"Afghans blame Pakistan, and want Western forces to stay on"

Afghans blame Pakistan, and want Western forces to stay on

Yalda Hakim
October 10, 2011
Sydney Morning Herald

"Every Muslim knows fighting infidels is a duty. If you become a martyr, you'll go [to] paradise," says Qari Ramazon, the man responsible for the attack on Kabul's Serena Hotel in 2008, which killed six people. When Ramazon looks you in the eye and says he'd be happy if the West faced more terrorist attacks, you start to wonder if the past 10 years in Afghanistan have made any real progress.

After gaining rare access to one of Afghanistan's most notorious prisons, Pul-e-Charkri in Kabul, I asked him why his group remain intent on killing. "Afghans and Pakistanis are against the US and NATO. It's my duty to fight them. I can afford to put explosives on my body and lose my life," Ramazon told me.

I travelled to Afghanistan to interview the man in charge of negotiating peace with the Taliban, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. But within 36 hours of my arrival, I was attending his funeral. He was killed by an assassin who had hidden a bomb in his turban. This is life for ordinary Afghans, who live every day fearing another leader will be targeted or more innocent civilians killed in this seemingly endless war.

Mourners gathered at a hilltop cemetery overlooking Kabul as Rabbani was laid to rest. They were angry. Angry at Pakistan. Angry at its intelligence agency, the ISI. Most Afghans I spoke to accused Pakistan of harbouring the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Pakistan has of course been quick to reject these accusations, but from the country's opposition leader to police chiefs and ordinary civilians, Afghans continue to blame their hostile nuclear neighbour for their woes. "Osama bin Laden was found at the heart of Pakistan's military establishment. To think al-Qaeda and the Taliban aren't based there is wrong," said police chief Esmatullah Alizai.

The death of Rabbani has dealt a serious blow to any negotiations with the Taliban. Rabbani, an elder statesman respected by both sides of Afghan politics, gave the body legitimacy. An ethnic Tajik and once leader of the Northern Alliance, the 70-year-old was also able to protect President Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, from rival camps within his government.

Pressure is now mounting on the country's embattled leader to not only appease various factions but to find a consensus on the peace process. For many, that process is now dead in the water.

The powerful governor of the northern province of Balkh, Mohammad Atta Noor, has warned that if Karzai doesn't take swift action against the Taliban, he will rearm and regroup the Northern Alliance to take on the task.

But who is the enemy? Who will they fight? The war tactic has changed. Taliban fighters seem to have moved off the battlefield and are focusing on more targeted attacks. This year, they've managed to successfully assassinate four key Karzai allies. And the security situation continues to worsen, with violence increasing by nearly 40 per cent over last year.

The capital is tense. A few weeks ago the Taliban mounted an attack on the US embassy and NATO headquarters. Central Kabul is supposedly protected by a "Ring of Steel", fortified checkpoints which are designed to stop attacks on key government buildings and the residences of officials such as Rabbani. But twice it has failed miserably.

Now, with peace talks in disarray and America's influence waning before its troops withdraw in 2014, the future appears bleak for Afghans. After 10 years, many feel very little has been done to eliminate terrorism from the country and region. Afghans fear their country may spiral back into civil war as violent factions battle it out - a recipe for creating another terrorist haven.

At a time of persistent violence, many I spoke to said the West needs to reconsider the timetable for withdrawal. "The world must not repeat its mistakes," said Atta.

"The world must not leave Afghanistan to deal with drugs, smugglers and terrorists. And if the international community doesn't understand this, and Afghanistan has to deal with terrorism on its own, these problems will reach the Western world's most beautiful cities."

Yalda Hakim is a presenter of the SBS international current affairs program Dateline. Her report from Afghanistan will be broadcast on SBS1 at 1pm today and afterwards at www.sbs.com.au/dateline.