Integrity Score 380
No Records Found
No Records Found
Chapter 2 continues…
The ensuing instability appeared to envelop General Dostum in its wake, with the Shia Hezb-i-Wahdat and Herat’s Govornor Ismail Khan weighing in on the side of Hekhmatyar and Rabbani respectively in a war of each against all. Amidst claims of success and counter-success, calls for ceasefire went unheeded. Even the UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali’s appeal to restrain the conflict was ignored. And unlike the past fighting spread to the provinces of Balkh, Faryab and Kunduz provinces.
The political divide in Afghanistan showed signs of dangerous fissures along ethnic, regional, linguistic and sectarian lines. Afghanistan’s neighbours were faced with a fresh refugee exodus to add to the 1.5 million in Pakistan and 2 million in Iran. It also precluded any serious international effort to restore Afghanistan to some semblance of normalcy and rebuild the war-ravaged and shattered infrastructure. Since the Mujahideen take-over of Kabul, several accords were signed among the Afghan factions but these did not bear fruit. Under the Islamabad Accords of 1993, the Afghans were to elect a Constituent Assembly in October 1993, but the election month passed off without any hint of polls.
Thus mediation revitalized by the regional powers were fruitless and the only option to bring about some end to the conflict was to cut the arms supplies seemed to lack the warring factions. The leaders of the Mujahideen groups seemed to lack the political wisdom and statesmanship as they developed unrestrained ambitions for power. Moreover they apparently were incapable of grasping the immediate and long-term consequences of their actions for their country.
Emphasising the role played by the regional powers in this endless conflict a Dawn editorial wrote that: “Meddlesome political elements in Pakistan, interest groups in Iran and the authorities in Tashkent and Ashgabat have been blatantly supporting and encouraging their own protégés in the war in Afghanistan.
To be continued…