Afghanistan’s Resurrection from Islamic Fundamentalism

17 Feb, 2002    ·   698

Subhash Kapila argues for increased American and Western role in Afghanistan’s political reconstruction
Subhash Kapila
Afghanistan as a nation was snuffed out by the Taliban.  For six long years, the Taliban imposed the most savage and medieval form of Islamic fundamentalization on Afghanistan . In fact, it was so repressively brutalized by the Taliban, that ‘Talibanization’ was coined as a term to express the most cruel form of Islamic fundamentalism. That a rag-tag band of madrassa products could enslave a nation of proud warriors is inconceivable.  What was then suspected and is now confirmed by the Kunduz events is that this enslavement of Afghanistan was carried out by Pakistan ’s Army regulars, irregulars and ISI cadres using the Taliban as their cat’s-paw.

 

 

Afghanistan ’s rescue from Islamic fundamentalism has been primarily brought about by the United States and Britain .  The Taliban was only displaced after the United States chose to transfer its support to the Northern Alliance .  An interim government is in place now with Western troops in a supportive role for maintaining law and order.

 

 

The moot question that arises is whether the United States would have effected Afghanistan ’s resurrection if the air bombings of New York and Washington had not taken place. This seems unlikely in view of United States permissiveness to let Pakistan , unhindered and unrestrained, use Islamic fundamentalism as a political and strategic tool for the enslavement of Afghanistan .  It is also ironic that the Taliban regime was recognized by only three countries, all strong allies of the United States, namely Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan.

 

 

The United States , despite this unsavory record, needs to be complimented for having brought about Afghanistan ’s liberation, however belatedly.  It is now beholden to the United States to carry forward this process to its logical conclusion, i.e., the emergence of Afghanistan as a moderate Islamic state, contributing to the stability of South-West Asia.

 

 

The United States and the West have to take note of the following perspectives:-

 

 

·                     Afghanistan would require long-term external political, economic and military resuscitation by the United States and the West.

 

                  

 

·                     They would have to embark on a nation-building process which would require large resources and a lot of patience too.

 

                  

 

·                     In terms of nation-building, the priority in Afghanistan should be on economic reconstruction, health and education.

 

                  

 

·                     Afghanistan ’s national security apparatus has to be integrated and reflect its ethnic diversity.  Britain would be the most suited to taken on the task of building Afghanistan ’s armed forces.

 

                 

 

·                     Till the creation of cohesive Afghan Armed Forces, the country would need a security umbrella from the United States and the West.

 

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Some related factors that have a bearing on these perspectives are:

 

 

·                     Afghanistan , before the Cold War-linked Afghan war and the Pakistan-generated civil war, was a functioning nation state.  The state institutions were there.

 

                  

 

·                     Islamic fundamentalism did not have any roots in Afghanistan , but in Pakistan , which used both Afghanistan and Kashmir as terrorism targets for its State-sponsored Islamic Jihad. Visual images of the Kabul population discarding their beards and turbans, and women coming out on the streets clearly reveal the Afghan aversion to Islamic fundamentalism. The Afghan people are willing therefore to be part of any Western-sponsored process of nation-building in Afghanistan and its political and economic reconstruction. 

 

                  

 

However, the United States could still prefer Pakistan to lead or dominate the process.  It would be well-advised to keep the following harsh realities in mind.

 

 

·                     The Afghans hate Pakistan intensely for the Talibanization and brutalities of the last six years.  This hatred was visually manifested in TV images of Afghans kicking dead Pakistanis fighting for the Taliban.

 

                  

 

·                     Pakistan is the prime threat to Afghanistan ’s national security.

 

                   

 

·                     Afghans are witness to the fact that the United States permitted the airlift of Pakistan Army regulars from Kunduz, which saved them from the Afghan justice that would have ensued.  In Afghan eyes, the United States became Pakistan ’s accomplice in this case.

 

                 

 

In conclusion, it can be asserted that Afghanistan ’s liberation from Islamic fundamentalism, and its emergence as a moderate and stable Islamic nation, is a strategic necessity for the United States and the West.  This can only be brought about by their involvement in Afghanistan for a prolonged period.  An important pre-requisite would be for the United States to clamp down on Pakistan ’s destabilization policies in the region. The United States and the West have a strategic imperative to make their Afghan experiment work.  Success in Afghanistan could then hopefully arrest the slide of other countries in the region into Islamic fundamentalism.   

 

 

 

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