Afghanistan must show a course correction vis-a-vis Pakistan before it can expect any ‘help’ from Islamabad.
TORONTO: This is with reference to the editorial “Righting the region” (August 28). The editorial states that “Afghanistan is a sovereign, independent country whose people have a right to determine their own destiny”. This right is earned and Kabul has hardly shown that it deserves to be seen as an independent country whose diverse people recognise it as a unifying force. That is simply not the case with a colonial buffer state like Afghanistan.
Afghanistan must show a course correction vis-a-vis Pakistan before it can expect any ‘help’ from Islamabad. Hosting anti-Pakistan elements and inviting foreigners to try to gain leverage against Pakistan has not worked. Kabul needs to realise that if it wants relations with Pakistan to move forward, it should mend its ways. Besides, the Taliban will not listen to anyone when they just showed up the world’s only superpower. President Hamid Karzai’s regime is doomed. The Taliban are Afghans as well, as is the Northern Alliance and so are the Afghans who invited the Soviets into their country. What exactly is it that the Afghans want? Pakistan, Iran, Russia, India, etc. will continue to meddle in Afghanistan because Afghanistan cannot settle its own issues.
Mir Agha
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2013.
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