Taming Absurdity

How many miles to Babylon?

Three score miles and ten-

Can I get there by candlelight?

Yes, and back again-

If your feet are nimble and light

You can get there by candlelight.

GoodBye To All That By Joan Didion

Taming Absurdity*

As I have stated in my previous blog, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan had some very serious strategic and political ramifications for Pakistan. For one, it threatened to encircle Pakistan with series of hostile regimes in its neighborhood, with India on the East and Iran joined by Soviet backed Afghanistan to its West. This would have meant the disintegration of the Pakistan State and the ultimate realization of “Akhand Bharat,” after-all Nehru quite frequently insisted that it would only be a matter of time till Pakistan re-joined India. Pakistan took many risks in confronting the Soviets. One of those risks which continue to haunt the Pakistani State to this day is the decision to take-in millions of Afghani refugees who fled from the war and turned refugee camps into breeding grounds for the Mujahedeen fighting against the Soviets. The Kalashnikov Culture as it is popularly known in Pakistan meant that steady flow of weapons and drug money made their way into the major cities of Pakistan.

What made the blow-back affects from the Afghani War in Pakistan even more devastating was the fact that the international community choose to ignore the country and America in particular went as far as to even place sanctions on Pakistan at a time when International collaboration was most needed. Pakistan was left out in the cold to not only strike out for itself but also to take care of the millions of the Afghani refugees in its country. That Pakistan choose to go solo in cleaning up the mess left by the Soviet Invasion was neither unexpected nor was it such a terrible idea when one takes into consideration the tough choices that Pakistan had to take. The Pakistani support to the Taliban thus from the very onset made both strategic and political sagacity but it is also made economic imperative; after-all, one could not expect a third world country such as Pakistan to solve single-handedly a mess left by both superpowers at the time and the International Community.

In a hand-sight it was the reckless and arrogant foreign policies of our government which turned Afghanistan into what it eventually became in the 1990s: a failed State that provided international terrorists with the necessary ingredients to develop and flourish.

The recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto confirmed the vicious reach of the Taliban charlatans such as Baitullah Mehsud whose main goal it seems is the complete breakdown of the Pakistani State. It is also worth mentioning here, the quick denunciation his group by the Taliban leader Mullah Omar who went as far as to say that the targeting of Pakistani troops and strategic targets is not the Taliban’s goal. The question that is often asked within Pakistan is “who exactly is financing and arming renegade elements such as Baitullah Mehsud,” and the answers many Pakistanis come up with often times points to Indian and Western involvement. That Baitullah Mehsud was a regular foot-solider for the Taliban prior to his capture and eventual detention at Guantanamo Bay by the Americans offers for some, a very interesting possibility of covert Western support to his agenda. Evidently, the fact that Baitullah Mehsud only seems to be so engrossed in only targeting Pakistani military and strategic installations and random kidnapping of Nuclear Scientists and Government Officials does nothing to dispel those fears.

The struggle towards the stabilization of Afghanistan is going to take more than simply turning the country into an international espionage playground that pits one country’s interest against another, and random hit and miss military operations against the Taliban and their Al Qaida allies is not going to tackle the threat of the Taliban. Much like Iraq has proved, without a sound political engagement with the local population and wrestling them away from the sphere of influence of the insurgency movements, no tangible improvement can be ever made. After-all the relative stability that Iraq enjoys these days (if you ignore the clashes between government forces and the Shia militias on TV for a second) was simply an illusion before we decided to roll our sleeves and address the concerns of the Sunni minority and thus paving the way for( once-again) the relative calm in the Sunni triangle region.

For Afghanistan to be stabilized, America has to put in both energy and money into the country. Pakistani troops fighting against the Taliban need to be supplied with the necessary equipment to disrupt the even-playing field that exists today between the Pakistani troops and the terrorists along the tribal belt. We also need to help create a competent civil society in Afghanistan. The current dependence on warlords to tackle the tough issues of democracy and the rule of law has not worked and is not going to work. We need to train Afghanis in managing a modern country that is free from both the insidious threat from terrorists and the equally insidious encroachment by regional countries such as India who want to turn the country into a proxy battle-ground. We have already failed the Afghani people following the Soviet defeat, heaven forbid we fail them again.

*the title of this blog is inspired the beautifully written “Marrying Absurd” By Joan Didion