Taliban are not Terrorists: Lalit K Kaul

 

Taliban are not Terrorists

Lalit K Kaul

Indian media is calling the Taliban as terrorists. If Taliban are terrorists then so are the ex President of the USA and his administration who signed a pact/deal with the former for withdrawal of American forces from their land and in that exercise the US leadership did not think it necessary to include representative(s) of the government of Afghanistan.

The simple deduction is that the US leadership did not consider Taliban as terrorists, but such a force to reckon with that the US military could not bring them to their knees and neutralize them forever as a contestant in the power politics of Afghanistan. The war of attrition had to be brought to the end one day, for all the losses of human lives, depletion of arms and ammunition and billions of dollars sunk to no use. The reality is that it may be easier to label the Taliban as terrorists, but not so for the US.

The Humiliation: 

Even a person possessed with less than average commonsense understands the humiliation suffered by the US in that the Taliban continued to be a force to reckon with even after 20 years show of the super power’s military might. It couldn’t have gone on and on for an unknown length of time as there was no way to make Taliban defunct. So, a safe passage was sought for the American forces in the land and that was provided by the Taliban. There couldn’t have been a pact defining how the Taliban would behave post the departure of American troops, as the Taliban had not grown tired of fighting the American, but the US was desperate to leave the region so no conditions could have been put on the Taliban. In fact the US did not negotiate a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government, so the former was under no obligation to respect the government which they considered to have been installed by the occupier – the US.

No Resistance:  

The Taliban put a condition for peace negotiations with the Afghan government and that was that Mr. Ashraf Gani should step down from the Chair he had occupied. That didn’t happen and in the end the Afghan President fled the country. It will continue to remain a matter of speculation as to what would have been the Taliban response post Gani’s resignation from the position of power.

The Taliban proved every political commentator- across the world - wrong and they came to occupy Kabul with unprecedented ease and without shedding a drop of blood! There are reports that the Afghan army comprised only around 93,000 soldiers and not nearly 3 lacs as claimed by the US because most of them in a figure of 3 lacs were ghost soldiers; meaning that they only drew salaries and were not a part of regular army! The gene of South Asian corruption seems to be all too secular.

Whatever resistance the Afghan military could have offered that was pre empted by surrender of the governors of provinces on a promise that they will be duly accommodated in power structure once the Taliban took command of Afghanistan.

The Role of Abdullah Abdullah:

Mr. A Abdullah was in continuous touch with the Taliban. Whatever his differences with Mr. Ashraf Gani he was a part of the establishment. No political analyst ever talked about his possible role in the whole game in which the Afghan government was not a player, but A Abdullah was! What message the Taliban has intended to send across to the world leaders by making him the interim President? Was he instrumental in ensuring safe migration of Ashraf Gani? Did he facilitate surrender of provincial governors to the Taliban? Pakistani commentator are surprised at the development of seeing A Abdullah as interim President; does it mean that Pakistan was not in the loop when Taliban took political decisions? The role of Sri A. Abdullah is very intriguing and only Time may unfold it for the posterity.

The Recognition is Imminent:

The world’s leading powers seem to have reconciled to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and that none is going to come in its way. All are observing how the political events will unfold in Afghanistan enabling them to take a call on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The National flag of Afghanistan is no longer flying from the masts; the Taliban Flag is to be the Afghan Flag. Taliban have been sending some positive signals to the world community more particularly about women’s fate under their rule. They have repeatedly said that girls will be allowed to go to schools/colleges for education and women will be allowed to go for jobs. The only condition imposed is that they must wear Islamic Hizab. That’s a very great leap forward in comparison to their earlier regime.

Countries like China, Pakistan and Iran are almost decided on recognizing Taliban government and both the US and Russia have decided to wait and watch. The fact that major powers have accepted the present situation in Afghanistan as fait accompli, India has to play her cards realistically.

Trust is the Imperative:  

The Taliban have repeatedly stated in their press conferences that 1) the Indian assets in Afghanistan won’t be harmed, 2) the safety of Indian Embassy and its staff is their responsibility and therefore the staff need not be evacuated, 3) Afghanistan land will not be allowed to be used for terrorist activities, and most importantly 4) the Indo Pak relations are between the two countries and those will not define Afghanistan’s relationship with each country.

Taliban are not irrational people and therefore they are not going to destroy the infrastructure built, over the years, by India; they may impose Sharia, but they do understand this imperative of dealing with the comity of Nations. They would follow international laws in regard to inter relationship with other countries, but impose Islamic laws in their land.

Therefore India, without getting torn in to the debate of terrorists Vs civilized, must recognize the Taliban government and ensure that the ongoing cooperation between the two nations grows for India to have a say and stake in the region.

If India does not recognize Taliban government then Afghanistan will be fully pushed into the lap of China and Pak may start needling Taliban to avenge the insult by operating on the LOC. If Afghanistan becomes baby of China, it is a huge security risk for India as China would have come very close to Indian Western borders as Pakistan is already a colony of China.

It would be a great folly on the part of EU, the US and the UK including Russia not to recognize new dispensation in Afghanistan because in such a scenario they would be gifting away Afghanistan to China. It is to be remembered that China and Russia are no enemies of each other and it may be politically expedient for them to come together to wield influence in the Middle East (West Asia).

Locally only India has the capability to checkmate China in her expansionist designs and Russia would not regret it since China is eyeing Russian territory as her own. So, India must go ahead and recognize Taliban government; may be subject to India’s concerns that she may talk over to the Taliban; but recognition is the best option for India what with neighbours like China and Pakistan.