Monday, October 20, 2008

Leader page article on ending the Afghan war

There are certain issues which have continued for extended periods of time without any resolution and will probably continue to do so. Issues like the Israel-Palestine conflict, enmity between China and Japan, Indo-Pak conflicts and so on. The conflicts in Afghanistan is another issue which has gone on for centuries. For more specifics do read this.
Now M.K. Bhadrakumar former IFS officer and now Chindu "Leader Page" contributor has come up with a brainwave article on how to end the war there and solve the crisis. In his attempt to wrap his brain about the convoluted issues and ground realities, MKB comes up with some really vague, unrealistic proposals which makes me wonder how he passed the IAS exam in the first place! Perhaps there is some quota for morons.
Jokes aside, some of his statements smack of ignorance,
One, do not allow political instincts to be smothered by spooks, strategists and soldiers who surround statesmen.

Sure, but without their inputs how would you get the information on the situation on the ground to make realistic decisions? By watching BBC or CNN?
Two, Taliban is not the problem and it can be made part of the solution provided its variant of “Islamism” is properly understood.

The Taliban have been real butchers of the civilian population with little to no tolerance towards minorities and women and one of the main reasons why the country is in such a mess.
MKB fills the article with anti-US propoganda like,
the U.S. has been proved wrong in believing that imperialism and hubris could trump nationalism.

Really, do you believe Al Qaeda is fighting for Nationalism, have you not read any of the transcripts of their communication or watched Al Jazeera?
The war provided a context for the U.S. military presence in Central Asia; NATO’s first-ever “out of area” operation; a turf which overlooks the two South Asian nuclear weapon states, Iran and China’s Xinjiang; and a useful toehold on a potential transportation route for Caspian energy bypassing Russia and Iran.

Seven, the war should not have been an American enterprise. Nor should it have space for the arrogance of power. Unfortunately, the U.S. uses the United Nations as a fig-leaf but pretty much decides on the war strategy.

There are some issues which MKB brushes like the importance of Pakistan's role in the war and the issues between the various tribes. However he places too much blame on the US and avoids the elephant in the room which is the presence of Al Qaeda and Taliban which are key ringleaders of most terrorist attacks in recent times and have made Afghanistan into a war zone.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We know fairly well Chindu's stand on secularism and minorities in India.

How about China?

Just a sample:

"With prayers banned in public areas, private hajj trips not allowed, teaching of the Noble Qur'an not allowed in private and students and government officials forced to eat during Ramadan, China in enforcing laws and regulations restricting the practice of Islam.

In recent week, Chinese authorities have enforced laws restricting the ability of Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang from practicing their faith."
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If you want to savour more, see:

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1224089101093&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

(got the ref. from a discussion page in http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/)