Hands Off my Country!
Dr. G. Rauf Roashan
By nature and history, Afghanistan has both benefited and suffered serving as the crossroads of cultures and civilizations. The end result of all of this has been a country surrounded by nations who share a lot in the way of culture, religion, history, customs and traditions.
In Islamic and Afghan culture and traditions, good neighbors are assets and are closer even than close relatives. Not in the case of Afghanistan. Governments of two of Afghanistan's neighbors that have the longest borders with her have proven unfriendly and unmoved to the misery the Afghans have gone through due to the meddling in her affairs by foreigners of all kinds. Contrary to expectation, the eastern and western neighbors of Afghanistan have consistently tried to interfere in the affairs of the country by playing ethnic, religious, factional and geographic cards.
The most recent trip by Afghanistan's president to Pakistan was looked upon as an effort to tame the political exploits of Pakistan in Afghanistan and extract a promise from this neighbor to cooperate with Afghanistan and help in the global war on terror in which war both countries have a stake and the success of which would benefit both the nations. He returned home bringing promises of help from the Pakistani politicians. But empty promises would not solve any problem until the gestures of goodwill uttered by the politicians are accompanied by action.
There are many political issues that are at play in Pakistani political arena. The Pashtun movement immediately after the demise of Khan Wali Khan, the son of the great Pashtun Baba, Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan has prompted further unity between Pashtun political parties in Pakistan. The newly found unity has also found out that there cannot be a division or a geographical barrier of any kind between Pashtuns living in both countries. The movement has suggested forgetting altogether about the colonial design by the British who had artificially drawn a line in the land of the Pashtuns and called it the Durand Line. Nor could there be any other division in the form of artificial fences to be erected in the area as suggested by the Pakistani President some months ago. The bad idea floated around as a theme for the journalists to use in the interviews they conducted with authorities on both sides.
The Afghan President has during his recent visit to Pakistan tackled both issues denying them any feasibility or justification.
But while, eyes were fixed on how the events would unfold regarding stopping of Pakistani meddling in the affairs of Afghanistan, selfish designs by her western neighbor remained under cover of the many other events that confronted Afghanistan. However, this column has touched on the issue many times. Iran's political designs regarding Afghanistan are nothing new. On the contrary historically Iran has looked with hegemonic eyes at Afghan affairs throughout its recent history. From the time of King Abdul Rahman Khan and the reign of his son King Habibullah Khan and his grandson King Amanullah Khan, Iran has had spies and agents in Afghan courts and in the country at large assessing loyalties of individuals and sectors to Iran. The book, “Office Holders in Kabul” sheds light on Iranian interests and her nefarious quest for planting of agents within the Afghan administrations.
During the decade of Jihad and immediately after the retreat of the Soviet Forces from Afghanistan, Iranian agents, many a time in the guise of journalists and later during the so-called era of the Mujahidin, Iranian officials, and sometimes high-ranking officials, would visit Afghanistan's provinces and provincial cities as if they were traveling in their own country. These visits were paid even by the highest diplomatic authorities of Iran such as its foreign minister who had visited Mazar-e-Sharif for talks with local authorities. All of this was then possible because of Iran's direct support of factional groupings and religious minority. This, as facts show was devastating to the country.
Now news of Iranian attempts to infiltrate Afghan media workers and plant agents inside American bases and elsewhere specifically in the Western City of Heart, is disturbing to those who want an era of peace and reconciliation among Afghans in their geographic, ethnic and religious environments and giving them a chance to prove to the world that they are a united country whose people had lived and loved their homeland and defended it against greatest invaders of history jointly and as one unit. A recent Associated Press report stated, "Reporters and writers in Afghanistan say Iran tries to recruit them to craft reports painting the US presence in the worst light and threatens some who have criticized Iran. A journalist with Afghanistan's first commercial television station, Tolo TV, Mohammed Reza Shirmohmadi said Iran tried to recruit him to get inside US military bases to report on the activity of the military personnel." The report further says: "Nasser Ahmed Raha, head of Enlightened Youth of Afghanistan, a small group of young people in Herat dedicated to building a civil society, said he received death threats after writing editorials warning of Iranian interference in western Afghanistan."
These are a few examples of Iranian interference and attempts to influence Afghan media to serve Iranian interests even at the cost of creating unrest in Afghanistan.
In the light of the above, it is not surprising to hear the Afghan leader warn Afghanistan's neighbors against meddling in the affairs of his country. In the opinion of some observers, he was expected to take this stance even earlier. National leaders are expected to safeguard the interests of their nations. Democracy puts the burden of prompt, even painful decisions on the shoulders of the national leaders.
Apparently Iran as always is dreaming of a leadership position in the region and imposition of its own system of government heavily influenced by the clergy and saturated with hatred for Western civilization. In Afghanistan she finds its meddling easier in view of the possibility of igniting factional differences and religious prejudices. Economic gain is another incentive for Iran to interfere in the Afghan affairs. The Turkmenistan-Pakistan gas pipeline through Afghanistan is another issue that is not to the liking of Iran. A government loyal to Iranian designs would also be helpful in serving as a conduit for Iranian influence in Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in particular.
Perhaps for these reasons plus its dissatisfaction regarding closer ties between Afghanistan and the United States, Iran wants unrest and division in Afghanistan to serve as murky waters for its own fishing.
Apparently again all of this puts Afghanistan in a precarious position. On the one hand, Pakistan feels uneasy because of Afghanistan's relations with India and on the other Iran feels disturbed because of Afghanistan's friendly relations with the United States. Both of these neighboring countries have repeatedly interfered in the affairs of Afghanistan so much so that now the government of Afghanistan has raised its voice in unison with that of the nation asking for them to keep their hands off the affairs of Afghanistan or else. 2/22/06
The views
expressed in the contributed papers are that of the writer (s) and are
not necessarily shared by the Institute for Afghan Studies (IAS).
In addition the IAS can take no responsibility for the quality and
content of contributed material and external links. Please review
our Privacy Statement.
www.institute-for-afghan-studies.org
To contact us, send us an email at: info@institute-for-afghan-studies.org
Copyright Protected 2001