Afghan Issue: Another Wrong Decision of the US

Pressurizing Afghan government and cutting US support is the problem, not the solution

By Hafeez Hassanabadi

The United States, with its forces, made the first wrong step by not putting any condition – that there will no violence against Afghan forces and civilians, and at the same time the US excluded the Afghan government from the Taliban-US talks, which severely damaged the importance of the Kabul government. That’s why any step taken by the United States in this direction will have negative consequences. The United States has agreed not to attack the Taliban by excluding the Afghan government. The agreement between the Taliban and the Italian troops in Afghanistan, which came to light in 2008 is the worst form of agreement, the Italians paid the Taliban a certain amount of money for not attacking them. In return, they [Taliban and Italian] did not attack each other.

The secret [agreement] was revealed when the French troops, seeing the atmosphere of peace there, went and took charge. The Italians kept their secret deal to themselves and the French were unaware, hence they were easy targets for the Taliban, and ten of their young men were killed in a single attack. French officials expressed outrage at the incident, while Italian officials gave justifications that they didn’t commit any “protection payment” to anyone. But the French insisted, and Afghan intelligence confirmed that the Taliban had paid them in Pakistan and Herat. Meanwhile, Taliban commander Muhammad Ismail also confirmed that the Italians used to pay them for their lives, which was closed after their departure and they resumed their operations.

At that time, all the allies, including the United States, expressed their indignation over it. Now the question arises that if the agreement behind the allies was wrong, then how can this agreement be right behind the back of Afghans? The US tells Taliban, “For now, let us go, don’t kill us, in return not only we will not attack you but also give you many political and military concessions.” However, why the decision not to attack Afghans was wrapped up in dozens of conditions?

Due to this decision of the United States, ordinary Afghan citizens and the Afghan government are currently suffering the worst, which has directly affected the interests of the oppressed nations fighting for their survival in the region, including the Baloch, Pashtun and Sindhis. In comparison, Pakistan despite losing its credibility due to its duplicitous policies is now in a position where it can easily deceive the United States once again. This has strengthened the possibility that the United States and its allies will not be able to bring peace to Afghanistan. However, by increasing their dependence on Pakistan, they will surely defeat themselves.

Because the United States, despite its 20-years presence in Afghanistan, has not been able to establish an independent, sovereign and authoritative election commission whose decisions are acceptable to all, nor has it been able to establish an institution that can ensure the implementation of EC’s decisions. As a result of this carelessness and ad hoc based approach, the results of the Afghan elections were not only disputed at the behest of Pakistan and Iran but also by the ridiculous announcement of two presidents in one country to form a government in Kabul made the whole country a joke around the world.

Regrettably, the burden of US decisions solely had its effect on the Kabul government, besieged by the Taliban, who did not attack the Americans and spared them to some extent to provide Pakistan and its allies the opportunity to intensify their attacks in the entire country. The killing of afghan forces and common citizens and the damage of such attack and the pressure of the US promise to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners also befall on Kabul government. Even though, it [Kabul] had not been taken into confidence in the past neither have they felt the need to take the trouble to work out a formula for a complex process.

If Kabul releases all prisoners, including Uzbeks, Chechens, Turkmens, Uyghurs, Pakistanis, Arabs and those involved in serious crimes, which are on Taliban’s list, there will be public outrage and violations of the country’s laws. If they do not release the prisoners, the opposition groups, including allies, would get the chance to criticise Kabul and to create the impression that the Kabul government does not want peace and obstructing the release of Taliban prisoners. Similarly, the punishment of Abdullah Abdullah’s self-proclamation as Afghanistan’s president was given to the Kabul government by cutting the US aid which was recognized and congratulated by the whole world, including the United States.

Now, if Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah again agree for a coalition government on the basis of mistrust as a result of US pressure, they may be forced to remain in power for the next five years as they did in the last five years but, such a government can not be strong and effective, which at present Afghanistan needs more than ever.

At a time when the Kabul government is under internal and external pressure, US Ambassador Zalmai Khalilzad’s statement that India should talk directly to the Taliban to fix its affairs in Afghanistan seems to be another pressure tactic to force Kabul to turn a blind eye and do whatever it’s told.

In reality, it is the most illogical and unserious statement of its kind ever made by a representative of any country. Can Mr. Khalilzad advise any country in the world, including the United States, that they should directly talk with terrorist organisations i.e. in Nigeria they should fix their matters with Boko Haram, in Somali they should engage in talks with al-Shabab, in Iraq, Syria and Libya they should sit on one table with ISIS and in India they should directly talk to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, etc in Kashmir?

Surely, he can’t say such a baseless thing anywhere, so why is he advising India to bypass the Afghan government and settle matters directly with the Taliban? This makes him look like a messenger of the Taliban and ISIS, not a representative of the United States.

If the statement is intended to increase pressure on Kabul and give the impression that the United States is paving the way in the region to hand over power to Taliban and Kabul government should accept what is being said and fulfil the order without any ifs and buts or the process of power transfer to the Taliban has begun or the process of pleasing the Taliban, as of September 2018 when the United States made things easier for them, still continues. It could also mean that the United States has decided to hand over power to the Taliban and want to provoke a reaction to test its decision? No matter if any of the above is true or false, but every explanation hints towards the desperate defeat of the United States and which seems that America is searching for an escape route, which is disastrous for all, given the current situation in Afghanistan and the world.

The matter of fact is that the United States should have stood behind the Kabul government and strengthened it in every way instead of increasing pressure on it. Instead of weakening the Afghan government, the pressure should have been applied to Pakistan so that it mends its ways. Mr. Khalilzad, instead of advising India to settle its matters with an extremist group in the region, should have recommended [India] to help the freedom-loving Baloch and Pashtuns who have been trying singlehandedly to regain their lost freedom since day one. I believe that even today if they are given diplomatic, moral and all kinds of help from the world, they would become natural allies of the United States, India and Afghanistan in this global war on terror, which would ease their difficulties.