Karzai's dangerous pastime
As Taliban raises pressure the Karzai administration is getting increasingly edgy, not too infrequently holding Pakistan responsible for its failure to fight back and contain insurgency. So it surprises no one that President Karzai and his cabinet have accused 'Pakistani intelligence agency and military' of masterminding the recent suicide bombing of the Indian embassy and the night assault on a US military outpost in the Kunar province.
Even the public execution of two women in Ghazi has been blamed on Pakistan. But this time the Afghan reaction has gone a little beyond normal, by making upcoming meetings with Pakistan contingent upon restoration of "bilateral trust". Afghanistan was "compelled" to suspend its involvement in various bilateral and regional meetings due in Dubai, Islamabad and Kabul this month and in August, said a statement issued after a meeting of the Afghan cabinet on Monday.
President Karzai, in a companion piece, has warned to avenge the killing of "these two sisters of ours very soon... and we are telling the enemies of Afghanistan that we protect the honour of this country". Last month also President Karzai had threatened to 'invade' Pakistan to dismantle what he called the terrorists' havens. But not before long his officials clarified that their leader had been quoted out of context.
An official clarification has not yet been issued, however. And, no one here is waiting for such a clarification, either. Given that of late the Taliban-led insurgency has acquired a new stridency and has begun taking on coalition forces in the open and in larger clashes and well beyond its strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand regions, Pakistan should be prepared for more frequently being accused of helping the insurgents. This is war; no doubt truth is its first casualty.
There are some elemental truths about the Afghan imbroglio that need to be known in order to place the statements by President Karzai and his cabinet in the correct perspective. Firstly, the Taliban is not a band of bloodthirsty marauders awash in drug money and killing anyone who came in their way. Devastated by the Soviet invasion, followed by the final battle with Communism and then the misrule by a squabbling bunch of Mujahideen leaders, the war-weary people of Afghanistan had invited the Taliban. They were the idea whose time had come.
Their 'coming to power' with popular support was vindicated when they took over 90 percent of Afghanistan without firing a bullet. In less than a year they rid Afghanistan of its biggest scourge - opium. But inexperienced as they were they paid the ultimate price for upholding their tradition of being generous hosts to al Qaeda. No doubt none of the Taliban was among the perpetrators of the 9/11 tragedy, but they were the worst sufferers of its aftermath.
However, they remain popular and having recovered from the initial shock and awe of US assault they seem to have returned to fight. Second, the present ruling clique in Kabul is entirely a non-Pushtun crowd with Karzai only an apology to lend the administration a colour of multi-ethnicity. That warlords, drug barons and contractors working on foreign-funded projects occupy most of the space around the Afghan president; he enjoys no respect earning him disdain and rejection of an ordinary Afghan.
So much so, he does not trust his fellow Afghans for his personal security. Third, the Afghans are always suspicious of foreigners. If angry with them they feel no hesitation in taking physical action. When the Afghans got angry with Pakistan they burnt down its embassy. Now they must be unhappy with India. This talk of Pakistan's involvement in the attack on Indian embassy is just hogwash.
President Karzai and his ministers must know that Pakistan has suffered more at the hands of the Taliban than Afghanistan. Over a thousand Pakistani troops have been killed in clashes with the Taliban in the tribal areas and yet there is no peace.
Why would Pakistan government promote instability in Afghanistan? If at all there are some fanatics who want to be part of the Afghan insurgency, why are they not interdicted at the border by Afghan and Nato forces? One would tend to believe that the Karzai administration is trying to shift responsibility of its multiple failures on Pakistan.
Such a tactic has paid it well in the past and it would not be shy of repeating it. Rightly then Pakistan has accused the Afghan president of creating an "artificial crisis...for short term political expediencies and point-scoring". But it is now for the international community to see through this charade - for it is a dangerous pastime, it costs human lives.
Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]
