A lot of fuss has been made about Pakistan’s role in the Afghan mess right through the war against terrorism. And some major international media outlets and at least one country are still bent upon keeping its position controversial even as much of the world is coming round to appreciating what it has done to help bring the war to an end, with the evacuations that followed and, especially, with the way it is helping the international community to understand the truths about the new Afghanistan.
The British government is the latest to come here for advice as reflected in the words of its foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, after his meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad, to the effect that though London is not ready to recognise the Taliban government just yet, it still wants to “engage” with them. This is quite an achievement considering that the British government usually officially recognises states not governments, and the technical novelty in this case owes in no small matter to the way Pakistan is convincing important international capitals to appreciate the new reality on the ground.
The Brits ought to understand Afghanistan’s peculiarities better than most powers. It was their forays into the country in the nineteenth century that gave it the title of Graveyard of Empires in the first place. As such they must also know that the only way to keep the peace in that country is to make sure that its government machinery has enough money to function. That is why it is something of a relief that London hasn’t pulled the plug on Afghan aid like Washington, even though its package of 286 million pounds is hardly going to make much of a difference. Afghanistan stands at a very critical juncture and it would be a grave mistake on the part of the international community to think that its troubles are its own. It doesn’t take much, after all, for war in Afghanistan to translate into refugees, terrorism and drugs in other countries. And if Pakistan is the only country trying to make everybody realise this reality, then it must be appreciated for it. *
Published in daily times on 6th September 2021