Afghanistan and Pakistan are US allies
The very posing of the question of Afghanistan and Pakistan as allies can bring a smile to many specialists who know all the complexities of the relationship between these two countries. If only because the media is simply replete with information about Pakistan’s interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and about the longstanding support of the Taliban movement by the Pakistani authorities.However, these problems, as well as similar ones, can be viewed differently. Especially since after 11 September 2001, Pakistan officially stopped supporting the Taliban regime and supported the US actions in Afghanistan and the new Afghan regime led by Hamid Karzai.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (IRA) and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (IRP) are by definition doomed to be, at least, regional allies.
A large role for Afghanistan is played by the Pakistan neighborhood with the developing economy of India, and for Pakistan it is important that there are common borders between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
And, of course, a not unimportant factor is the common neighborhood of these countries with Iran and China, which are building their own line of political games in this region.
All this creates very good opportunities for an active regional policy. The role of regional allies is assigned to Afghanistan and Pakistan by the main world player - the United States of America, without whose support the political leaders of these countries cannot be confident in their future. It is not by chance that some Western researchers in this connection have long ago suggested the possible elimination of Pakistan as a state, if this is demanded by US interests. Moreover, Western analysts argued that Musharraf, when he was president, was afraid of his own secret service, interdepartmental intelligence (ISI-Inter-Services Intelligence), which, according to these analysts, is more subordinate to the American special services than to the president of Pakistan.
Outwardly, the political leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan are independent and even ready to oppose joint actions by the United States of America. So, at the end of October 2011, Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised to help Pakistan in the event of a conflict with the United States, relations with which Pakistan allegedly deteriorated after the operation to assassinate Osama Bin Laden 2 in May 2011.
Moreover, Karzai promised help to Pakistan as much, but in the case of a military conflict between Pakistan and the United States. At least, according to the BBC, he made such a statement in an interview with Pakistani channel Geo TV. “If ... a war between Pakistan and the USA happens, we will come to the aid of the Pakistani brothers,” journalists of the British Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation quoted H. Karzai as saying.
Of course, it looks a bit ridiculous, but these are the rules of the game. In reality, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has a rather powerful influence on such countries as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in turn enjoys the unlimited support of Washington.
Islamabad chose for itself the irrevocably and completely completely pro-Western orientation course, adjusting it weekly with Washington.[/ I]
In the above interview, Hamid Karzai called Pakistan a “brotherly country” to emphasize its special relationship to its people and leadership. And he has good reasons for this, since Pakistan has repeatedly provided shelter to the Karzai family and to him personally.
The father of the current president, Abdul Ahad Karzai (1925-1999) is the leader of the Popolzay tribe, the so-called. “King of Kandahar”, emigrated with his elder sons to Pakistan after the overthrow of King Zahir-Shah, with whom they were friends (as far as possible under such conditions) and the coming to power of Daud (1973). Here he lived in Quetta until July 1999, when he was allegedly killed by a Taliban killer, since he had publicly criticized the Taliban.
At the end of 1970, Hamid Karzai joined the family in Quetta. When his older brothers received an American education and left for the United States (where they opened a network of "eastern" restaurants and shops in cities on the Atlantic coast), he stayed with his father and became his informal assistant in his political activities (his father began to cooperate with the Mujahideen).
In 1980, he traveled to the USA, where, with the help of relatives, he entered the leadership of a network of family restaurants of Afghan cuisine (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco).
However, in 1982, he returned to Pakistan and joined the National Salvation Front of Afghanistan under the leadership of prof. S. Mojaddedi (supporter of Zahir Shah and the restoration of the monarchy). Karzai acted as a mediator from the NFSA in negotiations with the Americans on supplies weapons and receiving “financial assistance”, some of which, according to unofficial data, were plundered and resold, and the money was shared between “interested parties”. At 1987, he became the director of the Political Department of NFSA and was mainly engaged in international contacts.
In 1994, Karzai met the notorious mullah Omar and at one time even entered his inner circle. However, in 1995, he left for the United States, and then returned to Quetta, from where he traveled to the West several times to carry out various diplomatic missions of Zahir Shah and other persons.
Quetta became the place that gave him the status of the head of the clan of the Crawl tribe after the death of his father. Quetta accepted Karzai in the fall of 2001, when American special forces evacuated him from the province of Uruzgan after an unsuccessful political special operation to create a kind of Pashtun resistance movement. However, Hamid Karzai never participated directly in hostilities on the territory of Afghanistan.
So in detail, we dwelt on these details of the biography of the current President of Afghanistan only with the aim of showing that Pakistan has long become for this a politician not only a country that sheltered his family in difficult moments of life, but also a kind of serious political school that opened him the path to the highest state post in Afghanistan and not only.
True, there were some difficulties in the relationship of Karzai and the Pakistani authorities. So, in 2001, Karzai was deprived of a Pakistani visa after he once again went to Europe. The reason for this was the criticism of Musharraf and the accusation of the latter in collaboration with the Taliban.
However, since it was a necessary political game, it ended successfully. A few months later, the ban on Karzai’s entry into Pakistan was lifted by the Pakistani leadership at the request of the United States.
At the end of December, 2011, Mr. Hamid Karzai, was already deeply pleased with the statement by US Vice President Joseph Biden that the Taliban was no longer an enemy of Washington. “We are very pleased with the statement by the United States that the Taliban are not their enemies. It will bring peace and stability to the Afghan people, ”the then president of Afghanistan said.
In our opinion, it seems appropriate and productive to consider the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan in terms of the level of their relations with the United States of America.
This enables us to better understand the behavior of the political leaders of these states and to determine their true intentions. Especially in those situations when it comes to issues of their cooperation with Russia.
Then it becomes clear why in 2003 Hamid Karzai became a holder of the Order of the Great Cross of St. Michael and St. George of the British Empire with the assignment of a knighthood; why the son of the Queen of Great Britain flew to Afghanistan to shoot from the machine gun at the Taliban, which were destroyed back in 2001; why after May 28, 2011 in Helmand aviation NATO bombed two residential buildings, and according to various sources, from 9 to 14 civilians died, the President of Afghanistan on June 4, 2011 awarded US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with the highest award of his country with the Wazir Akbar Khan medal.
Everything becomes clear if we take into account the fact that the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan have for many years been de facto allies of the United States. True, a number of researchers are of the opinion that it is incorrect to speak of these countries as allies, since they serve exclusively as vassals of the United States. But that is another question.
Moreover, the United States cannot have allies, since after the destruction of the USSR "there is only one superpower on our planet." And this is the United States of America. And it is the United States today that “forms the economic and political processes of the entire world community,” and, consequently, it simply does not need allies by definition. She needs only satellites to ensure the implementation of her own plans. And that's it! That is the reality. She may like it or not, but she exists. And who does not want to accept this, they risk their careers or even their lives. Whether it is a separate politician or a separate state.
In early August, 2008, a campaign was organized to remove President Musharraf from power and replace him with A.A. Zardari, which was crowned with success. 6 September 2008, Zardari was elected as the new President of Pakistan. In an address to the Pakistani 20 parliament on September 2008, he made a strange at first glance statement: he proposed to deprive the president of the right to dissolve parliament and dismiss the government, since this, in his opinion, contradicts the democratic principles of society.
Moreover, in November 2009 this president “voluntarily” limited his powers and transferred part of them to Prime Minister Gilani. In particular, Zardari gave him the right to control nuclear weapons. In April, 2010, Zardari refused the presidential right to dissolve parliament and appoint heads of military command. And all these changes were enshrined in legislative amendments to the country's constitution. After that, the President of Pakistan actually turned into a nominal leader of the state.
As rightly noted in the work “Frontier Security of Russia”, “The United States shows that only after the destruction of the USSR they can serve as a guarantor of the New Order in the world. That is, it is America that is able to end both wars, and terrorism, and all the negative processes in the global economy. ”
And the contradictions between their allies can exist only within the limits of the United States. And for these boundaries, they should not go. In the same way, their political and economic activities in the region, and even more so their military activity, should be coordinated.
Therefore, the bellicose statements of the political leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan look quite understandable against this background. We must somehow correspond to the prevailing sentiments in their countries. Especially after an American soldier shot civilians, mostly women and children, around 20.
The same applies to statements about US military bases, which will be created if the interests of the United States so require. There may be decorative changes, but the essence will remain unchanged in this matter.
One may criticize the Pakistani regime for its activities in Afghanistan. However, it acts in this country exactly as prescribed by the logic of the current situation in the world and in the region. Therefore, it is quite natural that the security services of Pakistan and even Pakistani riot control units are present in Afghanistan. And they will be there the necessary time, because they fulfill the allied duty, which is conditioned by the obligations of the interested parties.
As the North American civilization developed, it needed more and more “food” in the form of the planet’s resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods and meet ever-growing needs. The superpower of the USA quite naturally had to look for new sources. Under these conditions, the attitude of the ruling circles of Western countries to Afghanistan and Pakistan began to change, including their territory in the sphere of their vital interests, their “living space”.
Today is the reality we are dealing with.
Interestingly, these countries are attracting the attention of such a powerful state like Israel, which is achieving a lot of success in mastering these territories in different directions and in various fields - be it economy, politics or something else.
Recall that the Jews have long lived in Afghanistan. Jewish settlements are mentioned in Muslim sources as early as the 10-11 centuries. In 1948, in Afghanistan, their number was about five thousand Jews, who then mostly moved to Israel. And by the year 1973 in Afghanistan there were about 200 people left. Subsequent severe events in this country forced them to emigrate. As a result, in 1995, only 10 Jews remained in all of Afghanistan (in Kabul), and in November, 2001, after the liberation of Kabul by the forces of the Northern Alliance, there were already only two people in the capital - the older ministers and guardians of the only active synagogue in Afghanistan. However, in February 2005, the last Afghan Jew died, thereby entering history the two countries.
It is quite natural that Israel wants to return to Afghanistan, but on a new basis. And to achieve this goal it is necessary to enlist the support of the leadership of Afghanistan.
The first step on this path is the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states. And the Afghan authorities have treated the issue with great understanding. The overthrow of the power of the Taliban contributed to his positive decision.
At first, Israel maintained contacts with Afghanistan through a third party and through the International Red Cross. However, in 2005, diplomatic negotiations took place between the two countries in one of the European countries. The improvement of Israeli-Afghan relations was already taking place against the backdrop of the fact that the Pakistani government, as the Israeli media noted, "raised the level of relations with Israel to open contacts."
The leadership of Afghanistan, for its part, even spoke out to recognize the state of Israel, but this is hindered by the problems that still exist in the Muslim world. “We recognize the State of Israel only after our Palestinian fighters receive an independent and free state,” Karzai said.
Relations between Afghanistan and Israel have been further developed and have good prospects. Already in 2006, a secret meeting of the Israeli delegation headed by the Director General of the Ministry of the Interior with the head of the Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan was held in London. Despite this, the parties decided to partially publish information about this meeting "in the hope that this information will not prevent the strengthening of relations between Israel and Afghanistan." According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, the parties discussed cooperation in areas in which Afghanistan needs Israeli equipment and experts.
And such experts work in Afghanistan in the same way as in Pakistan, as part of the overall program for the development of democracy and progress in these countries - for the benefit of the whole world.[I]
And repeat in conclusion:
Cooperation and contradictions between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be carried out only in those borders and in those areas that do not contradict the interests of the United States. Undesirable for themselves variants of development of events the leadership of the USA will always harshly stop - this concerns the internal political situation in the allied countries or relations between them.
And in these conditions it is very important for researchers to determine these directions and the degree of permissibility of the participation of Afghanistan and Pakistan in them. True, this is another question, and the question is very interesting.
- Alexander Konstantinovich Lukoyanov, Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ph.D.
- http://www.afghanistan.ru/doc/56712.html
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