Pakistan: A spoiler for Afghan-war
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Introduction
Afghanistan had been an independent country in the early 1900s. It was a devastated and forgotten state before the 9/11 attacks. It was even considered as one of the poorest countries in words due to its political instability. Hence they had to depend upon foreign aids to secure a good position. But after the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan has been a significant area of attraction for the external actors to come up and invade this war-torn country. Pakistan has always been playing an extensively important role in creating a tiff between Afghanistan and the United States of America (Azami 2019). The country is trying to attain peace, security and stability since the attack took place. The US, on the other hand, wants to establish control over the country and make important developments to prevail peace therein. It has been perceived that Afghanistan is in a very unfavourable condition after the 9/11 attack. The US has been continuously trying to invade Afghanistan and make several developments for putting an end on terrorism. Hence several invasions have been witnessed by major powerful countries. The geopolitical scenario of Afghanistan has been observed to be quite unbalanced and unstable. But the involvement of regional and extra-regional powers is responsible for this never-ending conflicts and distress in the Nation (Hussain 2011). However, Pakistan has been continually influencing the Afghans for fighting against the US for attaining freedom and peace, and thus, they have become a quite rebellious time and again. This particular essay will demonstrate the role of Pakistan in starting the Afghan WarWar and how far the US has achieved success in making developments in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks.
The primary analysis of the thesis
In the 1980s, Afghanistan was under the reign of the Soviet Union. At that time, the US has handed over quite a large sum of money for supplying weapons to the revolutionary military forces through an underground CIA operation known as the Afghan Mujahedeen fighters. Around 1 million Afghans had to lose their lives in this incident. This actually triggered the sense of WarWar and rebellion among the Afghans, thus leading to the development of the extremist groups. However, in the mid-1990s, Pakistan has had a significant influence on the Taliban outfit, and the Enviro bred terrorists took primary control over Afghanistan. In the words of Mistry (2019, p. 5), the Taliban were gaining their strengths and support and later came into full power which devastated the country even more. In this respect, the leading figure in al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden had formed a specific military force that had attacked the WTC of the US on September 11 2001. These attacks were the landmark for the people of the United States as well as the entire world. As a result of this, US bombed Afghanistan in October 2001 under the Bush Doctrine which targeted Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban.
Afghanistan had been emerging as a significant centre of disputes and contention as China and Russia, and the US had engaged themselves extensively in the political matters of Afghanistan. Although the country defended themselves with complete dedication and force, they had to face the bitter consequences of the Cold War due to the influence of the outside powers. But after the Warwar, the alliances between the US and Afghanistan were expected to stabilise the latter (Malik 2015). However, the US had disengaged them from Afghanistan and did not pay any heed to the negotiation or stabilisation intended post-Cold warWar. Hence the Afghans were very much dissatisfied with the Americans and decided to revolt against them. Pakistan had thus taken advantage of this dispute and played a significant role in adding fuel to the fire of rebellion (Motwani and Bose 2014). Pakistan had used the ethnic-ideological-religious nationalism through which they could easily polarise the Afghan political affairs, thereby gaining complete control over Afghanistan. This had been done in order to attain the critical geostrategic objectives of the region.
The Taliban was created as a proxy force in the strategic pursuit of Pakistan, which devastated the stability and economic condition of Afghanistan after the Cold War. The mujahedeen-led Government had been ousted from Kabul in September 1996. Hence this led the Taliban to harbour al Qaeda and protect Osama Bin Laden against the US. It has been observed by Hodes and Sedra (2013) that the tragic terror attack occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001, was actually the consequence of the premature disengagement and ignorance towards the post-Cold War negotiation with Afghanistan. The combined action of revenge between the Taliban and al Qaeda had masterminded the attack of 9/11, which compelled the US to get reengaged with Afghanistan. This re-engagement was not meant for any alliance establishment, but for ending the tyranny of the Taliban. Due to such, several Afghan people were dehumanised, and even their cultural heritage sites had also been destroyed. MOGELSON (2019) denoted that George Bush had given an ultimatum to the Taliban that either Bin Laden would surrender or the US will raise a strike. There were several US air forces and navy planes engaged in this October attack, and special troops were also sent in the first ground base.
As the other countries became a part of the war was, the Taliban had been removed from power quickly. Most of the Taliban military forces had been driven away towards the end of 2001. However, they did not accept the defeat, and instead, they became more powerful and prepared themselves to attack back with full force. As per the opinions of Çetin (2013, p. 532), the war-on-terrorism policy of the US against al Qaeda had affected the geopolitical scenario of Afghanistan, and it also made many other countries show enmity towards them. In 2003, the US created ISAF for helping them in organising the War in Afghanistan. In this context, several innocent Afghan civilians had caught in between. United Nations, WTO, World Bank and International criminal court had come together to identify the common problems such as WarWar, conflicts, violence, enviro concerns and economic cooperation (Tomsen 2014, p. 47). Nevertheless, it has been perceived that although Americans initiated global WarWar on terrorism after the 9/11 attacks triggering the sense of WarWar and rebellion among the Afghans, yet the Americans changed their priorities regarding undertaking effective strategies for wiping out the global terror networks from the root (Stewart 2019). In such a context, the US has maintained a peace-related campaign against the attacks and threats posed by the system of al Qaeda and the Taliban regime termination in Afghanistan.
The US government seemed to be quite more severe about withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan and put an end to the longest WarWar going on since 2001. In this attempt, the US had been in a much contradictory position regarding its success in its mission. The country had been in the ‘graveyard of empires’ after the engagement of the US with them. According to the opinions of Jones (2010), the tragic Pentagon war is considered to be the Longest War in Afghanistan since Vietnam. The US had achieved success as it drove the al Qaeda headquarters across the Pakistan borders. The relationship between the US and Pakistan can be explored and examined through the notion of Afghanistan. As argued by Kfir (2014), the relations between Islamabad and Washington had been in a fluctuated mode as there were periods of friendship and enmity on a significant basis. This implies that the US had, on the one hand, laid the foundation for the development of Afghanistan and, on the other hand, created many conflicts for the country as well. The US administration understood Pakistan’s political system
According to the War theory of Michael Walzer, the conscripted soldiers should be exempted from all the responsibilities related to the WarWar. This will help in universal equality and peace between Afghanistan and the US. The US always has the principle to distribute power in its controlled places. Byman (2019) stated that Pakistan is the Nation that has the intention to safe its cross-border relationship with Afghanistan in a diplomatic manner. Pakistan always tried to enforce the Taliban for creating a vulnerable situation in Afghanistan. Reportedly, Pakistani intelligence agency and military forces have helped extremists groups for getting the right place in the heart of Afghanistan. According to Mashal (2019); Pakistan is always trying to create a militant proxy in the Afghani society for gaining strategic depth. Afghani officials directly claimed that Pakistan has direct funding and support towards the extremist group for taking benefits from the geographic region. In some occasions, the United States also took dramatic stands in the case of Afghanistan. Though there were multiple misleading activities, present still the US made some great things for Afghanistan. After the 9/11 attack, US tried their level best to demolish the sign of Taliban and Al-Qaida from the Afghani land and to some extent they got success after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden (Calamur 2018). Barack Obama took this call of doing surgical strike in Pakistan for ending the story of Al-Qaida chief. This incident was highly criticised by the UN and many other nations because once again, Pakistani supports towards extremist activities were disclosed to everyone.
It could be stated that Afghani people have been facing heart-breaking issues and the loss of their family members for an extended period. US business policy and international trade rule sometimes made massive blunders in the Nation, but a recent decision taken by Mr Donald Trump gave a ray of hope. By the viewpoint of RUBIN (2019), the current US president made the decision of withdrawing US troops from Afghani lands, and it gave a chance to Afghan people to select their leaders for ruling the Nation. The peace talk was happened between both US and Taliban leaders for finding a conclusion (US-Taliban peace talks 2019). Finally, the US government decided to take their troops back to the US and Taliban assured about anti-terrorism activities. Other extremists groups raised their vocals on the dominant nature of the United States (KENEALLY 2019). Before withdrawing the army from the Afghani Land, US government negotiated with every neighbouring Nation and most specifically Pakistan because Pakistan provided support and funding to the Taliban terrorist group.
There are three aspects on which Pakistan supported Taliban. First of all, Pakistan was threatened by US army aggression. The second issue was the nuclear weapon of US frightened the Pakistani Government. The third issue was the Durand Line which was neglected by Afghanistan as an international border. RUBIN (2019) highlighted that due to these reasons, Pakistan always tried hard to enforce the Taliban so that an unbalanced situation could be maintained in Afghanistan. Pakistan also had one fear about the Indian presence in Afghanistan, and this is the reason Pakistani Army members were trying to infiltrate money and artillery support to the Taliban and other extremists organisations. There are many argumentative versions of different journalists of that time have on the role of US in Afghanistan. Stewart (2019) stated that the US might put high pressure after the 9/11 attack in world trade centre but by the time the US government neutralised the whole situation slowly. US government developed many hospitals and medical camps in Afghanistan which offered free treatment to the Afghani people. The US helped the Nation to build its democratic vision after such a long time. Mr Donald Trump reduced the troops, but still, some forces were there to battle with Islamic State or any further activity of Al-Qaida.
According to this scholar, the peace talks between the Taliban and US Government changed the lifestyle of many Taliban terrorists. Reportedly, around 4%, only Taliban joined the Islamic State. Byman (2019) stated that the world trade centre attack was an unfortunate incident for all the people who belong to the United States of America. It was a painful event where many innocent lives were gone due to the violence of extremist groups. In the year of 2018, Calamur stated that the US forcefully tried to invade in the Nation for keeping the place safe from rivalries. Every single Asian Nation was trying their level best to take reasonable control in Afghanistan. Russia and China peace talk regarding Afghanistan was the primary concern for the US army and due to this reason the US kept their troops over in the Nation for a long time so that a balance in the diplomatic relationship could be made.
According to Bose (2016), Pakistan has always been very crucial for making peace between the Taliban and US Government. This scholar has stated in the article that Pakistan always backed Taliban extremists group for maintaining disturbances in Afghanistan. Pakistan ever did this for gaining cross border advantages, and Pakistan did not want the US to invade Afghanistan because it reduced the control of the Taliban and other extremist groups. On the other hand, Shah et al. (2019) stated some different views like Pakistan always wanted to establish a good relationship with Afghanistan in diplomatic ties. Pakistan initiated peace talks with the Taliban with the help of the US. Though there are several contradictions present on the standpoint of Pakistan, still, it could be stated that the peace disclaimer between US and Taliban changed the scenario of Afghanistan (Nissenbaum and Shah 2019). President Trump personally requested the Pakistani Government to resolve this issue as early as possible for the future benefits of Afghani people. Many people left their home due to panic, many people died, and many kids became orphan due to this prolong WarWar between the US army and extremists group. This WarWar has come to an end by the supervision of Donald Trump, and it might create a brighter future for the Afghani people.
Conclusion
The whole paper is focusing on the post 9/11 attack of the United States on Afghanistan. Along with this, this essay has highlighted the development activities taken care of by the US in this land and the conflicting behaviour of Pakistan in this scenario. After having a discussion, it is cleared that post 9/11; a tough time was gone for all Afghani people. Afghanistan is a place which was dominated by a different superpower in a different time frame (HAIDARI 2015). Due to this reason, a rebellion nature was found among the inhabitants of this Nation. Various extremists groups were formed at the time of Russian invasion and US helped local mujahidin forces at that time. After getting freedom from Russian, Afghans found diplomatic fighting among all the superpowers due to its geographic positions and connections with South and North Asia. Pakistan was also a close neighbour of Afghanistan and always tried to infiltrate terrorism in the Nation for breaking the stability (Riedel 2019). This instability enforced many extremist groups and many innocent people became the victims of their deadly activity. World Trade Centre attack was one of the consequences of this extremist activity. Pakistan always spoiled the Afghan society by giving monetary support in terror activity. Post-9/11, US deployed their armed forces in the Nation for demolishing Al-Qaida and Taliban from the region. They got success by killing Al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden, but Taliban activity was not controlled fully. Finally, Donald Trump initiated peace conversation with Taliban and this peace meeting changed the fate of Afghanistan. The Nation has been settled with democratic views and other super powers are supporting the growth of the Nation.
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