External Actors in the Afghan Problem continues...

Many countries of the region that saw an unstable Afghanistan as a threat to their national interests, tried to intervene for variety of reasons, but not necessarily to ameliorate the internal situation in Afghanistan. Lt. General (Rtd.) Syed Rafaqat portrays the complex and conflicting aims of various regional players. In his words, “... Some neighbouring countries are supportive of various ethnic groups’ claims and ambitions. The external states have used the ethnic and geographic fault lines of Afghanistan to mirror and advance their own geostrategic interests.”

This exercise, rather than stabilizing the region, resulted in more intense involvement of external forces. The backing of different Afghan factions further fractured the Afghan society as various players could not accommodate the genuine desires of their perceived as well as real competitors. Although the initial causes or preconditions of internal war was predominantly attributable to indigenous political, economic, and social developments, an important factor that contributed to the growth of insurgent and terrorist movements to a more advanced stage, was the presence of assistance from external governments. Thus, a combination of strong internal inconsistencies and extensive external intervention, have complicated the situation in Afghanistan.

2. AFGHANISTAN’S RELATIONSHIP
WITH EXTERNAL ACTORS

Afghanistan, over the centuries, had incoherent relationships with the external world.

However, on the domestic front, it exhibited a degree of internal flexibility, which has “dampened more extreme turbulence within this multi-ethnic, linguistically heterogeneous, historically composite, and never entirely logical nation-state.” The external relationships of Afghanistan are still incoherent but the events during the last two decades have shattered that internal flexibility.

Before the Soviet intervention, being one of a few independent nations to have stayed neutral during both World War I and II, Afghanistan pursued a policy of neutrality and non-alignment in its foreign relations. In the international forum, Afghanistan generally followed the voting patterns of Asian and African non-aligned countries.

To be continued......