Afghanistan: The Human Cost of Geostrategic Fanaticism
On 8 May 2021 – as the global community polarized along the Israel-Hamas conflict – a bomb attack outside a school in the heart of Kabul killed over 90 people, majority of them young girls. All the victims belonged to one of the most persecuted minority communities in the region, the Hazaras.
For the international community, the number is useful in coming up with creative ways to further one’s strategic interests in the region. Pakistan, China, Iran and India share geographical borders as well as cultural and ethnic history. Other nations such as US, Russia, Turkey, France, UK, Germany have ideological and geopolitical interests within the nation.
Brief Historical Context:
The conflict in Afghanistan goes back to the 19th century, when the region acted as a “buffer zone” between the Russian Empire and the British Indian Empire. As this rivalry evolved over the course of the 20th century, the Cold War era witnessed increased participation of additional foreign actors apart from UK and USSR: US, China, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and India.
Across the border, the 1979 Iranian Revolution undid decades of western neo-imperialism to make way for an Islamic Republic, led by a religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. This development in the neighbourhood emboldened the local tribes in the hinterlands of Afghanistan to begin insurgent warfare against the Socialist Afghanistan Government.
From 1979 to 1989, the Soviet-Afghan War was fought by the US-backed Mujahideen groups and USSR-backed Afghan forces, which was soon followed by another decade of Civil War. However, the Taliban began an all-out war against their benefactors and captured Afghanistan. Since 2001, Afghanistan has been a site for US’s Global War on Terrorism.
What About The Afghan People?
As the news of Reuters journalist Danish Siddique being killed in Afghanistan reached his homeland, the Indian community found its latent connection with the conflict. He was caught in the cross-firing between Taliban and ANDSF in the Spin Boldak district, which the Taliban captured within days of his death.
Soon horrifying reports poured in from Spin Boldak, as Taliban was reported to have killed over 100 civilians – after it had already captured the villages, a deviation from their usual strategy.
Ethnic minority groups, such as Hazaras, Uzbeks, and Tajiks – who make up the anti-Taliban forces – and religious minority communities of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians have been reporting mass slaughter, rape, looting and ethnic cleansing by the Pashtuni Taliban.
At present, UN estimates that 18.4 million people are in need of dire humanitarian assistance while over 5 million people have been internally displaced so far. According to a UNAMA report published in July, 1,659 civilians have been killed in the Afghanistan conflict during the period of January-June 2021 – one-third of whom were children.
Since then, the dead and the persecuted have been memorialized in the footnotes of the record books kept by global watch-bodies like the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
What Are Other Countries Doing?
With each passing day as Taliban forces advance towards Kabul, in the backdrop of US retreat, the prominent discourse within international community has focused on the strategic implications for different nations.
Turkey, a NATO and OIC member, is looking to gain control of the Kabul International Airport after US Army finalizes its retreat.
The Pakistani regime, on the other hand, is interested in the paradigmatic shift due to Taliban’s ideology – as it hopes to rejuvenate the insurgency movement in neighbouring Kashmir valley in India, like in 1980s and 1990s.
However, its contested international border of Durand Line, which is not recognized by the Taliban, threatens to put the country in a complex conflict with ethnic groups from both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims does not get recognised or opposed by most of the world, out of various economic and political considerations. Yet the ongoing genocide has found strong resistance from cross-border groups such as East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is said to have bases in Afghanistan.
In the latest meetings between Taliban and Chinese delegates, China asserted that the former actor can hope for China’s aid in rehabilitation process only if it cracks down on ETIM. Despite being a self-advocate for salvation of Muslims from global oppression, Taliban’s official stance on Uyghurs reflects China’s agenda.
India’s position, as stated by the External Affairs Ministry, is of engaging in discussions with “all stakeholders” and a complete rejection of violent overthrow of government. Over the course of last few years, there have been reports of backchannel meetings between Indian and Taliban delegates – signifying an evolving dynamic with the rapidly changing ground reality.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, meanwhile, has strongly condemned the “deeply disturbing reports” while the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, stated on 12 August 2021 that he is “following escalation in fighting with deep concern”.