|
|
| Political not military solution to Afghanistan |
| S. Ishfaq |
| As it is said that Afghan peace will only be achieved once each individual therein finds himself at ease with himself. But it is apparent that the US and coalition forces’ efforts have almost failed in restoring the peace and improving Afghanistan’s overall security condition. The main goal of US and other forces is to disrupt and defeat the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and now in Pakistan too. In order to solve the issue of extremism, various steps had been taken including Obama’s new military strategy of deploying 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. As a matter of fact, Obama’s military strategy makes no sense unless it is accompanied by a bold political initiative to bring the war to an end by means of a negotiated settlement. Not only this but for many reasons Obama administration is facing vital foreign policy option over the US policy in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the uncertain election condition and critical rising insurgency in the Afghan region is making it (defeating terrorism) even tougher.
And the security situation in Afghanistan is increasingly getting worse day by day. As a consequence, the attacks on US forces, coalition forces, civilians and Afghan people are increasing. Current data shows that around 13,000 attacks were made from January to August this year, alone.
Though some international and US development work has made little progress but security issue is still a great challenge in the region.
In addition to this, the delay in reconstruction and development projects is because of the lack of security in this region.
Such attacks are preventing the contractors from doing or continuing their work like road construction etc. Another problem that US and its’ coalition forces are facing today is disruption of their supply lines.
Furthermore, USAID officials report that due to lack of security their monitoring ability of health services has been stopped in the areas of Eastern and Southern Afghanistan.
Due to this, all the efforts that are made so far seemingly failed in achieving the main cause which is peace of world. Instead of decreasing the key challenges in Afghanistan, the situation is getting worse with the passage of time as: the cross border terrorists’ activities from across the border in Afghanistan have been increased and the Taliban are getting hold and strength in the region of Afghanistan as well as now in Pakistan.
Currently, Afghan government’s corruption, its poor performance, increasing drug trade problem and poor coordination of international aid agencies and organisation inside the Afghanistan is making, in fact, the whole situation hopeless and horrible.
At the moment all that is needed is a little bit more attention towards development and implementation of effective policies.
In order to make this region safe from extremism and terrorism, there is a need to understand the actual causes of the current situation.
The world is witness to the fact that the war in Afghanistan is a complicated affair that has tested the very limits of administrations of Kabul, Islamabad and the American one-year administration as well.
The continuing critical situation in Afghanistan is main source of increasing tension and insecurity in Pakistan. It is an unavoidable fact that Pakistan is a keystone of hope if peace is to be restored in Afghanistan.
The US’ troops surge for Afghanistan indicates the hopelessness of its forces and policy failures. And the insecurities emanating from US policy on Afghanistan would make Pakistan a reluctant partner in the counter-insurgency efforts instead of becoming a ‘strategic ally’, imperative for restoring peace and harmony in the region. Also one reason of US force’s failure in the region is the ignorance about the culture, religion and social values and that’s why they failed in achieving the sympathies of local people. So there is need for new meaningful dialogues with the leaders of Taliban in order to get a better solution for the future of Afghanistan. And to ensure regional security, there is a dire need for a new comprehensive policy and stronger strategy with shared responsibilities. And the role of Pakistan must not be ignored in this regard.
After eight years, it is out in open that even a fully resourced strategy is not guaranteed to succeed. Therefore, the focus of international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan should not be exclusively, or even primarily, on military.
Instead, the real key to success in Afghanistan will be to reinvigorate critical efforts to promote Afghan leadership and capacity at all levels of society while combating the culture of impunity that undermines all efforts. Illicit power structures, including warlords, narco-mafias and other criminal networks have become entrenched and intertwined with corrupt government officials.
The present US counter-insurgency (COIN) strategy in Afghanistan may be emphasizing on the civic component but the need is not essentially the dispatch of more trained American troops but the build up of Afghan capacities in better governance and aid delivery mechanisms.
Moreover, internal divisions between the US ambassador and the US military commander, lack of ‘unity of effort’ in the military strategies and aid distribution coupled with the presence of an array of international actors working in an uncoordinated manner, will further contribute to dissipated efforts.
The net impact would be lack of trust among Afghans about the efficacy of these international efforts.
The lead role that the United States wants to assign the Afghans in rebuilding Afghanistan would never come about.
In a nutshell, without an urgent political plan to end the fighting the nine-year war will drag on, costs and casualties of which will mount, and America’s decline already evident over the last decade, will gather pace.
As the proverb suggest, it does take a village to raise a child.
So too will it take a sustained, collective effort by world’s powers for success in Afghanistan to be realised. |
|
|