May 30 , 2014
Afghan Elites: Blaming Pakistan
Underlying the bad blood running through Pak-Afghan tensions is a common refrain. Afghans accuse Pakistanis of exploiting and en-cashing on their miseries and misfortunes while Pakistanis blame Afghans for being thankless and for exporting their problems to Pakistan. There may be a kernel of truth in the clashing narratives.
The mutual blame-game shall linger on after the June 14 Afghan Presidential vote. The front-runner, Abdullah Abdullah, because of his mixed Tajik ancestry, simplistically is viewed as more inimical to Pakistan. It would be naïve optimism, however, to suggest that the number two candidate, Ashraf Ghani, would be more congenial to Pakistan. Anyway, their job description would be to defend Afghan interests, not Pakistan’s.
Among Afghan elites, the proclivity to blame Pakistan for Afghan travails sometimes can be all-consuming. It is an addiction. And one way to act out this addiction is to tilt toward India. It has the impact of pushing Pakistan against the wall and forcing it to take counter-measures.
There is nothing new in the attitude of Afghan elites. In 1947, Afghanistan was the sole nation that opposed Pakistan’s entry into the United Nations. Famed historian-cum-novelist, James Michener, in his magnum opus work, “Caravans” (later made into a movie starring Hollywood legend, Anthony Quinn), issued a sobering warning over 50 years ago that, if Afghans don’t set their house in order, it shall open the doors for outside takeover. And the Soviets did take over in 1979. Afghan elites were indoctrinated to believe that help would come from their northern Soviet neighbor and threats would come from their eastern Pakistani neighbor. The obverse proved true.
Afghan political culture is mired in pelf, ignorant bigotry, and self-defeating tribalism, with little room for self-assessment. In refreshing contrast, the Afghan cricket team, rising like a phoenix from the refugee camps of Pakistan, has set a splendid example of enterprise, vigor, and valiant spirit. It is an example to emulate – flourishing under extreme duress and dauntless striving against uphill odds.
It doesn’t do much for Afghanistan that, despite following a faith that places so much premium on Ilm and Adab of teachers, it witnessed a toxic environment with schools dynamited and teachers beheaded. The question looms: who benefits?
2500 years ago, when Alexander the Great entered Afghanistan en route to Punjab, he credited his tutor, Aristotle, for having inculcated in him the vision of greatness. A visitor to the mausoleum of Timur (Tamerlane) in Samarkand encounters two graves: one austere, the other ornate. In the ornate tomb rests Timur’s Sayed teacher.
The seminal book, “Osama bin Laden” by Michael Scheuer (who headed the bin Laden unit at the CIA, the only unit named after an individual in CIA’s history) posits on page 40 that the 9/11 atrocity was driven by pan-Islamic humiliation over prolonged indifference to Palestinian sufferings. To cite verbatim: “Osama was frustrated about the situation in Palestine in particular… He wanted Muslims to unite and fight to liberate Palestine.”
Afghanistan was the wrong country to vent American fury and frustration after the humiliation of 9/11. Ahead is a pathway of pain, with no quick or easy end.
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