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| EQUATED: India feels that the UN
wants Afghanistan to maintain regional parity |
Hamid Karzai,
chairman of Afghanistan's shaky interim administration, is out to win
friends and influence people. He has already been to Pakistan in the past
month. The next stop on his busy tour schedule is Iran. From there Karzai
will come to Delhi on February 26. It is expected that he will seek India's
political support in extricating his country from the mess it is in.
He is not alone in looking to India for a role in Afghanistan. The Afghan
problem was one of the main topics of a long telephonic conversation between
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and External Affairs Minister Jaswant
Singh recently. Powell apparently wanted India to help Kabul in internal
security matters. Both India and the US believe there is a need for Afghanistan
to raise an indigenous multi-ethnic army and police force to tackle the
lawlessness prevailing outside Kabul. The killing of Afghan civil aviation
minister Abdul Rehman at Kabul airport on February 14 is an indicator
of the security situation in the country.
It is a situation complicated by the conflicting interests of the many
players in Afghanistan. Iran is concerned with the long-term US presence
in a country it shares a long border with. Prospects of exiled king Zahir
Shah coming back to Kabul are not much to its liking either, and Teheran
is apparently providing logistical support to Herat Governor Ismail Khan.
Iran continues to exercise considerable influence in the Shia-dominated
areas of Afghanistan and could be a potential source of destabilisation.
However, there appears to be a tussle between the majority hardliners
and the moderates in the Iran Government on what approach to take. An
Iranian newspaper, considered close to the hardline faction, recently
reported that Osama bin Laden's key associate Ayman al Zawahiri was seeking
shelter in Iran. The news was later hotly denied by the Iranian Foreign
Office. Conscious of the role that Teheran can play in Afghanistan, Karzai
will be visiting Iran for two days.
Afghanistan's main worry, however, remains Pakistan. Karzai visited the
country recently to seek President Pervez Musharraf's assurances that
Islamabad would not meddle in Afghanistan's internal affairs. UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan facilitated Karzai's visit to Islamabad as the world
body felt that Pakistan's support was crucial to stability in Kabul. Briefing
the UN Security Council on his trip to Pakistan on February 6, Annan said,
"He (Musharraf) invited Chairman Karzai and other administration
members to visit Pakistan, and I conveyed the message to the Afghan authorities."
Annan, whose relations with India have been troubled is, it seems, advocating
that Kabul should maintain parity in its diplomatic ties with India and
Pakistan.
During his visit to Delhi, Karzai will meet President K.R. Narayanan
and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He may seek Indian help in training
the Afghan army and police. At a meeting in Berlin on February 13, India
offered its police training facilities to the Kabul Government. Delhi
is also willing to train the Afghan army. Most of their weapons are of
Russian make, like India. It is expected Delhi will hold consultations
on these matters with Germany, which is likely to lead the International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan after the UK's term ends in April.
Besides, Karzai may ask Delhi to use its good offices with Teheran to
ensure that Afghanistan does not return to anarchy. India, on its part,
seeks to revive its traditional ties with the Pashtoon people. It wants
to cement its ties with Afghanistan so that Kashmiri terrorist training
camps do not come up again. Delhi knows that the Taliban may be down,
but are not out.
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CURRENT
ISSUE MARCH 4, 2002
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