DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI raises questions on the west’s move to ‘buy peace and integration’ and wonders whether the Taliban will go for the bet.
Can the Taliban be defanged? Can its teeth and claws be pulled out? Can mental as well as the economic bribes alter its course? Before dealing with these questions, let us delve deep into the mindset and psychology of the United States, which as a strategy believes in running with the hare and hunting with the hound.
The truth is Washington is a pastmaster in duplicity, double-speak and double-deal. In fact, the US has perfected the art of hypocrisy. There are cases in which the United States has invented lies. It has, in a well-planned manner, given the proverbial dog a bad name and then hanged it publicly.
CANNON FODDER
What goes without saying is that the wily super power, much before dirtying its hands in the human blood, invites its allies to share the war burden. It is then that the offensive “cannon fodder” is launched.
When sustained aerial bombardments, blind killings and selective targetings could not bring their desired results, now the United States, in cooperation with the United Kingdom, is trying to purchase the elements, inimical to the imperialist hegemonism. Initially, it appears as if it is on experimental basis. If the experiment fails, the Taliban would, once again, become fit to be liquidated.
TWO MEETS
In the recent past two international conferences have been organised on Afghanistan, one in Turkey and the other in London. The message from both the places is: We now want to talk to the Taliban! The response of the Taliban is: We are not amused.
Till recently the Taliban was an outlaw organisation and inextricably linked to the al-Qaida. Now, tired and frustrated, Washington and London are prepared to make a distinction between the two and deal with the Taliban in a mercantile manner.
INDIAN STAND
In contrast to the too obvious dichotomy between then and now approaches, the stand that India had taken was clear and steadfast. The New Delhi view was: There can be no degrees in the Taliban. There are no moderates, only radicals. But now, apprehending isolation at international level, New Delhi has fallen in line drawn by the two summits and is prepared to befriend “good Taliban”. It is sad, nay sadder because nobody is prepared to do business with us and them.
PRE-DETERMINED
In London they had gathered with a pre-determined thesis. Our External Affairs Minister could do little to drive home his country’s policy. Mark it that he was seated in the second row, suggesting New Delhi role was peripheral in the Afghan affairs.
It goes without saying that Turkey did not bother to invite India in its conference. The other side of the picture is that Bharat is the key regional player and its aid to Afghanistan happens to be to the tune of $1.3 million.
In the meantime, unsolicited advice to be cautious continues to rain on New Delhi which has recently been retold: India is at greatest danger from being the target of the next attack from al-Qaida or one of its several splinter groups, particularly those operating from Pakistan.
As the matters stand, Saudi Arabia happens to be the only country which has demonstrated somewhat firmness in its stand – somewhat because it says it would not talk to the Taliban as long as they maintain relations with al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
The observers believe like India, Saudi Arabia too shall fall in line, the line distinctly drawn by the United States.
Besides other factors responsible for the US shift in its gear, happens to be the ever-plunging ratings in the popularity of President Barack Obama, bruised by political, economic and foreign policy crisis.
CHILDREN’S LETTERS
The economic downturn is gnawing at his jugular vein. The depth of the crisis can be imagined from the letters that the embattled President receives from the American children. To quote him from his January 28-29 State of the Union address: I hear about them (anxieties) in the letters that I read each night. The toughest to read are those written by children – asking why they have to move from their home, asking when their mom or dad will be able to go back to work.
KEY POINT
Why the US and the UK rather the west, now want to “buy peace and integration” and will the Taliban go for the bet?
As far as we in India are concerned, nothing can be said for sure, particularly because our knowledge about the Taliban is next to negligible and is limited to the stories on the subject in the newspapers or books. May be, some weak or disgruntled persons succumb to the allure. However, it is certain that the hardcore, indoctrinated would refuse point blank to oblige the authors of the booby-trap, particularly because the Taliban or the al-Qaida, it is alleged, is not the name of a group or a party but a mindset, a morbid mindset. In thousands the insurgents, owing allegiance to these organisations, have been liquidated in the planned carpet bombings. But has their activity been put to a dead stop?
The offer made by the west appears to be a confession of its failure and victory of the insurgents. Initial reaction of the Taliban is rejection. To them the two conferences are an essay in futility. They have given the impression that their ideology (if any) is not negotiable.
BROWN’S READING
The British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown has announced the establishment of a $500 million ‘trust fund’ to “buy peace and integration with warriors who are engaged in violence for economic rather than ideological reasons.” If this is the depth of political and diplomatic insight of the British Prime Minister, and by the way of Mr. Barack Obama and those who attended the world conferences on Afghanistan in Turkey and London, the less said the better.