Division of Afghanistan?

By Saleem Safi

The CIA is arguably the most powerful intelligence agency in the world and maintains an espionage network in every part of the world. Some of the Pakistani rulers, besides being obedient US admirers, are the CIA's informants as well.

It appears that power has blinded American policymakers regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have committed blunders upon blunders. Despite the thousands of US soldiers present in Afghanistan and a large network of informants extending to remote villages and towns there, US policymakers have failed to appreciate the ground realities. The Americans have yet to set realistic policy goals for the region. Recent history is witness to the fact that the US always tried to convert the impossible into the possible.

The Americans' single-minded pursuit of defeating the USSR in Afghanistan overlooked the consequences of radicalisation of the Muslim world. After achieving this goal, the US pitched Mujahideen factions against each other. Initially they even supported the Taliban movement. But after 9/11, the US presented the throne of Kabul to the same old warlord who had been punished by the Taliban once.

In the struggle against the Taliban, the Americans grew ambitious enough to set new objectives in the region. They tried to encircle China, squeeze Iran, control Central Asian natural resources, punish Pakistan and make India a dominant regional player. In reaction, all these forces covertly supported the Taliban to make Afghanistan another Vietnam for America. If some of the contents of Wikileaks reports are true, then that will be the result of the American tactics in Afghanistan.

Instead of reviewing past blunders, the US wanted to make Karzai a scapegoat for its own failures. After the failure of this scheme, the Americans tried to replicate Iraq's counterinsurgency in Afghanistan to form regional private tribal militias to fight the insurgency. This plan was doomed to fail from the outset. Therefore, the Indian lobbies in the US have now floated the idea of division of Afghanistan into a Pakhtun south and non-Pakhtun north.

The ex-US ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, an Indian lobbyist, has advised the US and Nato countries to follow this path. He suggested that the US and Nato forces should stay in northern Afghanistan and use that area as a staging ground against the Pakhtun south. This US-India plan is unlikely to succeed.

The idea of the division of Afghanistan is reflective of the sick minds still living in the past. If Iraq, with stronger and more distinct sectarian and linguistic divisions than Afghanistan, could not be divided on these lines, Afghanistan is least expected to go that way. Afghanistan has various linguistic groups and identities, which are airing grievances of exploitation at the hands of the dominant "other."

But Afghans have proved to be the staunchest of nationalists in the region. Afghan poetry expresses love and longing for the homeland. Afghan songs praise Pakhtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks alike. Afghan literature has the highest intensity of nationalism in the region while the country's music is all about "Afghaniyat."

Almost all Pakhtun Afghans can speak Darri and every non-Pakhtun Afghan understands Pashto. In contrast with the region, the Taliban movement is predominantly Pakhtun, but it also boasts of individuals from other linguistic groups. The movement is fast spreading in northern and western Afghanistan.

Gulbadin Hikmatyar, who is considered a Pakhtun, hails from the extreme northern province of Kunduz. His party consists of people from other linguistic groups. He has married off his daughter to a Tajik. One of the four most trusted lieutenants of Ahmed Shah Masood and Qasim Faheem was a Pakhtun from Laghman. Abdullah Laghmani was deputy to the Afghan intelligence chief and was killed in a suicide attack some time ago.

Kunduz in the north is a majority Pakhtun province while Herat in the south is a majority Tajik region. The central province of Logar too is a predominantly Pakhtun area but a large number of Tajiks also live here. Northern Afghanistan is not populated by a single linguistic group. Hazaras populate central Afghanistan while Tajik and Uzbek regions in the north are separated by the Pakhtun region of Kunduz. The tension between Uzbeks and Tajiks exacerbates the tension between Pakhtuns and Tajiks. Similarly, the Hazara community is unwilling to live with either Tajiks or Uzbeks. The last presidential election was witness to the fact that Uzbek Abdul Rasheed Dostam, Tajik Qasim Faheem and Hazara Ustad Muhaqqiq supported the Pakhtun Hamid Karzai against Tajik Dr Abdullah. Currently, an Uzbek and a Hazara are vice presidents. In the presidential elections, no candidate from Pakhtun, Hazara, Uzbek and Tajik communities ever invoked race or linguistic affiliation.

The Taliban resistance is not based on language or race. The movement surfaced against the excessively unruly commanders of Pakhtuns like Hekmatyar, Ustad Sayyaf, Yunus Khalis and Sibghatullah Mujaddidi. The Taliban had fought against Pakhtun commanders from Kandahar to Kabul. After the surrender of Kabul, they brutally hanged Dr Najibullah, a Pakhtun, but not a Tajik or Uzbek. Mullah Omar had not sacrificed his rule and taken up a fight with the only superpower for the sake of Pakhtuns, but for Arabs.

Despite knowing these realities, those who plan the division of Afghanistan are living in a fools' paradise.

The writer works for Geo TV. Email: saleem.safi@janggroup.com.pk