Afghans deserve help

Friday 27th August, 2021

UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has drawn heavy flak from some influential members of the Sri Lankan Muslim community for asking the government not to recognise the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

If one sees nothing wrong with the US having struck a peace deal with the Taliban, and the CIA chief himself having talks with the outfit, how could one ask Sri Lanka not to recognise Afghanistan under the Taliban rule? Even British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said his country is willing to work with the Taliban, if necessary, to resolve the Afghan crisis.

The UNP-led governments had no qualms about having talks with the LTTE on the latter’s terms even at the expense of the country’s national security. They even treated the Tigers like equals, at peace talks, but the UNP now wants the Taliban, who have not threatened Sri Lanka’s interests as such, treated like a pariah. True, the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha statues and are notorious for violence, as Wickremesinghe has rightly pointed out, but the UNP governments had peace talks with the LTTE even after it had bombed the Dalada Maligawa, didn’t they?

The US must take the blame for the Taliban comeback. In 2001, Washington scuttled a peace process which the then Afghan President Hamid Karzai initiated. If he had been given a free hand, the Taliban would have surrendered, according to some security analysts. Today, the Taliban have turned the tables on the US and are negotiating from a position of strength, and Karzai, now in retirement, has had to negotiate with them to help Afghanistan.

The Taliban will have to mend their ways, respect democracy, especially the rights of women and girls, and undertake to sever all their links with terrorist groups such as the ISIS if they are to be recognised internationally. Unless they agree to play by the rules of the democratic world, Afghanistan under their rule will not receive international recognition. Chances are that they will feel the need to change because they cannot run a country cut off from the democratic world. The Taliban have reportedly urged Washington to stop taking Afghan professionals such as doctors and engineers out of the country. This may be considered a positive sign that the Taliban have realised the value of educated Afghans and are serious about rebuilding the war-torn nation.

Afghanistan is to the SAARC what Myanmar is to the ASEAN. It is incumbent upon the SAARC leaders to have a special virtual summit on Afghanistan. The SAARC member in trouble needs help. However, the Taliban will have to be kept under pressure.

Whether the Taliban are genuinely desirous of a democratic change will be seen come 31 August, when the US will have to complete its evacuation operations. This will be the first litmus test for the Taliban regime, which will have to prove that it is flexible. Speculation is rife that the Taliban may go on the offensive unless the US pulls out all its troops by next Tuesday. That will be a terrible mistake for the Taliban. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rightly said the Group of Seven nations will never recognise the new Taliban administration unless they guarantee the Afghans’ freedom of movement before and after the 31 August deadline.

If the Taliban can prove that they are capable of change and are willing to mend their ways, the world will have to facilitate their transformation for the sake of the Afghan public. At the moment, there is no way anyone can help the hapless Afghans without engaging with the Taliban.

Afghanistan, which has become a victim of imperialism and terrorism deserves help.