The
Indians want to re-launch Pakhtoonistan issue
From
Hafiz Sana Ullah Khan
PESHAWAR:
In whatever way Afghanistan has changed after the US bombings
and taking over of authority, Pakistan is poised to pay a long
term price in terms of a hostile Afghan Government of National
Alliance leaders, dominated in policy and strategy by 
the
Indians and Russians.
The
Indians are active for their own agenda in Afghanistan. A senior
Indian army officer is now based in Jalalabad to re-launch the
Pakhtoonistan issue. More than 100 elders of tribal areas of
North West Frontier Province have been contacted by the Indian
army officer.
That
the Americans would stop the Indians from pushing the new Kabul
Government to adopt a friendly policy towards Pakistan is not
clear and probably not expected. "Washington would try
to use the Afghan card against Pakistan should anything happen
to GeneralPervez Musharraf and a hostile regime or General takes
over Pakistan," an analyst says.
How
Afghanistan has changed is obvious. It was carpet bombed. Taliban
government toppled. Mulla Omar and Osama vanished into thin
air. Al Qaeda network was dismantled. A pro US Afghan government
was installed with Karzai as chief. The exiled Afghan King returned.
US and foreign NGOs came back. Afghan refugees were partially
repatriated. Construction of a gas pipeline echoed. Dollar dominated
in the market. English assumed as third language after Dari
and Pashto. Beards were shaved, burqas removed, music restored,
radio and television network went on air, people were seen in
western dresses.This depicts one side of the picture with optimism.
But
the other side is one of pessimism, gradually taking shape.
Afghans want reconstruction and rehabiliation which is not visible.
They want construction of roads, bridges, airports, factories,
industries, business and trade, buildings. Nothing seems possible.
Afghans have become weary of politics of vendetta and tired
of infightings between warlords plus invasions of foreign powers
and alien meddlings.
They
want peace and tranquility for which 5000 men of the international
security force are not enough. This is Afghanistan's reality.
One side of the picture is painted with optimism, the other
is gloomy. Afghans were told Afghanistan was isolated from the
rest of the world. The entire blame was shifted to Taliban.
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network provided fuel to the fire.
US warplanes took no time to fly over planeless Afghan territory
of Taliban for carpet bombing here and there and everywhere
in Afghanistan.
Afghans
and the people world over were also told terrorists' bases,
training centres, weaponry dumps and strategic installations
were the target. Even caves were not spared. Heavy bombardment
on Tora Bora and nerve shattering explosions from cave to cave,
heard in Peshawar did not work. There was no sign of Osama nor
was that of his Arab-Afghan horses caravan. Osama is still missing.
Pakistan military dictator President General Pervez Musharraf
says Osama is dead. But Northern Alliance leadership counters
him saying Osama is not in Afghanistan. Amidst a whispering
campaign they quibble that the defiant Saudi fugitive is inside
Pakistan. As Taliban were toppled, the White House lost its
strong man Commander Abdul Haq.
Was
this revenge of 9/11 or beginning of the endless war against
terrorism. This is the question still being debated inside Afghanistan
and abroad. Taliban ruler Mulla Omar with one eye lost in US
backed Jehad is known to have escaped, but his whereabouts are
known and unknown to all in Afghanistan. Whether Osama is dead
or alive it was also hushed up. The award is still with President
Bush.
Hamid
Karzai, who speaks English in American tone and behaves in American
style was tipped as the man from the White House in Afghanistan.
There was much hullabaloo about Ex Afghan King Mohammad Zahir
Shah to install him. But Karzai was too smart to enter Kabul
in US warplanes, in the same way as Noor Mohammad Taraki, Hafizullah
Amin, Babrak Karmal and Najibullah entered the corridors of
power on Soviets tanks.
But
there is difference between now and then. The Soviet-backed
dictators enjoyed the political strength of Khalqis and Parchamites
plus power of the Soviet backed Afghan army. Karzai has none
of these assets. He has no political party nor any militant
group or armed men. He needs an Afghan army, which is not there.
Tajikistan and India have offered to help him form an Afghan
army. But that would only suit the Northern Alliance, which
is already blamed for having the backing of KGB and India. The
statements issued by NA leadership reflect kowtowing to Delhi.
Pakistan is not happy with it.
Karzai's
cry for US guards for his personal protection and insistence
to replace Afghan guards exposed him. Afghans say Karzai faces
not so much of a risk from his opponents as he faces one from
his own Afghan bodyguards. That was recently proved right. He
escaped an attempt on his life the day his brother's wedding
was being solemnised. Earlier his ministers Abdur Rehman and
Haji Abdul Qadeer were assassinated. Why did American failed
to protect the lives of his two ministers. This is the question
almost every Afghan is asking.
Karzai
is also crying for expansion of international security force
in Afghanistan. But US says nothing doing. Afghans have been
told that they should themselves arrange for their security
needs. Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is now lobbying
in the United States for he fears a US attack on Iraq will divert
the Americans attention from Kabul to Baghdad. Karzai also agrees.
Though
Hamid Karzai is head of Afghanistan but Northern Alliance is
the authority in Kabul. Defence, foreign affairs, education
and other important posts are held by them. Previously it held
the offices of security and police. Pashtoons were vying for
these slots but these were grabbed by the Northern Alliance
claiming that it were they who fought the war against the Taliban
and entered Kabul first. It is the history of Afghanistan that
whosoever enters Kabul first is the ruler. So Northern Alliance
is all powerful. It can divide or unite Afghanistan.
A
significant decline in the number of Afghan refugees returning
home persists. Last week more than 27,000 were back home which
is 8,800 less than the first week of this month. In March repatriation
began in Pakistan and now it has declined to the extent that
last Sunday registration centres in Islamabad and Quetta were
closed by UNHCR which is now planning to close Karachi centre
too. Takht Bai centre in Peshawar is the only one left where
10,000 Afghans returned daily sometime back.
In
Peshawar repatriation had affected property bargains. Residential
Bungalows are being sold at throwaway prices. Residential houses
costing Rs 1.4 million are now being sold at Rs 1 million or
less. Rented houses mostly occupied by Afghans are without tenants.
Rent have fallen from Rs 7,000 to Rs 4,000 per month. Previously
owners demanded six months adance. Now there is no such demand.
Even in certain cases the tenants themselves have reduced the
rents. Price of a residential plot in Hayatabad in Peshawar
where Afghan refugees lived, has dropped by almost two thirds.
Property sales have stopped. The situation will further worsen
when repatriation of refugees begins.
All this is due to instability plus invisible signs of US interest
in reconstruction and rehabilitation in Afghanistan. And now
US plans to attack Iraq has made Afghans even more doubtful
whether US will complete its unfinished agenda in Afghanistan.
The US owes Afghanistan the debt of rehabilitation and reconstruction.
US
lost one chance to win over the hearts of Afghans and backed
out of Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal. The second chance
is also being squandered by the White House.
