Author: CR Irani
Publication: The Statesman
Date: October 28, 2001
The campaign in Afghanistan is entering
a fourth week and there is precious little to show for it. Hopes of an
imminent Taliban collapse, desertions from their ranks, disintegration
of their support, have all come to naught. Even Taliban claims of collateral
civilian damage have had to be confirmed - reluctantly - days after the
event. America and Afghanistan live in two different worlds. Washington
claims to have destroyed Taliban command and control centres; what they
so extravagantly describe is little more than a single commander lying
on a carpet in a tent, sending out radio messages on transmitters not in
use anywhere else in the world. A serious handicap is the US obsessive
concern to placate Pakistan for no better reason than that it is the only
Muslim country, which supports whatever they do. This does not come cheap.
Musharraf has already extorted over $500 million in rescheduled debts,
another dollop of over $ 300 million has followed and a further demand
of $ 200 million is under consideration as humanitarian assistance. Neither
Osama nor Mullah Omar is found nor is any major success discernible. A
Pentagon spokesman now admits that Taliban are proving tougher fighters
that they imagined. We told them so a long time ago! Frustration is diverting
attention to Iraq again. This is inexcusable!
America has made serious mistakes.
Powell took Musharraf at his word. He underestimated the abiding links
that bind Taliban and Pakistan. They have fought alongside for years, Pakistani
troops in strength against the Northern Alliance and Afghan terrorists
in Kashmir to murder and pillage - how America can avoid calling this terrorism
is not understood except in terms of fleeting American interests. Osama
adds that Pakistan is the land of the pure! The wily Pakistani dictator's
ill-concealed anxiety that Taliban be involved in any post-war scenario
in Kabul is already translated into a meeting of like-minded Afghans convened
in Peshawar. America obliges by holding up assault plans at the cost of
Russian displeasure and pussyfooting over hitting the Taliban hard. Pakistan
are doctoring Intelligence fed to America, which caused the fiasco of the
commando raids. It also persuaded America not to pound Taliban frontlines
at levels necessary to enable Northern Alliance forces to advance towards
Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. Russia is breaking off and forging separate links
with Rabbani in Dushanbe instead Bush's new understandings with Putin lie
in tatters and all because of Pakistani perfidy. There is danger here for
Musharraf too. Contrary to what he is telling his people, he is not limiting
support to logistics; the US have landed over 2,000 American troops in
Pakistani air bases. They are not there on a rest and recreation mission!
This will raise stronger protests within Pakistan and Musharraf is rash
if he does not see a threat to his survival.
Surely time is running out. It would
appear to be important for American support to the Northern Alliance to
become decisive; never mind indissoluble links between Taliban and Pakistan
forged by common interests in drug trafficking and Islamic fundamentalism.
What will it profit America if a shaky Musharraf continues by their side
because it suits him but Russia is disillusioned and the only forces capable
of confronting the Taliban - the Northern Alliance - are on Pakistani misinformation,
denied what it takes to advance on Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif before winter
makes major movements of troops, impossible.
Perhaps Colin Powell should stop
canvassing support around the world and pick up his general's baton and
get down to a campaign with clear objectives - rub Afghanistan clean of
Taliban and never mind Musharraf; good and bad Taliban are figments of
Pakistani wishful thinking, even calculated misinformation. America must
join Russia in installing a regime, minus the Taliban, in Kabul quickly.
Taliban are not dispirited; not by any means. Dropping food at the same
time as bombs does not impress them; they levy taxes on it. The mindset
is not something Americans understand. They face a stark choice. Either
admit that they are only concerned with Al-Qaida, Osama and papa-doc Mullah
Omar, or act to prove that it is terrorism per se that worries them. But
then there can be no room for friend Pakistan to continue to train, finance
and push Afghans, Pakistanis and other terrorists into Kashmir to cause
mayhem. If the current policy of setting an absurdly high value on Pakistani
support is in fact endangering Musharraf himself, it could end in a new
regime in Islamabad, with a Taliban cast of mind dominant. This is not
in American or indeed Indian interests; it is the worst of all possible
options.
It may be a harsh thing to say but
American experience seems extravagantly with self-interest, limited with
both democracy and terrorism abroad.
