that there were billions of pounds spent, thousands of lives lost, and all that the coalition forces were doing was making the same mistakes as all others who believed they could tame this fractious nation. One must say, the argument makes a lot of sense.
Gaining total control over Afghanistan has been a failure in, more or less, every division; be it geo-strategic, geo-political, geo-economic, diplomatic, intelligence or the military-cum-security failures. Neutralising the threat of militants ? Taliban being the major ones ? still remains an unsolved mystery. The result of this failure has called for greater pressures, both from Karzai and the US, on Pakistan to act against the Haqqani faction of Taliban in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region. This failure and blame is resulting in further withering of Af-Pak relations as the US-influenced Karzai government has to synchronise with Washington’s call in blaming Pakistan for militant activities taking place in the country, obviously to hide the failures within.
The Afghan endgame is visible within striking distance. The situation is resting upon a proper roadmap from all the stakeholders. It seems like the coalition forces want to leave with their heads high, but the greater interest of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) bloc in the region would make it hard to carry on the proceedings as planned.
Pakistan and Afghanistan need to realise the fact that further reliance on the US would prove nothing but detrimental for both the neighbours. With all the development activities coming to a halt soon after the NATO exit, it will all be left upon Afghanistan and its neighbouring friends, most importantly Pakistan, to play their part in this process. Further, succumbing to US pressure will not only worsen the Af-Pak relationship, it will also prevent the resolving of impeding issues haunting both sides of the border and faced by none other than the common man.
Ironic it is that recently both Islamabad and Kabul levied strict restrictions on visa procedures with the applicants only allowed a single-entry one month visa and, that too happens solely after having used influential references. These bars have jeopardised not only the legitimate business prospects but has also created problems for journalists and employment seekers on both the sides. What’s amazing is that on a daily basis, hundreds of thousands of people cross the border – many of them without visa or a passport. With such a huge number of people moving about freely, though illegally, restricting the valid cases seems to make little, or no, sense.
The policy makers in Kabul need to realise that allies and friends can change, neighbours cannot. Whatever happens, Pakistan will remain a neighbour; one that hosts more than three million of your nationals and deserves special consideration in the policies being made. Such a neighbour should not be defamed in the world media on wishes of the allies to hide explicit failures. Kabul also has to make sure that its neighbour’s territorial integrity is not violated through uncalled for attacks from its side by the NATO forces as such surgical strikes have never helped in the past and have lead to severing of ties between both the states.
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» Afghanistan and Pakistan: Brothers in Arms | Opinion Maker
16. Jul, 2012
[...] Afghanistan and Pakistan: Brothers in Arms | Opinion Maker Go to this article [...]
Afriq
16. Jul, 2012
“Pakistan and Afghanistan need to realise the fact that further reliance on the US would prove nothing but detrimental for both the neighbours.”
ABSOLUTELY! Every citizen knows that except the idiots of government. It would be stupid for Karzai not to know this! His desire for power is making him blind to the fact and he will pay for it dearly. The most stupid moron in line with that slime bag mass murderer war criminal – the Libyan rat jalil!
Re: the brit “West’s own, Sherard Cowper-Coles,” True what he says but not because it coming from the butchering raping nations brit. The cowards that the west is especially brit, you will find that the brits are the masters of cowardice
Remember the 20 odd ex (they will only open their disgusting revolting mouths when they become ex and have made millions from the blood of MUSLIMS) ambassadors claiming that the situation of Palestine was the fault of Arab despots because they did not oppose the west blah blah blah… the brit modus operandi. DO GREAT DAMAGE AND THAN PLAY THE GOOD COP BAD COP WITH US
Or the insane barbaric hideous Chris Patten the ex EU commissioner who had the same criticism of Arabs but not the crusader west the real culprit
“The policy makers in Kabul need to realise that allies and friends can change, neighbours cannot”.
Totally agree and why is Afghanistan despot levying bile at Pakistan? Does the haliburton chaiwallah not realise that he is RULING NOTHING. All the idiot does is vest exotically when required and yak the Usan bile.
The US crusader rag, Pakistani equivalent of el liezeera but in the toilet paper form had another bile article:
Lobbyists fail to boost Pakistan’s image in US
http://dawn.com/2012/07/15/lobbyists-fail-to-boost-pakistans-image-in-us/
WHY is Pakistan wasting precious funds? When US whores lile haqqani, afridi, sherry rehman, gilani, zardari ,…… what would you expect?
And why bother being an ally to war criminal thugs zionists mafia….?
Khalif
16. Jul, 2012
"Unfortunately, Pakistan sided against the USSR and,….!
Stupidity of Pakistan. No vision intelligence or even good sense -Pakistan is near which state?
You will find Afghans in Europe legally illegally being extremely anti – Pakistani and handing out propaganda prepared alla Syrian/Libyan as set out here – relevant text read the article brilliant!
The Syrian Opposition: Who's Doing The Talking?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31845.htm
The money
This is nothing new. Go back a while to early 2006, and you have the state department announcing a new "funding opportunity" called the "Syria Democracy Program". On offer, grants worth "$5m in Federal Fiscal Year 2006". The aim of the grants? "To accelerate the work of reformers in Syria."
These days, the cash is flowing in faster than ever. At the beginning of June 2012, the Syrian Business Forum was launched in Doha by opposition leaders including Wael Merza (SNC secretary general). "This fund has been established to support all components of the revolution in Syria," said Merza. The size of the fund? Some $300m. It's by no means clear where the money has come from, although Merza "hinted at strong financial support from Gulf Arab states for the new fund" (Al Jazeera). At the launch, Merza said that about $150m had already been spent, in part on the Free Syrian Army.
Merza's group of Syrian businessmen made an appearance at a World Economic Forum conference titled the "Platform for International Co-operation" held in Istanbul in November 2011. All part of the process whereby the SNC has grown in reputation, to become, in the words of William Hague, "a legitimate representative of the Syrian people" – and able, openly, to handle this much funding.
Building legitimacy – of opposition, of representation, of intervention – is the essential propaganda battle.
In a USA Today op-ed written in February this year, Ambassador Dennis Ross declared: "It is time to raise the status of the Syrian National Council". What he wanted, urgently, is "to create an aura of inevitability about the SNC as the alternative to Assad." The aura of inevitability. Winning the battle in advance.
A key combatant in this battle for hearts and minds is the American journalist and Daily Telegraph blogger, Michael Weiss.