Afghanistan’s Role in Regional Security Complex

A select group of leading intellectuals, academicians, foreign policy and security analysts, Afghanistan experts and former military officials were invited to a roundtable to discuss “Afghanistan’s Role in South Asia’s Regional Security Complex” on June 11.

Following is the summary of discussion:

Afghanistan in the recent years has become a melting pot of international influences. Since, two of Pakistan’s provinces have their borders with Afghanistan; it is bound to be affected by the developments taking place in the latter. However, the literal transfer of the Afghan war on the Pakistani territory to a large extent is an outcome of extended foreign interference in Afghanistan for twenty years.

There is a popular belief that India is exploiting the situation in Afghanistan and sponsoring terror in Pakistani territories. Since the present political dispensation in Afghanistan is “not unfriendly to India,” it has got a lee-way and is making up for lost time by investing about 1200 million dollars on building roads and schools etc.

The growing Indo-US relations are going to change the balance of power in South Asia and a future challenge for Pakistan. The Mumbai incidents have strengthened the view that tensions between Pakistan and India are not going to wither away in the presence of unresolved Kashmir issue.

In this situation, the increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan, its consulates along Pakistan’s western border and its alleged involvement in destabilizing Baluchistan point to the exacerbation of relations between the two states in Afghanistan.

However, some believe that India, the US or any other country for that matter cannot match the extent of Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan because of their traditional, historical, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and ideological links.

Therefore, while focusing on the developments in its immediate neighborhood is very important for Pakistan, it should also work on securing its larger strategic, political and economic interests at international arena.

On the home front, Pakistan needs to overcome the internal problems of incompetence, corruption and weak institutions. The call for Talibanisation is a call for good-governance as “the Taliban are a rudimentary ideology for the have-nots.” The masses may have rejected their interpretation of Islam but “their social agenda has a universal appeal” therefore in order to ‘win hearts and minds’ the government must alleviate people’s pain as soon as possible.