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The Deadly Game was
published in the ‘London Times’ of
August 6, 1999. It had the sub-headline: Foreign interference is destabilising Afghanistan.
Foreign interference is destabilising Afghanistan
In 20 years of civil
war since the Soviet invasion, no faction or warlord has gained full control of
Afghanistan. Earlier this week Taleban, now controlling about 90 per cent of
the country, launched a massive assault on the Panjsher Valley in an attempt to
capture the northeastern strong-hold of Ahmed Shah Masood, who has successfully
repulsed all attempts to dislodge the last of the opposition forces. Hundreds
of thousands of civilian refugees, fearing reprisals by fanatical religious
militias, fled. But in a military masterstroke Masood yesterday launched a
counter-attack, holding the vital entrance to the pass, retaking several
strategic towns and inflicting casualties on Taleban.
This is not the first
time that Masood has snatched last-minute victory from defeat. In Afghanistan
he has already become a mythical figure: a commander who fought off six
attempts by the Russians to capture him,a strategist whose use of mountain
cover has made his retreats deadlier than his advances, a Tajik leader who has
held out against the Pashtun majority and denied Taleban political control,
popular acceptance and diplomatic recognition.
The Great Game for
control of this wild territory, criss-crossed by tribal divisions, imperial
ambitions and religious schisms, has been going on for more than a century. The
latest round of fighting again threatens the region. Tajikistan has rushed
troops to its borders amid fears that an exodus of refugees could shatter the
peace it has enjoyed since the 1997 deal ended five years of civil war. The Iranians,
whose own violent confrontation with Taleban almost led to war last year, are
deeply involved in supplying and supporting Masood, as are the Russians, ever
fearful of an Islamic insurgency on their flank.
Though Cold War
rivalries are over, Afghanistan's neighbours are again being sucked into the
conflict for control of Asia's strategic crossroads, and none more than
Pakistan. During the Soviet occupation, Islamabad's support for the Islamic
opposition fighters was underpinned, with weapons and political support, by
America. Guns and missiles flowed freely to Gulbeddin Hekmatyar and other
fundamentalist Mujahidin. But Pakistan, having nurtured this Islamic tiger,
then tried to ride it - with disastrous results.
Taleban, perverting
conservative Islam into a brutal and repressive force, is still being sustained
by Islamabad, whatever the denials from a Government practised in telling
untruths. Taleban has also sought money, mercenaries and political help from
the Arab world, especially Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, naively playing the
Afghan card to put pressure on Iran.
All must now regret
involvement in this deadly game. For wretched, impoverished Afghanistan has
become the main source of instability across the Muslim world. Afghan fighters
were among those infiltrating across the Kashmir line of control - leading to
Pakistan's political and military defeat. Some three million Afghan refugees in
northern Pakistan are the catalyst speeding the country's political
disintegration. Afghans have turned up in the Balkan wars, as terrorists in the
Middle East and as the main conduit to Europe of heroin. Mined, a ravaged and
oppressed, the country now brings forth nothing but fanaticism and brings forth
nothing but fanaticism and despair. And those battling over this land are
paying an ever higher price.