Ground realities in Afghanistan

What was forgotten, however, was that the Taliban government, although had de facto control of most of the country, was recognised by only three countries of the world namely, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Even these three withdrew their recognition once Talibans refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden to the Americans. The government of Northern Alliance represented Afghanistan in the UN and various capitals of the world. Bangladesh too always recognised the government of Northern Alliance as the representative of Afghanistan and that government maintained its embassy in Dhaka throughout. American and NATO intervention in Afghanistan was in support of the legal government of that country and was fully in accordance with the UN resolution and the international law. Some of the chair-borne strategists in Bangladesh predicted that the US forces are doomed to meet the same fate as that of the Soviets in the 80s. They were predicting long drawn guerilla warfare in which US forces would be hunted down. They failed to recognise that in the earlier anti-Soviet war, the Americans poured in billions of dollars worth of cash and arms, used Pakistan as the staging base and created the so-called 'Mujahedin' forces. The aim was to stem communist inroad into the warm waters of the Arabian Sea and ultimately to defeat the Soviet forces. Without American involvement, the Mujahedin struggle would have aborted before take off. This time, there was no cash and arms flow and no safe haven for the Talibans. Indeed, Russia and the ex-Soviet Republics joined with the US to defeat the Talibans. Most importantly, the people of Afghanistan were fed up with the Talibans and welcomed western help to dislodge them. For the Talibans, the defeat was inevitable and it came quick.

In the local press, there had been many articles where only the dark side of Afghanistan scene is painted. Hamid Karzai is depicted as a US puppet whose power does not extend beyond the fringe of Kabul. US and NATO forces are reported to be engaged in a ruthless military campaign that kills mostly innocent civilians and the country is in chaos where semblance of law and order has disappeared. While some of these observations may be true, what surprises me is when I see some writers' pining for the return of the Talibans in Kabul. In an article a veteran defence analyst described the Talibans as "intrepid soldiers of God" and predicted their ultimate victory and return to power. How can the Talibans be praised so high? They were neither 'intrepid' nor 'Soldiers of God'. I doubt if the writer visited Afghanistan in recent years. In fact, hardly anyone among the 'Afghan experts' in Bangladesh ever visited that country. Now, I have not visited Afghanistan either, but recently I came in contact with a large number of high-ranking Afghan officials -- doctors, engineers and civil servants, who are undergoing training in rural development under an agreement with BRAC. They, during their long service, had seen all the changes -- from the fall of monarchy to the rise of Karzai. I lived and interacted closely with them for the last five months and tried to elicit honest opinions from them. I also informally talked to a number of BRAC employees who had spent considerable time in Afghanistan since the fall of the Talibans.

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The pictures of Afghanistan that I got from these people are contrary to those drawn by our 'experts'. My Afghan friends are unanimous in their opinion that there was nothing worse than the period under the Talibans. The Talibans, in the name of Islamic Sharia law, had established a draconian reign of terror and despotism. Schools, especially of women, were closed. Women were barred from all employment; many were stoned to death in public square on trumped up charges. All men were compelled to keep beard of a certain prescribed length. Sports and games such as football, cricket etc. were banned and so were songs and music. There were arbitrary arrest, torture and death. There was no contact with the outside world and trade and commerce came to a stand still. In fact, Afghanistan ceased to be a state in the political sense. Naturally living in such a state was close to hell. What have been the changes since Hamid Karzai took over?

Millions of Afghan refugees who were languishing for decades in squalid camps in Pakistan and Iran have returned and largely rehabilitated. Boys and girls are back to schools. In fact, the schools are in double shifts to cater to those who missed schools for five years. Army and police are getting organised. A country that had no economic infrastructure, now has central bank that introduced new currency. Banks, business and trading are open. There has been great improvement in health services, communications, power and other infrastructures. It is true that aid to Afghanistan is slow to arrive, far short of what was promised, but reconstruction work is slowly but steadily gathering pace. A "Loya Jirga", traditional council of elders, was convened, a constitutional framework adopted and the country is now prepared for election. Millions, including women, have enlisted as voters. At every step, the defeated forces are trying to disrupt the return to democracy. Some local 'Afghan experts' predicted that the process, because it was imposed from outside, bound to fail. But they are proved wrong. A country that had experienced nothing but despotic rule for centuries is now taking slow but sure steps towards democracy. A country that became a "failed state" is now returning to normalcy.

My Afghan friends tell me that that they were appalled at seeing the plight of poor people in Bangladesh. They tell me that there is poverty in Afghanistan, but the stark poverty that they see here every day is absent in their country. They also tell me that the roads and highway infrastructures in Afghanistan are better than those in Bangladesh. BRAC workers who had spent considerable time in Afghanistan praise the people of Afghanistan for their warm hospitality and kindness. They are all praise for the government in Kabul that is working hard for the welfare of the Afghan people. BRAC employees traveled extensively throughout the countryside without armed escorts and never had major security problems. They tell me that the security situation is bad, but not as bad as painted in the western media. There has been a resurgence of Afghan women since the fall of Taliban. They are going back to schools and jobs in large numbers, forming micro-credit organisations of their own and trying to change their economic lot. There is a sure sign of the return of vitality in Afghanistan today.

While the threat of Taliban resurgence will remain as long as they have a sanctuary in the Pak-Afghan border, they will become increasingly irrelevant as the seed of democracy takes firm roots. That is why the Taliban remnants are opposing Hamid Karzai's government at every step. As education spreads, trade and commerce flourish, democracy takes root and Afghanistan starts taking its rightful place in the committee of nations, the medieval darkness will disappear.

Afghanistan is increasingly getting connected with the rest of the world. In addition to the western powers and the Islamic world, Afghanistan is forging strong relationship with the neighbours, especially India and Pakistan. While these countries are increasing political and economic relations, it pains me to see that Bangladesh is sitting on the fence. On top of it, part our media is engaged in vilifying the image of Karzai's government. Negative portrayal of the Afghan government does not help the interest of Bangladesh. Afghan people and the government have a lot of goodwill for Bangladesh; we should put that to work. It would be in Bangladesh's interest to widen contact with Kabul government. We need to open up government to government as well as people to people contact. Afghanistan has great strategic significance and enormous untapped economic resources; none can ignore that.