While the predominant focus of world media attention in recent days has been on Pakistan's role in developments in Afghanistan, relatively little media attention is being paid to the crucial role that Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours, notably Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will have to play in coming months in the global fight against terrorism. India's obsession with Pakistani sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in the country, and our media's misplaced fascination in projecting General Musharraf as a "moderate" Pakistani leader have contributed to there being very little public knowledge about the destabilisation that Pakistan's links with the Taliban have produced in Central Asia and in Iran. The extent of worldwide terrorism that has emerged from the ISI-Taliban-Osama nexus is at last becoming clear to the world, if not to the media and public in India.
Every high school student in India knows about the intense love that Mughal Emperor Babur had for his birthplace, the Ferghana valley. But how many Indians have heard about Juma Namangani and the damage that his links with the Taliban-Osama-ISI nexus have done to Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan-the three countries that straddle the Ferghana Valley? Just a few months ago the Taliban appointed Osama bin Laden as the Commander-in-Chief of armed extremist groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) operating to overthrow the Governments of Tajikistan, Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan. Juma Namangani who heads the IMU was appointed as his deputy. Namangani has been heading the IMU for around five years now. On February 15, 1999 Namangani attempted to assassinate Uzbekistan's President Karimov by triggering a series of car bomb explosions. Karimov has long held Pakistan responsible for regional destabilisation through its support for and collusion with the Taliban. The IMU has similarly spread violence and terrorism through Kyrgystan and Tajikistan. Responding to requests from these beleaguered Governments, the Russians have deployed thousands of crack troops for surveillance of their borders with Afghanistan. Russia has invoked the provisions of its Collective Security Treaty with its CIS partners to enhance its military support for Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours.
The Taliban's policies have also earned the wrath of neighbouring Iran as thousands of Afghan Shias have been massacred in recent Taliban operations in Bamiyan and other areas bordering Iran. The Shia Hazaras who inhabit large tracts of the Iranian- Afghanistan border have been the unfortunate victims of Taliban bigotry and intolerance. They have treasured the Bamiyan statues of Lord Buddha as symbols of their heritage for centuries and, like Iran, have been appalled by the excesses of the Taliban. Similarly, when the Taliban captured Herat in 1996 they ended a tradition in Afghan society there that placed great emphasis on the role and education of women in society. The military commander in Herat Ismael Khan fortunately escaped from Taliban captivity and is today leading the struggle of his people against Taliban oppression. Ismael Khan enjoys Iranian backing.
President Burhanuddin Rabbani leads the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. With Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deciding to withdraw their diplomatic recognition, Pakistan alone recognises the Taliban Government today. President Rabbani's Government, however, enjoys overwhelming international recognition and is strongly backed by Iran, Russia, Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours and India. The legendary Ahmad Shah Masood was its Defence Minister. There is substantial circumstantial evidence to link Masood's assassination by two Arabs two days before the September 11 carnage in New York and Washington to the ISI-Taliban-Osama nexus. The Rabbani Government has four powerful military commanders in the Tajik General Mohammad Fahim Khan (who has succeeded Ahmad Shah Masood), the Uzbek leader Rashid Dostum, the Iranian backed leader in Herat Ismael Khan and the leader of the Hazara Shia Hizb e Wahadat militia, Karim Khalili. The Northern Alliance has allowed itself to be worsted in the past by rivalries and bloodletting between its ethnic militias. But the time has now come for leaders like Fahim, Dostum, Khalili and Ismael Khan to seize the opportunity to unite, coordinate their operations and rid the world of the scourge of the medieval Taliban. The visit of the British Foreign Secretary to Tehran will hopefully help in bringing Iran into a united front against the Taliban-ISI-Osama nexus. At the same time the US will have to assuage Russian and Central Asian concerns about its larger strategic goals in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
As the United States led operations against the Taliban commence there are naturally questions asked about why India should get involved in such an effort. The answer is quite simple. Over the past seven years the Taliban has proved an inveterate foe of secular, pluralistic and democratic India. There is overwhelming evidence to establish that the Taliban has been actively involved in providing facilities for training to terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir like the Harkat ul Mujaheedin and the Jaish e Mohammad. One has only to scan the websites of groups like the Lashkar e Taiba to understand the extent of their links with the Taliban and bin Laden's Al Qaeda. India should never forget or forgive the role the Taliban played in helping the hijackers of IC 814 in Kandahar. The Taliban not only drove the hijackers to Chaman on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and facilitated their entry into Baluchistan, but also used the car of Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil to unload the baggage of the hijackers from the hijacked aircraft. The elimination of the Taliban and their replacement by a broad-based and representative Government in Afghanistan is, therefore, a matter of vital national security interest for us.
The United States has succeeded in getting pledges of assistance not only from its NATO Allies but also from Central Asian States like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in its effort to replace the Taliban by a broad-based and representative Government in Afghanistan. The United States is also determined to destroy the terrorist training camps that the Taliban have set up in collaboration with the ISI. India will have to play an important, but discreet role in seeing that a broad consensus emerges in forming a Government of national unity in Afghanistan. Given the long-term collaboration that India has had with Iran and countries like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, it must play its due role in seeing that not only are respected Pashtun representatives like former King Zahir Shah co-opted, but the interests of minorities like the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras safeguarded. The Russians will necessarily have a key role in this effort.
There is needless controversy about
providing military facilities to the Americans in their operations against
the Taliban. We will at most be asked for turnover and refuelling facilities
at some airbases for United States Aircraft and berthing facilities for
US navy ships. India has never hesitated to provide such facilities when
its national interests so demanded. Prime Minister Chandrasekhar did so
during the Gulf War. More importantly, the United States Air Force was
given extensive facilities in India in the wake of the Sino-Indian conflict
of 1962. Large numbers of USAF C 130 transport aircraft were based in Palam
for supplying troops in Ladakh between 1962 and 1964. The Air Forces of
the United States, United Kingdom and Australia carried out extensive air
exercises from Indian Air Bases in 1963. The USAF was allowed to fly U-2
long-range aerial reconnaissance aircraft over China from Chabua in Orissa
until 1964. Finally, there were joint Indo-US efforts to monitor China's
nuclear program from Indian soil after China tested its first nuclear device.
It is time the Vajpayee Government explained clearly and precisely to the
public and Parliament in India how vital national interests are served
by assisting the United States led international effort to eliminate the
Taliban. This effort will naturally be facilitated if the United States
secures the endorsement of the United Nations Security Council for the
actions that it proposes to take.