By Rachit Sharma:
After going through many sources available I feel that defeating the Taliban militarily with the current strategy of coalition forces is unrealistic. It will be a very tough job for them in the near future even to retain their current controlled areas, which will substantially need addition of more forces. So the idea of moving out forces from Afghanistan at this point looks like a distant reality.
Also, the USA should dictate a political solution to the Afghanistan problem by gaining the confidence of various Afghan factions rather than adopting a military approach. The basic ideology fuelling the Taliban should be understood first. Taliban’s role as a violent organization cannot be justified. Violence in any form can never be justified. But the USA and its allies should look for a better alternative for finding a peaceful solution to the Afghan problem. It is common knowledge that Taliban was the brainchild of Western powers who thought that such an organization would help them in their vested interests, mainly in fight against the erstwhile USSR. Taliban was formed on religious lines and thus has a religious upbringing. It is always hard to break religious attitudes.
If one were to analyse, it is easy to figure out from where such an organization used to receive its funds and arms supply. It seems quite perplexing that the same organization was incubated by enormous funds received from the very same sources that currently condemn its activities because now the organization uses its own mind and tactics.
Lastly, forces were sent to Afghanistan for a specific person. If after nearly a decade of cooping up, the Americans have not been able to locate Osama bin Laden maybe their methods are futile. Maybe the governments of countries in the Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia should joint the NATO in the war effort to eradicate its basic root cause.
It also seems that the Afghan government is not fully dedicated in clearing out the Taliban. They receive huge amount of funds from the various world organizations for the rebuilding process and fighting the insurgent groups. If the Taliban gets wiped out then there will be a substantial reduction in the inflow of funds which the Afghan government fears. Afghanistan has a very important strategic location as it is a part of central Asia which has vast amounts of natural resources particularly natural gas. The Americans might be overstaying deliberately to wash out these resources.
The idea of partitioning the country on ethnic lines can be disastrous as propagated by a few high profile people in the coalition establishment. It can create a new scene of nationalization among Afghan people in which Taliban can be looked as a patriotic organization that is against the international forces’ and coalition party’s action of destabilizing the country. It could also create a lawless state along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border which could provide a safe haven for Jihadi groups which can prove fatal not only to the Western powers but also to neighbouring countries like India and Iran.
The Taliban is taking control of more and more of the rural populace and the Afghan government administration is getting restricted to only urban areas. For the Americans, the idea of withdrawal of forces in the summer of 2011 looks impossible. Rather it will be necessary to send in reinforcements to counter the rising insurgency and withdrawal of European forces.
Recent attacks on foreigners in Afghanistan for the rebuilding process has led to increase in fear among several countries day by day. This matter should be looked into seriously. This seemingly “soft stand” on the Taliban may raise a few eyebrows. But like they say, an eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.