Kabuliwala: Reflections on India-Afghanistan

Recently the US President, Joe Biden, announced the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan by 9/11, typically reminding the day when the attack on the World Trade Center in New York happened two decades ago. The president visited Arlington crematory and pointed to the stone marks around and lamented that so many lives were lost in the past. The major goal of the US – the end of Osama bin Laden and decimation of Al Qaeda – is now realized, the US has no reason to sacrifice the lives of more Americans, the administration reasoned. The announcement expectedly received mixed reactions. While the democrats in the US and many of the US allies support it, some of the republican leaders at home are skeptical that the withdrawal would help the US goal of peace and stability in Afghanistan. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, was in Kabul recently to engage the Afghan leaders for the withdrawal process and for assuring them of the US support after the withdrawal.

The announcement has sent jitters across the region. Fear of the rise of Taliban, and its support to forces like Al Qaeda and Islamic State, and Islamic extremist groups from all over the world including from Pakistan, has gained ground. Pakistan has a major influence in Afghan politics, due to its geographic proximity, religious and ethnic affinity, and it is known to use these forces as strategic tools against India. The withdrawal of the Soviet forces led to rise of terrorism in Kashmir as Pakistan mobilized these forces to destabilize India, and those memories are still fresh in the mind of the Indian leaders and strategic thinkers. General Rawat’s concern that the withdrawal will give a boost to the ‘disruptors’ makes sense in this context.

But the India of 21st century is not the India of the 20th century. India must play its cards astutely. India’s Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar, said at the ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference in Tajikistan recently, probably anticipating the withdrawal, that “India has been supportive of all the efforts being made to accelerate the dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, including intra-Afghan negotiations.” During the visit of Afghan foreign minister to New Delhi last month, India’s foreign ministry emphasized “on peaceful, sovereign, stable and inclusive Afghanistan”, which could be realized through “democratic constitutional framework.” India needs to use its rising economic and military clout in the region, and its soft power to gain a leverage in Afghanistan. And this can be possible through astute diplomacy and engaging India’s neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan and ally Russia. India has contributed to Afghanistan’s development, and it can play a creative role to adjust to the new reality.

It is not that India will not face challenges while initiating peace measures in Afghanistan. Pakistan will play all its cards including Kashmir and Islam to undermine India’s initiatives. It has been established many times in the past how Pakistan inspired terrorist groups target Indian facilities in Afghanistan. China will try to ensure that it fills the vacuum left by the US, and as a major economic and military power, it will try its best to keep democratic India out of the equation. Pakistan, inspired by political Islam, and authoritarian China will not feel comfortable to welcome democratic India’s aspirations in Afghanistan.

But that is not and should not be the end of the tunnel. India’s foreign policy establishment needs to navigate through this complex scenario and explore all possible diplomatic options to engage both China and Pakistan to have its due place in Afghan peace process. Besides engaging these states, India also needs to engage Taliban. As a pragmatic policy, it needs to engage Taliban leaders and motivate them for a peaceful solution of the conflict. Contrary to some beliefs, Taliban would likely be more amenable to India’s soft power attractions. In contrast to Pakistan hard core anti-India policy, it is possible that Taliban, a majorly Pashtun community group, will be interested to develop closer relations with India. Such a scenario will not be easy as Pakistan will play all tricks to keep the Taliban away from India, but India needs to use its hard and soft diplomacy to win Afghan Taliban to its side.

The cultural relations between India and Afghanistan are deep. Unlike Pakistan, Afghanistan as a state has no history of hostility and rivalry with India. Kautilya’s Mandala theory would aptly describe Afghanistan as a natural ally of India. Tagore’s story of Kabuliwala, in which Abdul Rehman Khan from Afghanistan sees his daughter in Mini in Calcutta is not just a creation of the Nobel Laureate’s mind, but a true reflection of deep sociocultural and historical ties between the two countries. Besides reviving these ties, India must capitalize the withdrawal of the US forces to increase its presence in Afghanistan. In this, the US and Russia can support India’s aspiration, and India, with Pakistan and China, can be part of a multilateral and multinational process for peace and stability in the region. The withdrawal is portrayed as a challenge for India, but it can be an opportunity.

This article of mine was published in TOI blogs:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/periscope/kabuliwala-reflections-on-india-afghanistan/  

Boston Marathon

Already a lot has been written about the Boston Marathon and the tragedy that took place on 15 April 2013. Here I will narrate my personal feeling and emotion that I have after I heard the news about the tragedy from one of my friends and watched the TV and interacted with friends and colleagues in the university. My views may not match with the views of the others including experts in the area, but I think as a conscientious individual I should express my views. Though I was not present at the marathon cheering runners up, some of my friends had gone to watch the event but returned back before the blasts. I had come across the news about the preparation of the event, its history, diversity of participating runners, its cultural significance, and its sobering impact on the whole city. Boston is not a very large city, but its cultural depth, its history, its significance in the American life is legendary. Nobody expected that the event would turn into a tragedy with the blasts killing three people including an eight year old boy not far from my residence and a student, and maiming some people, besides injuring more than hundred, in a flash of seconds.

Grief clouded the whole city on the day of the blast and afterwards. Classes and other academic activities were cancelled in my university. Fear pervaded the people with the sigh of relief that they were not killed or maimed by the blasts, but the question still remained – the death could have been theirs. A surreal revisiting of the 9/11 emerged, and a sense of helplessness and frustration was pervading mind. The two flights turned missiles had taken off from Logan airport and many Bostonians could not forget those horrible days when they found their near or dear ones were passengers in those flights. Though in a smaller scale comparison to the 9/11, the blasts in Boston evoked in the people a sense of helplessness and fear, howsoever transitory that feeling was. President Obama during his speech at Cathedral of the Holy Cross infused courage into the minds of the people when he said ‘you will run again.’ It is but futile to think that fear would subsume the human spirit and its resilience. And great cities like Boston known for its harmony and cultural vibrancy would certainly come back, or has come back with many marathoners resolving to run next year. 

One of my colleagues, during conversation, asked ‘why did the individuals commit such heinous acts, killing people?’ The senseless acts are irrational, illogical, emerging out of a mentality, which is sick. I agreed with her. But I wanted to add more in the context of violent acts perpetrated by radical individuals or groups with the sole purpose of killing people and inflicting fear among them. The perpetrator is convinced of the ‘rationale’ of what he or she is going to do, and even readies to sacrifice life for the act. There is the issue of what he thinks and why he thinks what he thinks. From a legal perspective, an act of violence is an act of violence, hence must be subject to law. I do not dispute that. My argument here is – the minds of these perpetrators which are perverted must be changed. I remember here President Obama’s famous speech at Cairo University in 2009, where he emphasized on dialogue among cultures, dialogue among civilizations. 

We need more such dialogues; we need more understanding of the situation. Law and order must carry the needed tasks, at the same time, perhaps at a parallel level there need to be more dialogue to impart values of diversity, pluralism and harmony among people, including would be perpetrators. As I argued at another place, in this drive religious leaders, whether of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism either individually or in tandem, more in tandem, can play an effective role. These values need to be imparted to all, particularly to children. I understand its apparent feasibility in democratic and liberal states, and apparent difficulty in authoritarian, radical states. An authoritarian ruler or a religious leader with an extremist mind and agenda causes more damage than a lone extremist with no political power. The leader can change or brainwash his followers while a lone terrorist may not. Any sick or perverted mind must be changed, whether the motivation behind is religion, or any other thing.

The blasts reminded me of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. I was in Mumbai those days. The whole city of 20 million people, also known as commercial capital of India, came to a grinding halt with public offices closed. The city that is known to be awake always – whether in day or in night – was lifeless for about three days with security forces and ten terrorists fighting at the Taj hotel. The attacks killed about 200 people besides injuring many. The blasts at Boston, and terror attacks at Mumbai are different incidents – but the common elements in both the incidents are that innocent lives were lost and culprits were convinced that they are committing barbaric acts for a cause, howsoever perverted or skewed those causes are. This mentality of the perpetrators must be addressed before they commit these acts. Their fundamental assumptions must be questioned and changed before they commit these acts of violence. They must be convinced the worth of peaceful means to address issues. Mahatma Gandhi rightly pointed out; the peaceful goals must be pursued by peaceful means. For him if truth is the goal, non-violence is the means. Gandhi’s definition of truth is not exclusive, rather it is inclusive. For him religion is a path to spiritual realization and for which all religions have equal value. The would-be culprits and culprits alike must be imparted these values. 

Boston has come back to life with the Bostonians trying to keep pace with movement of life in their daily activities and practices. I am sure the marathon will continue perhaps with more vigor and more participation. I have a desire to take part in the next marathon. As time passes without our noticing it, and we grow more wise with time and events, we must develop peace education to its full magnitude and spread it world wide. The US with its resources and soft power can take the lead in this noble mission. It must protect its cities and people by all means, but it must invest effectively in peace education. It may prove less expensive than to fight a culprit and address the tragedy after the violent act than to transform him into a peaceful, law abiding citizen of the country, or a peaceful, conscientious member of the world.