For many decades now, the Taliban has been almost synonymous with Afghanistan. The country has been beset by violence, draconian rules, bomb blasts, and terrorism ever since the organisation first emerged in September 1994 in Kandahar. It has been making grim headlines for the past two months now ever since the US withdrew its troops from the country this year. Just yesterday, it pulled up a 21-year-old woman who was driving on the road and publicly shot her dead for not wearing a veil.
The Afghan government has asked India to intervene as the current President of the United Nations Security Council. But what has India’s stand on the issue been so far, and what are the powers it holds over the matter, as the chair of the UNSC? Moreover, how exactly did Afghanistan encounter such a desperate situation? We explore it here.
What is happening in Afghanistan right now?
The US forces, after much deliberation and delay, finally withdrew their troops from Afghanistan this year. Since then, the Taliban has been on the offensive, trying to recapture the country via an armed assault that has left its 18 million people in dire straits. Civilian casualties have reached a record high, and almost 3,60,000 people have been displaced. 30,000 are said to be escaping the conflict-stricken country each day. This humanitarian cost of the tussle has left millions in a miserable state, with schools and offices shut, and a food crisis looming large. Additionally, there has been the targeted murder of activists, protestors, innocent civilians and journalists, both local and foreign. Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was also reported to be tortured and brutally murdered by the Taliban after he got injured in a crossfire in the capital, Kabul. The Taliban currently controls 223 districts in the country, as opposed to the government’s paltry 68. The battle rages on for 116 districts. In the districts that it does control, the Taliban has been imposing a brutal interpretation of the Islamic Sharia, and is terrorising people with its violent ways.
How was Afghanistan before the Taliban?
Afghanistan’s tryst with internal conflict worsened by foreign stakeholders goes back to 1978 when Soviet-backed communist troops displaced the government and came to power. This communist government tried to decimate the Islamic opposition and earned the resentment of the majority-Muslim population of the country. This led to the formation of the 'Mujahideen', who were soldiers trying to overthrow the communist regime. The resulting conflict pushed the Soviet Union to invade the country to support the government, but the internal voices and struggle kept burgeoning and displaced the government in 1992. The Mujahideen were supported by the US and other countries with arms and intel, and when the time came to hand over control of the country to a proper government, these troops refused and bombed the capital instead. This mess continued for the next few years until the emergence of the Taliban.
How did Afghanistan get here?
Here’s the most ironic thing about the entire matter. The Taliban was formed by a former Mujahideen commander, Mohammed Omar. For two years from 1994-96, the Mujahideen battled for the country among themselves, and eventually, the Taliban emerged victorious in 1996, taking control, and imposing a strict Sharia on the people. Things took a turn for the worse again in 2001 when the US was bombed on 9/11, and Osama bin Laden was blamed for the attacks. Al Qaeda was a group that the Taliban had been nurturing in Afghanistan at the time, and they refused to hand Osama over to the US. That’s when the US first invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban. In all, the US took 10 years to capture Osama, and 10 more to leave the country. The state it is in now is harrowingly familiar to what it was 20 years ago.
What has India’s stand been on the issue?
In what was perhaps an unintentionally poignant statement recently, External Affairs Minister Jaishanker Prasad said, “The future of Afghanistan cannot be its past.” India has always pushed for dialogues for peace between the rebelling sides. It does not approve of a military solution to the problem, but that particular opinion isn’t heard very well over the loud hubbub of shots and shrapnel. Afghanistan, like other war-torn countries, is so often embroiled in big picture conflicts, that it has never been able to shed enough light on the humanitarian burden of its history. Is India, with its insistence on assisting specifically in development in Afghanistan, and staying away from the actual conflict, inadvertently addressing that?
What can India do as the Chair of the UNSC?
Today in a press briefing, the official spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, Arindam Bagchi said that India will present its views on the Afghanistan matter at the UNSC tomorrow. This was after the Afghanistan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani urged India to take a stance on the critical state in Afghanistan, and engage global leaders in constructive dialogue to find a solution. What remains to be seen is if India will ever approve of foreign aid to solve the issue, or mediate talks between the Taliban and the government when it has said in the past, and today too, that it trusts the Afghan people and administration to reach a solution for peace.
