Frustration of Hamid Karzai

DURING the last four days, the embattled Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan on three different occasions of supporting Taliban who are posing a mounting challenge to his regime. On Wednesday, once again during his address to school children in Kandhar, he charged Pakistan wanted to make Afghans as its slaves. Earlier, during a TV address he tearfully told the viewers that innocent Afghan citizens were being killed by militants operating from within Pak territory. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Ms Tasnim Aslam told media on Wednesday that Taliban were operating within Afghanistan and that Islamabad had deployed as many as 80,000 troops on Pak-Afghan border to counter terrorism. She rightly stated that hundreds of thousands of Afghans having fled from the war in their country were living close to the border in Pakistan and provided the basis for allegations that militants were operating from within Pakistan.
The NATO forces have stated that some 4,000 people were killed in fighting during the year 2006 mostly militants. The figure included some only three hundred civilians who perished. Accordingly, the insinuations of President Karzai that militants from Pakistan were “bothering” Afghans were totally baseless. Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri reacted to the often-repeated Afghan leader’s accusations by saying that those who know the ground realities fully understand the blame game. Pakistan is doing more than enough to help Afghanistan stabilize but as it is Karzai has miserably failed to combat mounting resistance to his regime and the presence of foreign troops. Karzai must admit that his people—the Afghans-do not want to be ruled by outsiders and their puppets. President Karzai is coming under increasing pressure from his Western benefactors and it is the NATO and his regime which is to combat Taliban inside Afghanistan and not Islamabad. Having lost control of a majority of the area to Taliban, Karzai is totally frustrated and his frequent outbursts against Pakistan betray the working of the mind of a defeated person. He is trying to find excuses for his continuing failures.
The US military intervention in Afghanistan has miserably failed. The use of force by the Americans and their allies in Afghanistan since 2001 has not paid off. They can not keep the Afghans under military control for a long time. Ideally, the US should now seriously follow the advice of Islamabad for entering into peace deals with the locals. Pakistan has done well to settle the issue of militancy in turbulent Waziristan. It is on the path of reconciliation with local tribesmen. Of course, Islamabad can not and will not put up with efforts to use Pak territory for terrorist activities. While pursuing this objective it is also important that tribesmen should not be unnecessarily harassed. Enough is enough. We have lost over 600 soldiers in counter-terrorism operations in the tribal areas. Dargai suicide bombing case in which over 40 Pak Army recruits were martyred was most likely the consequence of our military operation in FATA. Karzai and his masters must understand that killing of innocent Afghan citizens in NATO military operations would have horrible consequences. It is therefore prudent that peace may be established through involvement of local population. Afghans fighting against Karzai regime and foreign troops are not necessarily Taliban.

Democracy Bangla style

BANGLADESH’S birth was rooted in conflict. So it is hardly surprising that the South Asian nation has confronted one existential crisis after another in its brief history of 35 years. Let us hope it will emerge stronger out of the current political turmoil too. However, the unhelpful attitude of the two main political alliances, especially the two ladies that lead them, makes those watching the goings-on in Bangladesh inexorably uneasy.
Khaleda Zia stepped down as prime minister after her five year term ended in October. The interim government that was supposed to hold new elections under a former chief justice was never formed leading to a constitutional crisis. President Iajuddin had to step in to resolve the situation by forming an interim government that is committed to hold parliamentary elections on January 23.
Now Shaikh Hasina, the opposition leader, has called for another round of nationwide protests against the president who she accuses of being biased in favour of former prime minister Khaleda Zia. The country is already reeling from the devastating effects of earlier public demonstrations. Several innocent lives have been lost, not to mention the devastating impact on the underdeveloped country’s fragile economy.
This is no defence of Khaleda Zia or president Iajuddin. But what does Shaikh Hasina hope to achieve by holding the whole country to ransom? Besides, her demand for the president’s resignation is unreasonable. Who will run the country, if the president quits before the elections, now that there is no elected government in place? Wouldn’t this open the door to yet another army takeover? Unfortunately, Bangladesh’s politicians have drawn no lessons from their past. A similar irresponsible attitude by the politicians played havoc with Pakistan eventually leading to its dismemberment and creation of Bangladesh.
Of course, the opposition has every right to protest. But the endless abuse of this democratic right will only lead to disastrous consequences for everyone involved including the Awami League. Under the circumstances, the best course of action for all parties concerned is to wait and allow the president to hold the polls on January 23. He has promised ‘free and fair’ elections. And Bangladesh’s people want to give him a chance. Why can’t the politicians do the same? Besides, dismissing an election as ‘rigged’ even before it’s held is insulting the intelligence of Bangladesh’s people. Let’s not forget the fact that it remains one of the few successful democracies in the Muslim world.

—Khaleej Times