Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
While the atmosphere still remains relatively tense as far as the relations
between the neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan are concerned, a window
of opportunity remains open in terms of a number of commonalties that
define geo-politics in the two countries. There are many areas where the two
countries have had to adopt conflicting stances. However, there do exist
some common grounds which can help the two neighboring countries to
transform the existing tense political environment into more of a congenial
atmosphere appropriate for confidence building measures. These include, but
are not limited to, the combat against terrorism, the fight against drugs and a
common desire for rapid economic development. The problem lies in the fact
that the two countries have not yet been able to evolve a mutually agreed
strategy whereby the above-mentioned objectives can be achieved within the
context of their respective national interests and geopolitical goals.
There has been a gradual increase in the Taliban insurgency, especially in the
Southern and Eastern Afghanistan over the past two years which has
seriously hampered reconstruction and developmental process besides
putting the government credibility at stake. Pakistan is being portrayed to be
primarily responsible for this growing wave of the Taliban activities and not
without understandable reasons. It is not just the Afghan government and
intelligentsia, but also ordinary Afghans who have been pointing the accusing
finger at Pakistan that the former has been covertly collaborating with the
insurgents. While it is true that there might be certain elements in Afghan
government who would rather like this blame-game to continue for their own
vested interests, the fact remains, however, that after their defeat by the US
military the remnants of Taliban and Alqaeda went into hiding inside the tribal
belt along the Pak-Afghan border for shelter and support. The initial few years
of Karzai’s government provided them with an opportunity to reorganize and
get replenished to be able to re-emerge with renewed tactics of guerrilla
warfare.
Ever since the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent events like
Islamic revolution in Iran and the uprising in Kashmir and Palestine, Islamic
extremism has been steadily growing particularly among the economically
desperate classes of the Muslim Societies. Therefore the current wave of
Islamic Radicalism, irrespective of the nature of its historical development, is
a function of ideological, political and economic factors that are now affecting
the Muslim societies in one way or another. The most desperate and
economically disadvantaged groups in the Muslim world are the main targets
of those seeking political advantage for their own extremist agendas. Soon
after the tragic events of September 11, President Bush declared that
terrorism in Afghanistan will be fought on three different fronts i.e. military,
political and economic. Unfortunately the battle on political and economic
fronts has not achieved its targeted objectives although billions of dollars
have been spent so far and the efforts for reconciliation and bringing in the
Taliban into the mainstream have not brought any substantial results.