In
Afghanistan, the return of the
reds By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The extreme civil strife in
Afghanistan of the early 1990s following the vacuum
created by the withdrawal of Soviet troops gave rise to
the Taliban. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) and the US Central Intelligence Agency both
recognized that in the dire political chaos, the Taliban
were the only unifying force, and despite their
fundamentalist and rigid religious beliefs they could
impose stability in the country.
However, by
2000 there was a renewed realization on the part of the
US that the Taliban had turned Afghanistan into a terror
sanctuary. Washington pressed Islamabad to withdraw its
support of the Taliban. This forced strategic
decision-makers in Pakistan to develop a third force,
beside the Taliban and the Northern Alliance that
controlled the north of the country.
This
alternative force, aimed at preventing any possible
dominance of the anti-Pakistan Northern Alliance, was
centered around the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) led
by mujahideen veteran Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and a group
from the former communist regime led by ex-defense
minister General Shahnawaz Tanai.
The September
11 attacks gave the US the perfect opportunity to strike
Afghanistan, as the Taliban had provided Osama bin Laden
and al-Qaeda sanctuary in the country, and drive the
Taliban out of government.
But all did not go
according to the Pakistan plan, as their third force was
marginalized by the Northern Alliance in the new
government of pro-US Hamid Karzai.
Now, though,
with a resurgent Afghan resistance and continued
instability in the country, in which thousands of US and
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops are
bogged down, a third force is once again an option.
This suits the US, which wants to exit the
country ahead of planned September elections, and its
own presidential elections in November, and Pakistan as
well, which would have its people closer to power in
Kabul.
This time, though, the third force would,
ironically, constitute elements of the Taliban,
pro-Taliban tribes and HIA commanders and supporters led
by the evergreen Hekmatyar, a man who just refuses to be
sidelined and who is a leading component of the Afghan
resistance.
Islamic elements The US
has been working on cultivating a "good" Taliban force
for many months now, without much success as they have
been unable to get people to renounce the leadership of
Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
However, efforts
have continued, and with the help of the ISI, figures
such as Mullah Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, former foreign
minister in the Taliban days, and a substantial number
of clerics have been separated from the mainstream
Taliban movement to stand as candidates in the upcoming
elections.
Earlier, with Hekmatyar's approval,
representatives of the HIA's political wing (distinct
form Hekmatyar's military branch) met Karzai at the
latter's invitation. Hekmatyar is reluctant to give up
his guerilla struggle without ensuring a role for the
HIA in Afghan politics.
Karzai met the HIA
delegation with open arms, but NATO officials demanded
that if the HIA wanted to establish a political office
in Kabul, it would have to separate from Hekmatyar and
declare him a terrorist. Unsurprisingly, the HIA
delegates returned to Peshawar in Pakistan empty-handed.
Meanwhile, several former HIA leaders of Pashtun
origin - the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan, as
opposed to the mainly non-Pashtun Northern Alliance -
have been given a clean slate by the US despite
"criminal records" from earlier days. These include
Abdul Waheed Sabaoon, who used to be the intelligence
chief of the HIA and who was arrested soon after US
forces seized control of Kabul in late 2001. Now he is a
powerful member in Karzai's cabinet, as are other former
HIA members, Qazi Amin Waqad and Mangal Hussain.
The plan is that these three former HIA
commanders will cultivate more HIA commanders from the
Pashtun areas to contest the elections.
Return of the reds In the 1980s,
Afghan communists were the main force in Afghanistan's
urban centers. But after the fall of the puppet Soviet
government led by Mohammad Najibullah (1986-1992) , and
in the face of civil war, many reds left the country,
contrary to some expectations that they would switch
sides.
"Afghans remain loyal to their basic
ideologies, whether they are communist, Iqwani
[Islamists of Muslim Brotherhood origin like the
Jamiat-i-Islami and the Hezb-i-Islami] or Taliban. Thus,
it is difficult for the US to find 'pure' loyalty among
these ideologically motivated groups," commented the
former director general of the ISI, retired
Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul.
Now, although
Afghan laws prohibit card-carrying communists from
taking part in politics, the US is prepared to allow the
return of these communist elements, especially those of
Pashtun origin.
So in addition to the search for
good Taliban, the hunt is on for good communists. This
has been a precedent in Afghanistan: in 1989, the ISI
courted communist leader General Shahnawaz Tanai to
overthrow Najibullah, but the effort failed and Tanai
fled to Pakistan. Tanai was defense minister at the
time. When the Taliban emerged, Hekmatyar took refuge in
Iran.
Spider, spider ... Now, with the
Taliban and the reds back in the frame, the ISI's Afghan
cell is spinning a new political web centered on
Hekmatyar and Tanai.
Tanai is now the leader of
the Peace Movement of Afghanistan, and is actively
campaigning for a bigger role for Pashtuns, former
jihadi leaders and religious parties, and he openly
criticizes US policies that perpetuate the Northern
Alliance (Tajik) domination in Kabul.
Tanai's
movement is now enrolled as the 29th political party for
the elections, and is expected to make a strong showing
in the eastern Afghan belt of Paktia, Khost and Gardez,
beside his influence in bringing back Afghan communists
from Pakistan and elsewhere where they fled to play a
political role. Their presence could neutralize the
extremist Taliban influence in this region of the
country.
Afghanistan's political wheel once
again turns full circle with the return of the
communists.
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