Archaeologists confirm human habitation in Afghanistan from as far back as 50,000 BC. The indigenous people were small farmers and herdsmen, as they are today. They were grouped into tribes with small local kingdoms, rising and falling through the ages. It is believed that the region had early trade contacts with Mesopotamia. Before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, there were a number of religions practiced in ancient Afghanistan, including Zoroastrianism, Surya worship, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country at the cross roads of central and South Asia. It has borders with Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In the middle ages and upto the 18th century, the region was known as Khorasan. The present day cities of Balkh,Herat, Ghazniand Kabul comprise the Khorasan area.
Afghanistan is a notoriously difficult country to govern.Empire after empire, nation after nation have failed to pacify what is today the territory of Afghanistan. It is therefore, called the ‘Graveyard of Empires’.
Genghis Khan, in his bid to expand the Mongol Empire towards centralAsia and the middle east, invaded Afghanistan in 1219—21 but could not hold it for long, as he was defeated by the forces of Jalal-ad-Din at Parwan. Britain, in order to protect its Indian Colony from any invasion by the Russian Czars, played the ‘Big Game’ in the area in order to check Russian influence in central Asia and the middle east. There were three Anglo- Afghan wars in the area but in the first Anglo-Afghan war which was fought in 1839-42, all 4500 British troops and 12,000 civilians were slaughtered by the afghan tribal warlords.
In 1979, the Soviet Union decided to prop-up a communist regime in this strategically located central Asian country. Soviet troops fought for over nine years to have a grip on the country but, had to abandon their adventure, after having lost 15000 of their soldiers and killing two million afghan people.
But this victory cannot be wholly attributed to the superiority of afghan mujahideen as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) forces under the United States, were providing complete war material, finance and intelligence through covert operations and for this, CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) of US and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) of Pakistan, were hand in glove with each other. At the end of withdrawal of soviet forces, no doubt, the visible victory went to Afghanistan but, in actual fact it was the covert victory of America over the Soviet Union which was its cold war enemy after WW II.
Now Afghanistan was free to be taken over by the Taliban which was waiting in the wings in Pakistan.The withdrawal of soviet forces also saw, a huge availability of military hardware left by the US andthe Soviets which became the legitimate property of Taliban when it took over the country in 1996. Taliban, with its medieval ways of governance, created terror in the minds of common people with public lashings and public hangings. Their barbaric rule ended when they allowed Al Qaeda leader, OSAMA BIN LADEN to use the afghan soil to launch the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New Yorkand the US response thereto. In Oct, 2001 the US war in Afghanistan started and continued for 20 years.In these 20 years, USforces faced continuous guerrilla attacks from the mujahideens. At the end, the American public got fed up with this war and receiving body bags for such a long period of time. Itmade them sick which resulted in a hasty and ignominious withdrawalof US troops from afghan soil on 30th Aug, 2021.Their achievements are there to seefor the whole world!
The Taliban were virtually handed over the complete afghan territory on aplatter and the whole world condemned this action. The Taliban had occupied Afghanistan on the 15th of Aug, 2021.
But before the departure of US forces from afghan soil, the US signed an agreement with Taliban at Doha in Qatar that, once the US troops leave afghan soil, the Taliban would rule the country by forming an inclusive government in which the representation of all ethnic groups would be ensured and democracy would prevail. Women too would be given due representation in governance.Women education would not be stopped and justice would be delivered by keeping in mind the human rights principles. And in case, the future government fails to abide by the Agreement, it would not be recognized and therefore, no financial help would be forthcoming from the international financial institutions for the reconstruction and economic development of thecountry. It was also mentioned that the AfghanCentral Bank funds to the tune of nine billion dollars would be blocked by the US and not made available for the development of Afghanistan.
The population of Afghanistan is around 40 million. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society. Ethnic groups in the country include Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and others. Afghanistan has two official languages; Pashto and Dari. Pashto is spoken in most regions of Afghanistan. The country is an Islamic Republic and 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam, the rest are Shia muslims.
Pashtun aspirations to rule this country with Sharia laws, have not allowed the country to progress in tune with the new world order. Its leaders, or to put it more appropriately, its warlords, never allowed scientific education to its people which kept the whole country devoid of holistic progress. This was one of the major reasons that outside powers came to Afghanistan and used its people for their ulterior motives and ultimately leaving the country in lurch. A large number of countries in the Arab world impose Sharia laws but they do not hinder the scientific outlook and progress of their people. The problem with the autocratic leaders of this country is that, they listen to the Islamic clerics blindly and impose ultra-austere interpretation of Islamthus creating a near theocratic state in which, barbaric punishments are handed down like public lashings and public hangings.
The imposition of ultra-austere interpretation of Islam has not helped the country and its people. A country that debars half of its population to stay away and not be part of the progress and development,can only expect to remainin the lower rung of countries on a global scale. What a shame to see that in the 21stcentury, a government issues a diktat that the role of women is only, to bear and deliver children as also to look after affairs within the four walls of the house.
The women in the country are forbidden to seek education especially higher education; cannot run a business unless always accompanied by a close male relative such as the father, husband or brother. They cannot work in an office, be it government or private. Whenever, they step out of their home/premises, even for a small routine errand, they must be accompanied by a male member of the family. All females except small children, must cover themselves withblack hijab. Is there a difference in the life of a prisoner and an afghan woman? This dumb world won’t be able to respond to this question effectively!
It isnoteworthy that nowhere in the holy book of Quran Sharif, hijab is strictly defined, though it is firmly rooted in Islamic tradition.It is often a personal and cultural concept.
Many muslim majority countries like Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Tunisia and Turkey have made it illegal to wear hijab in public, schools, universities or government buildings while Egypt and Syria have banned the use of face veils in universities. A similar approach by the present afghan government is likely to help.
What Next?
It is very clear that the West wants the Taliban to run the country in a transparentmanner and not be an impediment to the progress made in the last two decades in terms of education including the women education, societal harmony and fair legal system.
Russia is on the same page as India that Afghanistan being an Asiancountry, the finding of solution to its problems should be left to the Asian countries bordering it or situated in its vicinity.India is a very important country in its vicinity and it can’t afford to ignore Taliban in order to safeguard against potential terrorist attacks by anti-India forces from the afghan soil. India also can’t ignore very ancient historic and cultural ties with this country. Although India does not recognize the Taliban Government yet it has been providing medical assistance to the Indra Gandhi Children’s Hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan. India has been sending humanitarian aid in terms of wheat and medical supplies. This contact must continue and at a later stage both the countries would find ways and means to establish a sound economic relationship.
In my opinion the world powers have a collective responsibility towards the situation in Afghanistan; its resolution will be time consuming and challenging. Foreign powers should not rush to fill the vacuum with ulterior motives, due to the geostrategic importance of Afghanistan.
The world body and more importantly the US has to catch the bull by its horns and make sincere efforts to bring the governance of Afghanistan in tune with the present world order. The US is morally responsible to discipline the Taliban, not with the barrel of a gun but by showing compassion for the 40 million Afghans, most of whom were not responsible for the attack on twin towers.
One way forward is by asking the Taliban to allow establishment of a large number of NGOs who could be working for alleviation of poverty,medical assistance, assistance for the handicapped, assistance and medical advice to the pregnant women, running de-addiction centres,adult education and encouraging others to acquire education, helping people living in far flung areas to maintain personal documentation and land records, providing legal assistance to poor people, vocational training in industry, educating people to enhance the agricultural productivity and finally to wean away people from growing poppy crops.
These NGOs should be funded for a period of 20 years from the nine billion dollars blocked by the US and everyone knows that these funds legitimately belong to the people of Afghanistan. Every year, 500 million dollars should be allocated directly to these NGOs and since in the last one and a half year, Taliban has not kept its promise on most points mentioned in the Doha Agreement, the funds cannot and must not be routed through the government agencies. In this way Taliban government can belured into accepting the establishmentof these NGOs.With this, their constant harping about the release of the blocked funds wouldalso stop.
In the end, I would like to advise the law makers of America to start thinking out of the box-if they are sincere to bring reforms in Afghanistan. The President of the United States of America needs to sit back and deliberate; did a super power of 280 millionpeople (in the year 2001) require a 20 years of bombing campaign to avenge the twin towers attack on an already beleaguered country of 20 million people and send them back to the medieval ages?
Brigadier (retd.) Raj Bhutani : The author is a freelance writer, a war veteran of 1971 war and retired Brigadier with 32 years of service in the Indian Army
