Hazara Nation

The Post Farooq Ahmed

A decade long occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet forces was from 1979 to 1988. Then a civil war and power struggle broke in Afghanistan from 1988 to 1996 among various Afghan factions. Afghanistan remained ungoverned even after the post-9/11 invasion by the US coalition forces and establishment of an Afghan government.
Afghanistan supplies about 93 percent opium, which is 90 percent of the global market illicit drugs trade and 193,000 hectares of land in the country are devoted to illegal cultivation of opium-poppy. Production has been raised by 49 percent in Afghanistan in the last year.
In an environment of criminalisation of narcotics, the Afghanistan law enforcement agencies and coalition forces efforts are in total shambles. The ongoing efforts to rebuild state institutions and to control the drug industry in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly consolidated. Afghanistan’s drug trade poses the gravest threat to the long term security, development and effective governance of Afghanistan, particularly since the Taliban are believed to be the biggest beneficiaries of drug sales.

Western governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars bulldozing poppy fields, building up counter-narcotics squads, and financing alternative crops in Afghanistan. In retrospect, might history not judge this war to be every bit as destructive and wasteful as the original ‘Opium Wars’? Convergence of interests of terrorists, drug barons and warlords has made Afghanistan world’s largest narcotics economy. Drug money is one of the major sources of funding terrorism, not only in Afghanistan but also in the region. Russia accuses the US military’s involvement in drug trafficking from Afghanistan. There is mounting evidence that this trade is protected by the US military.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called opium a ‘cancer’ worse than terrorism. At the moment, Afghanistan’s opium exports account for somewhere between two-thirds and one-third of the country’s GDP. To date, the results of all efforts are utterly dispiriting. According to a US government report from 2006, the amount of land dedicated to poppy production grew last year by more than 60 percent. In spite of the presence of large number of Nato/ISAF and coalition forces in Afghanistan, drug trade is on the rise.

Senior Democrats sent President Bush a letter urging him to recognise that the US needs a change in strategy in Afghanistan to repair the grave damage done to our nation’s security. The US must refocus the attention on grave and growing al Qaeda threat, increasing the military, diplomatic, and economic development efforts in Afghanistan. The current problems with regard to Afghanistan’s internal security situation are primarily due to a weak Afghan government with a limited writ and international community’s inability to provide the requisite financial assistance. The failure to improve the socio-economic condition of the common people and slow pace of reconstruction efforts are impacting the development in Afghanistan.

In an endeavour to safeguard our national interests and help Afghanistan chart its own course, Pakistan is exercising a ‘complete hands off’ policy with regard to the internal situation in Afghanistan and believes in a holistic approach to the problem, based on winning hearts and minds. It would be a comprise of social sector reforms, economic development, appropriately represented power dispensation and conducive security environment. Pakistan’s only interest is to see a peaceful Afghanistan having friendly relations with all its neighbours, while striving to improve the condition of its people, presently living in abject misery.

The governance philosophy preached by the Taliban, though internal to Afghanistan, also poses threat to the very fibre of Pakistani society. Therefore, Pakistan is equally averse to the spread of this negative philosophy. It is logical that the prevention of cross border militancy is not just the responsibility of Pakistan. The US, ISAF, Nato and Afghan forces are equally responsible and need to do more to interdict such movement. In order to ensure that our territory is not used by the terrorists for their activities inside Afghanistan, Pakistan has decided to implement various border control measures that include fencing of selected areas along Pakistan-Afghan border, increased patrolling, more check posts and installation of Biometric Border Crossing Control System (BBCCS). Along a border over 2,560 kilometres, Pakistan maintains nearly 1,042 border posts as against 100 maintained by US and the Afghan troops. Some of the Afghan refugee camps had been reported to be safe havens for Taliban sympathisers involved in terrorist activities across the border as well as within Pakistan. To address this problem repatriation of over 2.5 million refugees in Pakistan has been started with the active cooperation of UNHCR, Afghanistan and international community while Afghanistan is resisting and impeding the process on various pretexts. The repatriation is likely to be completed by year 2009.

Pakistan is actively cooperating with US, ISAF, Nato and Afghan National Army within the framework of the Tripartite Commission. On the other hand the Americans have been violating our territory with unilateral strikes inside Pakistan, which has led to an increase in anti-American sentiment.

Pakistan’s contribution in the war on terror has been phenomenal. The major component of our effort has been along the Pakistan-Afghan border. To support the anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan and to effectively curtail movement across Pakistan-Afghan border, security forces have deployed over 100,000 troops in Fata along the Pak-Afghan border. Pursuing the strategy of political engagement in synchronisation with socioeconomic development of tribal areas is priority of the government. The end objective is to eliminate the politico-social support base of foreign terrorists. A holistic and effective strategy is being implemented to achieve this objective.

Development activities initiated by the government in the area were not only widely recognised at all levels but were also accepted by the tribesmen immediately. All uplift projects were meticulously planned with the prime objective of improving the social economic lot of the people of Fata. As soon as the security situation will improve in Fata, the new political setup would like to initiate the development programme for the uplift of the area.

Although there have been some problems in our peace deals with the militants in Fata due to their violations, however, the efforts are in hand to address the current problems through a combination of new political means. Pakistan will continue to play a key role in the war on terror and also bring about a societal change at a home so as to take its rightful place that has been bestowed upon us. An average Pakistani’s perception about the war on terror is very different from the West. There is no doubt that Pakistan is going through difficult times. There are countless problems but Pakistan has the will and strength to overcome them. The internal dynamics of Pakistan with regard to terrorism and extremism are deeply affected by the international developments, particularly from untamed Afghanistan.