Regional/International Affairs:
By N.P. Upadhyaya
Kathmandu: A South Asian country that is also a distinguished member of the Organization of the Islamic Countries (OIC), has been generously sheltering approximately 4 million Afghan refugees since the early 1980s is Pakistan, Nepal’s neighbour in South Asia.
Let’s presume that the sudden collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government on August 15 and the immediate takeover of the entire Afghani administration by the Taliban must have, in some way or the other, exerted some extra pressure on the already “refugee saturated” Pakistan.
Pakistan is the next-door neighbour of the troubled Afghanistan which is also a SAARC regional body member thus any upheaval in Kabul is sure to have a negative impact on the security situation in Islamabad.
Notably, Afghanistan was forcefully admitted to the regional SAARC body by Dr Man Mohan Singh — the Indian Prime Minister much to the discomfiture of the now-deposed Nepali King Gyanendra.
The Nepali King was against the inclusion of the troubled country in the regional body concluding that “Afghanistan housed foreign military men” in its soil. Singh remained undeterred which allowed the Nepali King to bargain for the Observer Status of China in the SAARC. The deal was done but King Gyanendra’s extra love and honour for China cost his throne. China ditched the King.
India deposed the King in a very easy manner by “ordering” the entire RAW “tamed” Nepali political forces to congregate in order to ensure the King’s exit and the parties in Nepal under Girija Prasad Koirala together with India trained and indoctrinated Nepal Maoists then residing in Delhi in no minutes did away with one of the oldest institutions from Nepal that was the Nepali Royalty with a history of some 250 years. The rest is history.
Back to Afghanistan again:
The country which housed the Afghani refugees for decades and decades naturally had the right and political reason to convene a grand meet of the Islamic countries in Islamabad to discuss the Afghani problems that the people of the country have had been facing since the change in government since mid-August this year. Thus Pakistan hosted December 19 the special session of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic countries’ (OIC) meet in Islamabad and it went well.
Congratulating Pakistan for hosting the OIC meet on Afghanistan, the US secretary of State Antony Blinken in a Tweet on December 22, says, “The OIC extraordinary session on Afghanistan is a prime example of our collective determination and action to help those most in need. We thank Pakistan for hosting…this vital meeting and inviting the global community to continue cooperating to support the Afghani people”.
Even if the US had attended the OIC Islamabad meet together with Chinese and Russian delegates, the people of Pakistan would wish the US to do much as regards the Afghani plight which is a bit of its own making.
Afghanistan watchers claim that at the moment, the Afghani people are not only starving but also have become the victim of the winter that is already there.
So it becomes necessary to bring in the block of the Islamic countries together and discuss how to alleviate the untold sufferings of the Afghani people who have a recorded history of being sunk in trouble and difficulties since the ouster of King Zahir Shah decades ago.
No wonder, Pakistan as the next-door neighbour and an Islamic country took the right initiative to talk about Afghanistan and appeal to the 57 member country conglomerate to “do something substantial” so that the underfed and the quivering people could be saved with the supply of foods and stuffs to fight the cold winter.
A columnist for the Daily Times, Sikandar Noorani, claims that it was a matter of great prestige and honour for Pakistan to have hosted the special session of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) “once again” on Afghanistan. As per this columnist, the first OIC meet too had been hosted by Islamabad to discuss the plight of the Afghanis soon after the Soviet invasion of Kabul in the 1980s.
Sikandar then questions “why could the world not find sustainable solutions for the problems of Afghanistan in over four decades”? The question is thus valid and demands answers from the world powers as to why Afghanistan was left in the cold for decades and decades?
While Pakistan organized the OIC meet in Islamabad, on December 20 almost the same day and on the same subject (Afghanistan), competing and jealous New Delhi too held a meet of foreign ministers of some Central Asian nations and discussed ways and means on how to assist the problem-ridden Afghani people. The present mess in Kabul, in some way, is also the making of Delhi.
The meet of the OIC in Islamabad and the meet of the Central Asian foreign ministers in Delhi had just one thing in common: they both talked about Afghanistan.
New Delhi’s meet on Afghanistan was, one can say, just a ploy to blunt the Islamabad meet on Afghanistan.
Pakistan being the immediate neighbour, has abundant reasons to discuss the plight of the Afghani people as a “security-wise unstable” Afghanistan has the potential to destabilize Pakistan with the spillover effect.
New Delhi has comparatively not been housing Afghani refugees to the tune of millions to what Pakistan has been sheltering since the 1980s.
Exploiting New Delhi’s convening of the meet of Afghanistan, former President Hamid Karzai, an out and out India’s hand presumably, spoke something “rough and tough” against Pakistan.
Hamid Karzai said that the IS has threatened Afghanistan from Pakistan.
The Pakistani security officials are on record to have said that the “reverse is true” but not the one that has just been aired by the former Afghani President Karzai. Karzai in all his honesty preferred to please his mentors in New Delhi’s establishment by accusing Pakistan, India’s declared rival.
The timing of Karzai’s accusations against Pakistan too is somewhat enigmatic in that his indictments against Pakistan came close on the heels of the Delhi meet on Afghanistan which was attended by five foreign ministers from the Central Asian countries. Karzai just wanted to accuse Pakistan to please the CA countries who by now must have understood as to what makes or forces Karzai to speak against Pakistan?
The Durand line skirmishes is also a ploy “timed” to please the CA countries attending the CA Dialogue in Delhi. It was a calculated brawl at the Pak-Afghan border designed by the “regional spoiler”.
Says a commentator in Kathmandu that, “in fact, there is no border clash as the border between Af-Pak is an internationally recognized and widely known as “Durand line”. The commentator adds, “a few regional spoilers and their paid and posted men talk about greater Afghanistan which includes parts of Iran and Pakistan”.
This then means that Karzai’s involvement in this border clash must have been a certainty who acted as per the instructions of the known “regional destabilizer”.
Clearly, Karzai’s accusations were just aired to discredit Pakistan. In doing so Karzai instead proved himself that he was an “India influenced man”.
To stamp Karzai’s unfounded allegations on Pakistan, one should recall that it was during his Presidentship that Afghanistan was included in the SAARC regional body by Sonia Gandhi’s personal assistant PM Singh.
In one way, it came as a political benefit for Pakistan to understand that Karzai was an Indian hand much the same way Ashraf Ghani have had proved himself by fleeing Afghanistan just ahead of the Talibani takeover of Kabul last August.
Meanwhile, a US report claims the DAWN, December 23 that “the group known as IS-K (Islamic State of Khorsan) is based in Afghanistan and conducts operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is composed primarily of former members of the Afghani Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
The Dawn adds, “the US State Department annual report estimates about 1000 fighters who operate from “Afghanistan” and their primary area of operation is apparently Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asian countries. In fact, Prime Minister Imran Khan was talking of this IS-K at the OIC.
In addition, it now becomes clear that in South Asia, all the top hats of the political ruling class of the smaller countries were India bend leaders beginning Bhutan King, Prime Minister Sher B.ahadur Deuba, Ghani, Karzai and President Ibrahim Solih of Maldives. PM Hasina is no exception to the phenomenon.
Pakistani media too have allowed, knowingly or unknowingly, the smooth penetration of the Indian “plants” working “voluntarily but as against financial gains” for the larger interests of the Indian regime much the same way the Indian High Commission, as former Maldivian President Abdullah Yameen believes, tames the Maldivian media.
Now back to OIC Islamabad meet:
Sending a clear warning to the members of the 17th extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, OIC and the global community, PM Khan stated that “Afghanistan could potentially become the biggest “man-made crisis in the world” if it did not act now.
The OIC meeting saw the very active presence of the Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi alongside the seated delegates from the United States, China, Russia, the European Union and the UN.
This means that the OIC Islamabad meet was duly recognized by the international community and the Taliban government too got recognized in an implied manner.
PM Khan made it clear to the OIC conglomerate and the global community that “no other country in the globe had suffered as much as Afghanistan and Pakistan being the immediate neighbour, it too has had to feel the brunt of the exodus of the Afghani refugees. He then appealed to the US to delink the Talibani government from the 40 million Afghani people.
Ayaz Gul for the VOA on December 19 writes that PM Khan also said, “Unless action is taken immediately, Afghanistan is heading for chaos…But chaos suits no one. It certainly doesn’t suit the US also.”
PM Khan then switched to the issue of India occupied Kashmir and appealed to the OIC and the attending global community (that included the attendance of the P-5 countries) to “make a unified plan for the South Asian region, reports Hindustan Times on December 20.
“The people of Kashmir want to see a unified response from the Muslim world about their democratic and human rights”, said Khan.
Similarly, on yet another occasion, Pakistani CoAS Qamar Javed Bajwa also said that the Kashmir issue demands early resolution because it is important for the up keeping of peace and stability of the entire SA region.
Bajwa made these notes while talking with the visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Bajwa’s remarks are meaningful in that the Saudis are close to India and vice versa.
Addressing the OIC gathering, Pakistani FM S. M. Qureshi urged the Islamic world to stand with the suffering Afghani people. Qureshi said that without immediate aid to Afghanistan, it would have horrendous consequences.
He feared that in absence of immediate support to Afghanistan from the global community, the mass exodus of the Afghan nationals is very much around the corner.
FM Qureshi, as per Ayaz Gul, urged the US to “unlock the financial restrictions on Afghanistan”.
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