Siege of Sanity, Sanctity and Sovereignty

IC Correspondent IC Correspondent
23 Aug 2021

It is now official: The Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan. The naming does not have the support of either the locals or the international community, save a few vested interests trying to make hay while the sun has begun to shine, unaware of the fact that the rising sun has to set sooner or later. But mind you, the name is written with blood, dotted with bullets, arousing an eerie chill beneath the bones, as if witnessing zombies on their rampage to extradite innocent people, oblivious of things that are falling apart. The air is filled with premonition of perdition, swords hanging in the air, ready to plunge in anytime. Insecurity and uncertainty have joined hands to mock at every Afghan who wants to breathe easy.

What has been taking place in Afghanistan over the past few days may defeat even the best of Hollywood war movies of recent memory, but the diary of the land on siege this time is dotted with human casualties, with the flag of the Taliban fluttering over corpses, and there is declaration of victory. There are claims by the Taliban leadership who hope the world community would offer them the much-needed legitimacy as the legal leadership to take the reins of governance.

The siege of the Afghan capital Kabul is the last nail hit on the coffin of sanity, sanctity and sovereignty of Afghanistan, and it is hard to imagine that in twenty-first century a nation would go through such repressive measures, and the international community remains a mute spectator, unwilling to take steps to put things in place, so that the civilians who have no part in what transpired in the tripartite negotiations – between the United States army, the Taliban and the legitimately elected government under the leadership of Asharaf Ghani – do not become pawns in the hands of dictators, whoever that be.

Afghanistan today has become the byword for religious extremism, repression of anything human, where everything could be justified in the name of stricter adherence to Islamic Shariah. But before we consider where we move from this quagmire we are in, it is important to take stock of the lot of the different stakeholders in this enterprise; the different dramatis personae who have played an indispensable role in the drama of real life.

Blood thicker than water

Rahmat, the dry-fruit-seller from Kabul in Afghanistan, visiting the then Calcutta every year, had always felt an inner urge to visit the City of Joy, if not for anything, but for the five-year-old girl Mini. The filial love between the 'Kabuliwala' had crossed the narrow boundaries of time and space. Such was the bonding that united the sub-continent with her neighbour Afghanistan.

That is part of a short-story by Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore, entitled 'Kabuliwala', written in 1892. Tagore based his story on the Pathan from the neighbouring country to show how love can break barriers and bond a young and an old. 

But that was history long before Taliban was born in 1994 to claim supremacy over the entire nation, bringing under their control everything they can think of. Today the same Afghanistan is bleeding, seething with excruciating pain, choked off due to lack of breathing space. Rahmat today would not want to step into his homeland, the one blood-stained, sieged by the fanatic terrorist outfit, determined to impose stricter observance of Shariah. This means Rahmat's daughters will never be able to go out without being accompanied by a male family member, the daughters will not go to school after the age of 10, leave alone going out for job. If they ever dared to defy the dictums of the Taliban, then they should be prepared to face public flogging or even execution.

Good Samaritan turns bad

Twenty years of United States’ safeguarding the interests of the people of Afghanistan has come to an end after President Joe Biden had announced the withdrawal of the US army from the land. The US president was unequivocal in his announcement on August 15 that he was the fifth US President, who has been forced to carry on the burden of the US army in Afghanistan, and he would not pass the bug on to his successor.

Whatever had been the motive for the US to linger on in Afghanistan, even after they got rid of the al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011 in Pakistan, Joe Biden might have felt that their spending a whopping 2 trillion US dollars was not going to bear the expected results; thus the decision to pull out could be construed as a tactic on the part of the US to let the Afghans handle their affairs, thus washing their hands off from their responsibility to the future of Afghanistan.

One may be tempted to blame the US President for the debacle that had fallen on the nation, which might have least expected such things happening so fast. In fact, the US Army had believed it might take about three months for the Taliban to take complete control over the nation, but the reality is that they had taken control of all key stations and offices within 10 days, no mean achievement for a terrorist outfit.

The address of the US President had come late, but it only reiterated what Biden had already communicated to the international community. While the US had spent from its coffers to develop and sustain much of Afghanistan’s governance, be it military, technological, scientific, key installations, the local government was unable to resist the attempts of the Taliban. Did the US army really prepare the nation to stand on its own feet, or running a proxy government on their behalf is a question that could linger on.
    
Et tu Ghani!

One of the most unexpected and unforeseen events during the chaotic situation ensuing the entry of the Taliban into the seat of power in Kabul on August 15 was the flight of the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, from the nation for fear of ‘bloodshed’. Though he tried to justify his flight, allegedly with four cars and a chopper stacked with currency notes, in a lengthy message in a social medium, the event would only remind one of the existentialist novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

The ambitious sailor who wanted to climb the ladder of importance in manning the ship Patna, deserted the ship and all those who were in it, fearing for his life; Jim’s primary concern was to save his life, even if it meant sure death to all his beloved friends in the ship; but fortunately the ship did not sink and there were no casualties. But later stripped of his certificate, Jim feels psychologically depressing to think that he had deserted the ship and people in it to save his life and pours his heart to the narrator of the story, Marlow. 

No one could ever think that the 73-year-old academician, who had kept the nation together for about seven years, would one day take off, leaving the civilians to face the ferocious and blood-thirsty Taliban. This was in stark contrast with the former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, who was elected to lead the nation on two consecutive terms in 2004 and 2009, and who is esteemed by people even after the turbulent years, when the Taliban built up momentum to topple the government and forcefully occupy the seat of power.

Tit-for-tat Taliban

It is interesting to note that the etymology of the word ‘taliban’ in Pashtan language means students or disciples, and generally it means two students, thus in English it has taken to mean the plural form of student. What had begun as a spiritual venture to bring in stricter observance of Islamic Shariah, the movement has become a terrorist outfit, waging proxy war with the government, and threatening to usurp power forcefully, as it did during the five years of its governance from September 27, 1996 to November 13, 2001 under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar, Emir and Commander of the Faithful.

Taliban was fully aware that without gaining legitimacy from the international community, they would not be able to take care of the interests of the people of Afghanistan, especially when the country depended largely on the aid of international community for all their essentials. The Taliban may need huge amount of money and resources to keep together all their officers and gun-trotting foot-soldiers, providing for all their needs, though they are all committed blindly to the cause they stand for.

But it is highly a matter of conjecture how long the Taliban would be able to keep the nation together, and as the world community is watching their every move, it would not take too long for them to shed the cover and show their real colour. Leave alone gaining the legitimacy of the world community, it may be hard for the hardline Taliban to win the confidence of the Afghans, who had seen their recent political history blotted with blood, thanks to the extremism injected into the Taliban ideology.

The road ahead

One thing is for sure, it is not going to be a smooth sail for the Taliban, who despite their big promises and commitment to take over the control of the nation smoothly, assuring safety and security of all people, including foreign missions, may not be in a position to tread a path other than the one they have been used to, or the one they are confident is the only way to govern. If they hold on to ‘my way is the high way’, then they are bound to face resistance from the civilians and the international community. There are indications that the Taliban may soften their stand, as a modus operandi in order to get over the initial shock all have gone through, but we have to wait and watch for them to walk the talk.

The Taliban know for sure that they cannot have their way in all things, because what had happened in 2001, when they were overthrown by the US army to reinstate the democratically elected government, can happen if the neighboring nations come together to repeat history. Therefore, with the fighter strength of 85,000, the Taliban cannot challenge the more powerful nations and that calls for a lot of compromise, even from their hardcore ideology.

The international community, especially the United Nations, is not going to be sympathetic towards the outfit, since that would mean giving unwarranted legitimacy to gorilla troupes and terrorist groups waging proxy war with legitimately elected government, which could have a dangerous precedence in the global scenario.

Even as the Taliban begins to assert their supremacy, there is a thorn in their flesh: the vice-president of Afghanistan, Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself to be the legitimate caretaker president, though such claim has not been corroborated by the Taliban. He took to a micro-message social network to state that he was in touch with all leaders, “to secure their support and consensus”. We are yet to see if the efforts of the former mujahedeen would bear any fruit in these critical times to rebuild the crumbled socio-political structure of Afghanistan.

The return of the co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, after a decade, has set the ball rolling to form the new government under the Taliban; as the second senior-most leader after Haibatullah Akhundzada in the Taliban, many hope Baradar may be sworn in as the new President of Afghanistan. As a moderate among the Taliban, Baradar may be able to sail the vessel through troubled waters. But then, that needs to be seen in action.

The situation is also a clarion call to the international community not to be blind and deaf to human suffering and butchery in Afghanistan in the name of non-compliance to the hardcore fanatic observance of religious practices; there should be strict financial sanctions imposed on the Taliban when they cross the boundaries of peace and harmony in the land, so that their extremist tendencies are kept in check. 
 

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