AfghanNews.net - “Have Your Say”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has offered talks with the Taliban in a desperate move to bring peace and stability in the country. The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating each day and the future of the country and its people is looking very somber. After the fall of the Taliban back in 2001, the U.S. and other western countries didn’t expected that in a couple of years the Taliban will pose a serious threat to their interests in the country. They [the U.S. and other western countries] are to be blamed for the current mess because they didn’t take serious and sincere steps to bring genuine peace, stability and security in the country.

Billions of dollars were poured in the country under the name of reconstruction and development but a large chunk of that money landed in the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials. The donor countries didn’t bother to implement a fair and transparent system in which the aid money had to be spent for the benefit of Afghan people and rebuilding the war-torn country.

The foreign countries and their chosen regime in Kabul promised to rebuild Afghanistan the way they helped Germany and Japan after the World War II, but the Afghan people living in the cities and countryside waited patiently in vain. They don’t have any hope that the present rulers and their masters will take serious and sincere steps to bring a fundamental change in the country.

One of the most important reason which helped the Taliban to take ground in Afghanistan is the continuous support from Pakistan. The U.S. and NATO let Pakistan to play a double game in Afghanistan and didn’t take steps to stop Pakistan arming and giving refuge to the Taliban.

In the last couple of months we’ve seen an abrupt increase in the attacks by the Taliban and they are even controlling a couple of districts in the southern part of the country. Not a single day has passed without a foreign solider killed in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. The public opinion in most of the European countries - contributing forces to Afghanistan - is turning against the extension of their troops in the country. The Netherlands is one of the examples where the government is facing pressure from the public opinion and the leftwing parties to extend the stay of Dutch troops in Uruzgan beyond August 2008.

The Afghan government and their masters are sensing the seriousness of the situation and they are offering a palm leaf to the Taliban in order to bring peace and stability in the country. I don’t think that such talks will be a success and at the end of the day, the foreign countries will abandon Afghanistan as they did after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops in early 1990s. In such a scenario the present regime in Kabul doesn’t enjoy enough popular support to fight and resist onslaught of a strong and determined Taliban forces and the country will once again end up in bloodshed and misery.

The Bush administration ignored the North Korean issue and went to war in Iraq on false assumptions. On the contrary the Clinton administration did engage the North Koreans and there was a visible progress in dialogue between the two countries before it was scrapped by the present administration. The Bush administration isolated the North Korean regime and refused to talk to them after labelling them as a part of “Axis of Evil”.

The North Koreans pushed their nuclear programme ahead while Americans were busy in a false and fabricated war in Iraq. They [the Bush administration] deliberately ignored the greater threat [North Korea] and now the whole world is going to pay the price. Being a member of the nuclear club, the North Koreans seem to be untouchable now and the Americans will think twice before initiating any kind of military response to tackle this problem.

The best way to resolve this issue is to start a serious dialogue with the North Korean regime for a permanent ceasefire in the Korean peninsula with condition that they [the North Koreans] will do their best to stop further nuclear proliferation around the world. It will be contra productive if the world community tries to further isolate the regime in Pyongyang. Tough economic sanctions will force the regime to export nuclear weapon or nuclear know-how to countries or organisations for financial gains which will pose a serious and major threat to peace and stability in the world.

The Senlis Council published a very interesting and noteworthy report about Afghanistan. The Senlis Council is an international policy think tank with offices in Kabul, London, Paris and Brussels. The extensive programme currently underway in Afghanistan focuses on global policy development in conjunction with field research to investigate the relationship between counter-narcotics, military, and development policies and their consequences on Afghanistan’s reconstruction efforts.

The report gives us not only an idea about the current political and economic situation in the country but also the reasons behind the recent rise of Taliban in some parts of the country. The report is also critical of the U.S. policies which have encouraged Taliban to muster support among the people in the southern provinces. A large number of Afghan population is still facing economical hardships in spite of huge foreign aid which was channelled to the country after the collapse of Taliban regime five years back.

If the situation didn’t improve and the current half-hearted policies fail to deliver then it’s very possible that the rise of Taliban will continue not only in the south but throughout the country.

The complete report can be read by clicking on the link below:
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/014_publication

Afghan and coalition forces fought heavy battles to retake two districts in southern
Afghanistan captured by Taliban militants, expelling the rebels from one by evening, officials said. 

The events in the past days showed that things are changing very rapidly on the ground. Taliban militants seized control of two towns in southern part of the country and according to the latest news, Afghan and coalition forces took control of only one town after very heavy fighting. The recent developments are a source of headache and concern for all the parties involved in Afghanistan including the U.S. and the NATO. Today the NATO officials are visiting Kabul to discuss their strategy in coming weeks and months.  

If the western countries are really committed to tackle the issue of Taliban, then they should increase the number of their forces in the southern part of the country, asks Pakistan to stop giving shelter and support to Taliban and increase the amount of aid to speed up the reconstruction pace to improve the socio-economic conditions of common Afghans.  

The capture of two towns should be an eye opener for those forces who wants to keep Taliban at bay in Afghanistan.  They have still time and resources to win not only this war but also the hearts and souls of Afghans.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said an upsurge in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan was aimed at "testing" Western public opinion and warned the alliance would take tough action against anyone trying to derail Afghan reconstruction.

It’s a fact that during the last couple of months, Taliban have intensified their attacks not only against the U.S.-led coalition forces but also against the civilian targets. Yesterday they blown up a bus in southern city of Kandahar carrying Afghans working to nearby coalition military base. Such attacks indicate that Taliban have recently changed their tactics and they are carrying attacks similar to those conducted by insurgents in Iraq.

In coming months troops from various coalition countries including the Netherlands and Australia are moving to southern and eastern provinces where they’ll take the place of American troops. The recent bombing campaign by Taliban is also a clear warning to those nations which are coming to fight them under the banner of so-called Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). The pictures of Taliban attacking military and civilian targets are going around the world and “testing” the public opinion in those countries. The majority in those countries - contributing troops to Afghanistan - are against sending out troops but the ruling elite is going their own way in order to please their American friends in Washington. But I’m afraid that the public opinion will force them to change their minds if the casualty rate is high among their troops.

Sending more troops will not help to stabilise the situation but instead it will play as a catalyst which will result more bloodshed and miseries for Afghan people who are suffering enormous hardships and pain during the last couple of decades. The present setup in Afghanistan is a compromise of several world and regional powers who got their own interests in Afghanistan and the region as a whole. Instead of helping the real representative of Afghan people and progressive forces, the foreign powers have decided to support warlords, former Taliban elements and people who are equally responsible for the suffering of Afghan people. In present circumstances there is no light at the end of tunnel and in the coming weeks and months the situation on the ground will deteriorate very sharply.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, is a "severe blow" to global terrorism. Mr Karzai said Zarqawi had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These words were also used by British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. I'm not sure that with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the situation in Iraq will improve. The U.S. media, military and intelligence agencies actually made al-Zarqawi bigger than what he in fact was. I do agree that he and his group were responsible for alot of attacks in Iraq but there are other forces on the ground - Iraqi nationalists and elements loyal to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein - which play a more effective and prominent role in the Iraqi insurgency movement. The media doesn't give much exposure to other forces involved in insurgency, but instead all the attention has been devoted to secterian violence in the country.

If we analyze the situation on the ground in a rational way, then we shouldn't ignore the fact that Iraq is under moment under occupation at this moment and the U.S.-led forces try to impose a western style version of democracy which is very difficult to implement in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. We first have to create circumstances and conditions in which the democratic values can flourish and the most important point is to take into account the local culture and traditions otherwise the democratic process will face a certain deadlock. Violence and chaos will be the order of the day in societies where the local cultural and traditional values have been ignored and an imported version of western democracy has been imposed against the will of people. Afghanistan and Iraq are the perfect examples of this nearly failed experiment and I don't see that the situation on the ground will improve with the elimination of people like al-Zarqawi. The only way out is to re-address the core issues facing the people and to actively support the democratic and progressive forces instead of sectarian and religious fundamentalists in those countries.

Violent demonstrations that rocked Kabul a week ago caused "immense" damage to the reputation of Afghanistan, the United Nations said as the army admitted the unrest had been a wake-up call.

What kind of reputation are we talking about? When the Taliban's regime was toppeled in 2001, alot of people thought that the dark days were over and the Afghan people will be able to live in a peaceful society. At that moment international donor agencies and countries promised a huge sum of money for the reconstruction projects throughout the war-torn country. Billions of dollars were donated and "spent" but after five years it is very difficult to see any kind of improvment in people's daily life. Only a small group of elite profited from the aid which was meant for Afghan people. The donor agencies and countries were aware of the situation but they didn't take any steps to improve the situation. Common man is now running out of patience and they don't trust the present setup in the country. Talibans are taking advantage of this situation and they have stepped up their attacks during the last couple of weeks resulting in a large number of casualties on both sides.

If the government is really sincere in helping to improve the livelihood of Afghan people, they have to take practical steps like jobs, health care, education, infrastructure etc. otherwise the situation will get worse and it will be difficult for Afghan governemnt and the US backed coalition forces to bring it under control.

Sixteen Afghan soldiers have graduated from a new training program at Fort Bliss, armed with knowledge on how to fly Russian-made helicopters in anti-drug missions over their war-torn country. The men will now make their final preparations to head back to Afghanistan, where they are expected to immediately get to work trying to halt the booming narcotics trade.

I'm not sure if these steps will help to reduce drugs' production in Afghanistan. There might be a slight political will on the side of government to fight drugs but alot of highly placed Afghan officials earn a fortune out of it. The policies made in Kabul will be very diffucult to implement in provinces since most of local commanders are earning their share from this lucrative business.

We can't ignore the fact that the livelihood of a large number of farmers, living in countryside, depends on cultivating and selling drugs. The incentives offered to these local farmers don't go far enough for them to switch from drugs to other agricultural products. Unless there is comprehensive plan and political will on the part of government to tackle this issue, I'm not optimistic that this problem will be solved in near future.

Do you think that there is a clear political will to slove this problem? Do you think that steps taken are enough to curb this issue? Or do you have any other idea to solve drug problematic?

The U.S. military on Wednesday defended an airstrike earlier this week on a southern Afghan village that killed at least 16 civilians, saying its troops were being fired on and they had the right to defend themselves.

I don't think that such attitude will help them to win minds and souls of Afghan people. They could've known that fleeing Taliban fighters will search for shelter among local people. When you come under attack, you don't think about the consequences at that time. The only thing you are concerned is to search for a shelter. On the other hand, the American and coalition forces knew what will happen if they attack and bomb Taliban's Madrassa (religious school).

President Hamid Karzi has ordered an investigation into the bombings but I don't think that we'll be able to know the outcome of it since a number of investigations have been conducted in the past and we are still waiting for the results.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 50 suspected Taliban militants in an airstrike on a rebel stronghold in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the force said Monday. Residents claimed dozens of civilians were killed.

I'm not sure if all of those killed were so-called Taliban rebels or innocent civilians. Since the village was bombed during the night, it would've been difficult for American forces to distinguish between innocent civilians and Taliban rebels. Such indiscriminate attacks will have a negative effect and it plays into the hands of Taliban. These bombings will make more enemies than friends for American and their coalition allies.