Why is Afghanistan batting for India in this round of India-Pakistan hostilities?
IARSo deep is the mistrust against Pakistan amongst Afghans that some even doubt the authenticity of supports of restraint.
Photo: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP
Why is Afghanistan batting for India in the latest round of India-Pakistan hostilities? True, India does have close cooperation with Afghanistan, including a bilateral strategic agreement. Equally true is that Afghanistan and Pakistan share far greater cultural, geographical, religious, and even ethnic affinity and proximity. Pakistan is now majorly involved in facilitating talks between the Taliban and the US and other major stakeholders. And the stand-off between the two nuclear armed neighbours since India launched airstrikes deep inside Pakistan, as retaliation for the Pulwama terror attacks, claimed by the Pakistan-based and Pakistan-backed terror group Jaish e Mohamed, has been dominating headlines and conversations.
In an article published in the Qatari media outlet The New Arab, Afghan journalist Ali M. Latifi points out that ‘In corner stores, barber shops, coffees with friends and after-dinner tea at home, it has dominated conversations. Afghan social media has been a flurry of side taking (mostly India’s), antagonisation (mostly against Pakistan),’ and all the country’s TV channels have been reporting on the standoff between the two nuclear armed neighbours. He writes that most Afghans tend to see India as a ‘friend and ally’ while Pakistan is a ‘foe’.
In a similar vein, writing in Foreign Policy, Afghan journalist Hikmat Noori points out Afghans are ‘not only maintaining support for India but calling for an escalation in a conflict that has gripped South Asia since the February attack that killed dozens of Indian soldiers. Strikes and counterstrikes have heightened tensions, though the release of a captured Indian Air Force pilot by Pakistan looks set to be a powerful gesture of good faith.’
So why is India an ally and Pakistan a foe? And why is it that Afghans are cheering for an Indian win?
Both Latifi and Noori write that while Pakistani establishment is seen as a major supporter of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, on the other hand Afghans not only view India as ‘an enemy of their enemy’ but which has also invested more than $3 billion—in the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan, as well as several smaller development projects.
‘To many people, India is the reliable partner that has given us a new $90 million parliament building, a massive Afghan flag surrounded by a one million dollar renovation of the surrounding park, attack helicopters and the $300 million renovation of a hydroelectric dam,’ writes Latifi.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has had a much less benevolent image in the Afghan imagination. It is remembered more for being the place Osama Bin Laden — whose capture was one of the reasons for the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 — had been hiding than for hosting millions of Afghan refugees for decades. It is also known as the country where former Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, had not only been killed but also, from where he frequently flew to Iran, Dubai and Bahrain. Recent reports of aggression and intimidation against the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has led to outcry among Afghans, including President Ashraf Ghani.
Amongst the support that India has been receiving from Afghan twiteratti, Latifi quotes Idrees Stanikzai, who ran for a parliamentary seat from Kabul in last year’s election. “If the United States would have bombed terrorists hide outs in Pakistan instead of our homes the region would be clear of terrorism now. If Pakistan keeps sending suicide bombers to Afghanistan and India, they shouldn’t be waiting on flowers from us,” said Stanikzai.
Even amongst those Afghans who have lived for a considerable time in Pakistan as a refugee, dislike of Pakistan runs deep, according to Noori. He quotes Mohammad Iqbal Afzali, ‘who spent several years in Pakistan as a refugee at the height of the Afghan conflict in the 1990s,’ but doesn’t remember his hosts fondly. “Well, [India] attacked after Pakistan’s offense. When an enemy attacks, we must give them an answer. That’s what India did, and they did very well,” said Afzali.
On another count, Pakistan’s connection to terrorism alarms Afghans, who are in a precarious situation as they anticipate the imminent ascendancy of Taliban again in their country. Noori quotes Rahmatullah Nabil, a former Afghan spy chief and a contender for the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan as saying “Pakistan has been using terrorism as a tool and tactic…….. India should have done this much earlier.”. He also claimed that, according to his confidential sources, there are 45 to 48 terrorist networks in Pakistan created for different purposes.
All of this has bolstered support for India. For those like Nabil a strong India is a power that can pressure Pakistan enough for Afghanistan and the United States to gain leverage in the peace talks.
So deep is the mistrust against Pakistan amongst Afghans that some even doubt the authenticity of supports of restraint. Noori quotes a 26-year-old as saying: “It was Pakistan who started this trend of saying ‘No to War.’ They are terrified that they will once again lose out. No other country is supporting them.”
Hostilities between India and Pakistan have already had a reverse effect on Afghanistan. Last week, a commercial flight from Kabul, headed to New Delhi, was turned back and not allowed to cross Pakistani airspace which was closed to air traffic.
Earlier, the Pakistani envoy to Kabul Zahid Nasrullah had warned that peace talks between the United States and Afghan Taliban would e affecgted if India resprted to violence against Pakistan in reponse to the Pulwama terror attack. No doubt this had also further stirred up Afghans.
On Friday, 1st March Taliban fighters killed 23 Afghan security forces, according to news reports, in an attack on Camp Shorab, a military base in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Much of Helmand province is under Taliban rule.
