It is no hidden fact that a number of reasons need to be taken into account while analysing the growing problems in Pakistan. The indigenous leadership continues to rely on its diplomatic pilgrimage to Mecca quite frequently where, while visiting the holiest site of Islam, the mission is to prove something more than mere piety. The mission is to have the grace and blessings of Saudi powers that be, who have silently influenced Pakistan’s regional policy over the last few years.
Saudi Arabia has proved to be a vital partner most importantly in the domain of oil imports. The kingdom has made intelligent use of its oil reserves to carve out its assertion as the leading state in the ‘Islamic empire’. The frequent diplomatic missions to Mecca have an underlying implication to them as well. Saudi Arabia that shares the hard line Islamic ideology with religious groups operating within the region, has the inherent ability to help strike a deal with the Taliban and bring them on the negotiation table. It is in the interests of all stakeholders to acknowledge the fact that war with the Taliban has not reaped its desired results over the years. The world’s supreme power has spent billions of dollars to gain greater influence in Afghanistan, however the US that increasingly finds itself in economic turmoil has failed to deal a significant blow to its arch enemy. The US has found itself isolated in Afghanistan and with its feet stuck in the oily muck of Iraq, the global hegemonic power needs to realise that a strong relationship with Pakistan is the need of the hour.
This relationship with Pakistan does not simply entail military aid to the country, but the US needs to realise that at this crucial juncture, aid for the development of the education and the health sector is of prime importance. Rather than isolating Pakistan, it must embrace her and the Saudis to ensure peaceful exit from the region. Afghan Taliban might be blamed for the atrocities they perpetrated during their rule, but at the same time they were important allies for Pakistan. During the Taliban regime, drug trade in the region came to a complete halt and suicide bombing was a word unheard of in Pakistan.
The economic cost of the war on terror for Pakistan has been immense. Coupled with India-sponsored insurgency movements in FATA, KP and Balochistan, the government was faced with a multitude of challenges from numerous fronts. The Afghan Taliban, unlike the TTP or Fazlulah group, did not support terrorist activities on Pakistani soil. While taking into account the regional interests of our own country, and that of the other stakeholders, Taliban need to be brought onto the negotiation table and the good Taliban need to be differentiated from the ‘bad al-Qaeda’
Pakistan’s vulnerable lower classes have found themselves trapped in an extremist medrassa culture, but while some medrassas might be churning out religious fundamentalists, this cannot be accepted as a universal truth. Given the low incomes of a majority of the people in the tribal belt, along with those in KP, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, parents opt to enroll their kids in medrassas that are a source of cheap education, food and boarding.
While one cannot rule out the fact that some of these medrassas have taken a hard line stance and brainwashed children into believing a distorted version of religion, the solution lies in developing infrastructure and providing a means of sustenance to the majority of the people in these belts who find it hard to make ends meet. Economic independence and sowing the dream of success in these children is central to finding a long term solution to increasing radicalisation in the country.
As far as finding an end game to Afghanistan is concerned, the Saudi kingdom needs to use some of its oil wealth into assisting insurgents lay down arms in favour of carving out better lives for themselves. Therefore the question for the US is how to get Taliban on the negotiating table and their best hope can no doubt be found in Pakistan, which has viewed Afghanistan in the same strategic way the Saudis have. The most prudent way for the US to exit Afghanistan is improving lives of citizens through uplift and reconstruction projects, without which it will be impossible to force a reduction in guerilla warfare.
The writer is News Editor, Profit