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22 Mar 2017 - 10:43
author avatar
22 Mar 2017 - 10:43

A country located in the center of central/southeast Asia with almost 28 million populations surrounded from the north by Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, from the west by Iran, from the south-east by Pakistan and by China in the remote east.

Though there is no direct land contact between India and Afghanistan, the proximity is close enough to call Afghanistan and India neighbors as well in some context because of a complex issue on Durand line between the two nations as Anatol Lieven  stated in a recent  journal that  “Pakistan and Afghanistan have long blended into each other, via the population of around 35 million Pashtuns that straddles both sides of the border between them (a border drawn by the British which Afghanistan has never recognized)”[i].

But the ongoing conflict in the country refers to the ages when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan in the earlier December 1979.  Russians occupation of Afghanistan paved a long run way of conflict and war in the country, eventually this war not limited to only Afghanistan itself unless the war polled out other international allies to focus on this region because of our satirical location and geopolitical bridge that connect the southeast Asia with the central Asia remains the most important factor on the earlier days of the war. After almost 9 years of war, the game scenario has been changed and on the February 1989 this conflict become a starting point of the cold war among the most powerful countries in the world.

Rafael Reuveny and Aseem Parkash researchers from the British International Studies Association quoted from the Selig Harrison in his publication Inside the Afghan talks says that General Mikhail Zaitsev said that  “We view 1986 as the turning point in the Afghanistan war and, accordingly, as marking the second phase of Gorbachev’s reform agenda. In 1986, the Mujaheddin (Afghan freedom fighters), now well armed with US-supplied surface-to-air missiles, rockets, mortars, and communication equipment, won many confrontations with the Soviet army”[ii]. Among the regional players whose were even dangerous than the main players of the game are Pakistan and Iran. Their strategic domestic interventions and their support to insurgents and sending them to Afghanistan last the conflict up to date.

Eventually the war began between the Soviet Led Afghan forces against Insurgent groups called (Mujahiden) mostly composed of Pakistan and Iranian intelligence groups.  America entered to this war by defeating its enemy (the Soviet Union) but for that they indirectly provided both ammunitions, and finances to Pakistan as well as to the authoritarian regime of Iran to enter the Afghan war and through them American entered to this war, but this was a good starting point for both Iran and Pakistan to continue their intervention even that USA stopped its support to them.

Later on that even the Russian defeated, they even left Afghanistan the war remains as warm as the earlier years. Pakistan changed the rule of the game for its own strategicall benefits and for that they start keeping up a situation of under their control and start a double game with US in Afghanistan.

While recently president Ashraf Ghani said insurgent comps are out of Afghanistan boarders, capturing of Osama Bin Ladin, Al-Qaida’s leader in Pakistan cleared the scenario Pakistan intervention and controlling the war in Afghanistan as Joseph J. Collins says in his publication  understanding war in Afghanistan that  “The Taliban plotted a comeback and made detailed preparations from its sanctuary in Pakistan”[iii] even that Mujahidin are no longer exist but its pretty simple there is Taliban and again Pakistan that supports them.

Pakistan had to keep the conflict continue and supporting the Mujaheeden.  Iran which comes in the second step and is not that much powerful as Pakistan also becomes interested in this game and I order to keep their industrialized merchandised economy they also start supporting the warlords in the neighboring provinces of Afghanistan with Iran and thus start their export to Afghanistan.

Conclusion

Her I am focus on why the two aforementioned countries are more interested in Afghanistan and why they still want to keep this conflict.

  • Pakistan:
  1. Pakistan’s main reasons for intervention can be limited to economical part as well as the long lasting complex line of Durand between the two nations which lasts from the years while even Pakistan didn’t exist.
  2. Pakistan wants to keep this war because of the fear of Indian influence in Afghanistan.
  3. Pakistan supports the warlords because both nations have the same religion and for Pakistan to keep a high influential rule they have to choose the religious channels.
  4. Pakistan supports the war because an independent economical powerful Afghanistan can element Pakistan from the region.
  5. Pakistan support the Afghan war because they can use unlimited illegally the water which comes from Afghanistan more then what they have to use.
  6. Pakistan supports the war in Afghanistan because a strong stable Afghanistan with tight ties to India can put the Pakistan powerful economy in crisis.
  • Iran:
  1. After USA ended its funding for Iran rule the cold war against Russia in Afghanistan, Iran start the same game as Pakistan to make the reason for having billions of dollars from US government.
  2. Iran starts supporting the Shiite religious groups in Afghanistan and provided them with enough sophisticated weapons.
  3. Iran has the same position as Pakistan in terms of using unlimited illegally the Afghanistan water and in order to keep this situation they have to keep the conflict ongoing.
  4. After years being a close ally to US, finally Iran turn to an enemy after its attempt to making Nuclear bombs, which faced a wide opposition of the west and Europe. So in order to develop the nuclear weapons Iran starts using Afghanistan water illegally and made the nuclear station in neighborhoods with Afghanistan to prevent harming its own citizens.
  5. Iran supports the Afghan drug traffickers to give them way toward Europe and for that they receive millions of dollars.
  6. Now after the US as a main opposite country to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran wants to play the same game with US exactly like they played for Americans in the years of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

[ii] Selig Harrison, ‘Inside the Afghan Talks’, Foreign Policy, 72 (Fall 1988); Washington Post, April 17,

1988, p. A 30; November 16, 1992, p. A1; Mendelson, fn. 26–31.

[iii] Joseph J. Collins. Understanding War in Afghanistan/ 2011/ http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/pdf/books/understanding-war-in-afghan.pdf

View expressed in this article are of the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok’s editorial policy.

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The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok's editorial policy.

Author's brief introduction

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Yasar Ahmadzai M.A is Director of Afghanistaninfo-icon Institute of Peace

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