Taliban deal lights a
slow-burning fuse By Syed
Saleem Shahzad
JALALABAD, Afghanistan -
Dozens of influential delegates, including
religious scholars, tribal chiefs and important
citizens from several provinces, are gathered in
the courtyard of the newly renovated Qasr-i-Shahi
(Royal Palace) built by late Afghan King Ghazi
Amanullah, who liberated Afghanistan from British
rule.
The dignitaries are assembled to
greet the governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Aga
Sherzai, who recently returned from a visit to the
United States. The ceremony is in line with the Afghan
tradition of greeting anybody
powerful who returns home. In this ceremony, the
governor distributes gifts to the guests, also a
part of Afghan tradition. Equally important, the
governor and the delegates exchange views in a
series of speeches.
Gul Aga Sherzai makes his
address, outlining his initiatives in
the
social and economic sectors. Before he invites the
delegates to speak, he urges this correspondent to
put down his camera, which until then had recorded
the ceremonies.
A noble Pashtun with a
greying beard stands up and responds to Gul Aga
Sherzai's speech.
"You might have rebuilt
Qasr-i-Shahi, but you should also have come up
with a solution to the foreign intervention in
Afghan affairs. Now is the time that we should ask
the kharjis [foreigners] to leave
Afghanistan and let us decide matters on our own,"
the man says, speaking in Pashtu. His long speech
continues in this manner.
Gul Aga Sherzai
quietly finishes his tea and stands up. "There is
no question that the kharjis should leave
Afghanistan, but before that we should make
ourselves strong enough. We should be self-reliant
and self-sufficient."
It is debate such as
this that the governor does not want recorded; in
eastern Afghanistan, on the record everything is
fine, but in fact it is not.
Traveling in
the eastern region to Jalalabad one can see the
complete writ of the government. Construction work
is going on everywhere along the main highways.
Life in Jalalabad appears normal. And unlike the
constantly restive areas to the south, there are
no bomb blasts or suicide attacks. The Taliban do
not challenge the government, nor do they carry
out attacks on government buildings, as in other
areas.
This reminds one that Jalalabad was
surrendered to allied forces without a fight when
the Taliban retreated in the face of the US-led
invasion of 2001. The Taliban simply melted into
their tribes.
Shershah Hamdard, the editor
of the local Nangarhar Daily, comments, "Whether
people are Taliban or members of the Hizb-i-Islami
Afghanistan [HIA], they are Afghans first, and if
they live as peaceful citizens nobody objects to
them. Now many people who were Taliban serve in
the local administration, and many important
positions are held by people who were members of
the Hizb."
This is the on-the-record view.
Everything appears calm and normal. Under the
surface, though, a time bomb is ticking, and even
the Director of Information and Culture, Mohammed
Hashim Ghamsharik, admits that "unscrupulous
elements" are a threat to peace and stability in
the province.
The real Nangarhar Jalalabad is the second-largest city of
Afghanistan and the capital of the eastern
province of Nangarhar. Ever since the Soviets
invaded Afghanistan in the late 1970s, Jalalabad
has remained a political stronghold of Afghan
communists, as well as secular nationalists.
However, across the province the dynamics
are somewhat different. The suburbs of Jalalabad
are full of people loyal to the HIA led by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or another faction led by
Moulvi Younus Khalis.
The Taliban never
had direct support among the people of Nangarhar
province. The Taliban mobilized forces from
Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika and Khost to defeat
local warlords in the province. This resulted in
an exodus of commanders loyal to Hekmatyar to
Pakistan, or else they stayed on as ordinary
citizens.
The commanders loyal to Moulvi
Khalis also either migrated to Pakistan (like the
slain brothers Abdul Haq and Haji Abdul Qadeer) or
they joined the Taliban.
After the fall of
the Taliban, Jalalabad came under the control of
nationalist tribals loyal to former King Zahir
Shah, while in the surrounding areas the
"converted" Taliban and HIA loyalists lay low.
The current calm, therefore, precedes a
storm.
The various tribes have struck an
unwritten deal with the provincial government that
it will not undertake search operations in and
around Jalalabad.
Such an arrangement was
also said to have been made with the previous
governor, Haji Deen Mohammed (now the governor of
Kabul province); that he struck a deal with the
Taliban to prevent the province from falling into
chaos. As a result, Haji Deen was transferred to
Kabul.
When Gul Aga Sherzai became
governor in Nangarhar he was urged by allied
forces to hunt down Taliban forces. As a result,
joint patrols of allied forces and Afghan police
went on raids, but they immediately met with
resistance.
So a few months ago a
messenger of the Taliban personally met Gul Aga
Sherzai and other government officials and told
them that should any more raids occur, their
reward would be death squads. Thus a lull prevails
in Nangarhar.
Building up the
resistance The focus of the resistance at
present is in south Afghanistan, from Kandahar
(the previous Taliban stronghold) up to Kunar. The
strategy is to first establish an unbreakable
foothold in the south, and then spread to other
areas, such as Jalalabad, where silent supporters
will rise up and establish new fronts. Kabul, as
it was when the Taliban finally seized power in
1996, would be the final prize.
Next: Spiritual royalists: A
countervailing force
Syed Saleem
Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at
saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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