AFGHANISTAN has long been viewed as a hotspot for global security concerns due to its violent history, geopolitical complexities and presence of terrorist groups. Afghanistan’s topography and political turmoil have always offered a fertile ground for terrorist groups to flourish. The steep and rough terrain, combined with permeable borders, has enabled terrorist groups to establish strongholds and training camps in Afghanistan. After the fall of Kabul to Taliban 2.0 in 2021, the world is again witnessing a renewed wave of violence and terrorism. In a stark departure from the terms and conditions outlined in the historic Doha Agreement, signed in February 2020, Taliban have miserably failed to honour their key commitments. The Taliban Government has yet again provided safe havens to the terrorist organizations that carry out cross-border terrorism. They provide them lethal weaponry that US has left in Afghanistan during its war. These weapons are then used by terrorist organizations to carry out heinous acts of terrorism globally.
As many as 23 key terrorist organizations are operating from Afghanistan. These terrorists groups comprise Haqqani Network, TTP, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, IS-KP, Lashkar-e- Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Shura Ittehad Mujahedeen, Amr Bil Maruf and Momin Group, Jamat-ud-Dawa, Maulvi Nazir Group, Chehchan Group, TTT (Tajikistan), Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari, Islamic Jihad Group, Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement/Turkistan Islamic Party, Jamaat Ansarullah, Lashkar-e-Islam, Hizb-e-Islami, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Al-Qaeda in the sub-continent (AQIS), Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar (BRAS) which includes BLA, BLF, BRG and Majeed Brigade. Seventeen of these groups are specially focused on Pakistan. Before Afghan Taliban took over the country, there were least terrorist occurrences in Pakistan, but after their takeover, Pakistan witnessed a 70% surge in terrorism.
Apart from terrorist organizations, there are other reasons which explain Afghanistan’s turbulent journey. Multiple ethnicities residing in the country have always been thriving on ethnic divisions. According to 2010 data from the US Department of State, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan is the Pashtun (including Kuchis), comprising 42% of Afghans. Tajiks are the second largest ethnic group, having 27% of the population, followed by Hazaras (9%), Uzbeks (9%), Aimaq (4%), Turkmen (3%), Baluch (2%) and other groups that roughly make up 4%. The Taliban government, comprising Pashtun population, has a sense of animosity towards the other ethnic groups, as they believe that Afghanistan only belongs to Pashtun populace.
In the near past, some Pashtun nationalist leaders residing on both sides of Pakistan-Afghan border have been chanting the slogan ‘’Lar Ao Bar Yao Afghan’’, in attempt to cast light on their dead politics. Such slogans are propelled by deceptive rhetoric based on pure fictions and fabrications. This slogan tends to support the view that Afghanistan’s territory should be expanded from Durand Line to Attock region of Pakistan, based on the fact that Pashtun population lives in this area. Even if just for a moment, we try to embrace this false rationale of these Pashtun nationalist leaders and Khawarij (TTP), reality paints an entirely different picture.
Ironically, individuals who tend to recognize Attock region as part of Afghanistan are unaware of the fact that Pakistan has a larger Pashtun population than Afghanistan. According to the most recent census, Pakistan has about 45 million Pashtuns, whereas Afghanistan has only 13 million. If the matter is to be solved based on nationalists’ logic, Pakistan must be given control over Afghan territory, because it has the largest Pashtun population, not Afghanistan. Hence, Pakistan should get the territories ranging from Durand Line to Kabul, encircling areas where most of Pashtun people reside.
Afghanistan’s population is already living in a deplorable condition. It is a country where 55.9% of the population reside below poverty line. The conditions of human rights have got worst since Taliban rose to power. Global powers have tried to curtail this terrorism, but have eventually failed. Neighboring countries of Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of the havoc disseminated through Afghanistan in the shape of terrorism, drug trade and smuggling. The only solution that is left for Afghanistan is to divide the country on ethnic basis. The Uzbeks’ areas can be merged into Uzbekistan, Farsi Ban and Hazaras into Iran, Tajiks to Tajikistan and the Pashtun and Baloch areas should be merged with Pakistan. The Wakhan Strip, which is 350 km long 14 to 64 km wide, should be annexed by Pakistan too. This sole solution will solve the deplorable conditions of Afghanistan as all ethnicities will have due representation which they have long longed for. Moreover, the threat to global peace will subsequently be curbed as most of the terrorist organizations finding refuge due to ethnic issues will be deprived of the patronage.
It is notable that the world has tried every mean to ensure global peace, which is threatened by Afghanistan, but the result has always been disappointing. Pakistan has been trying to combat these threats while sacrificing thousands of civilians and law enforcement personnel. The only probable solution is to dismantle Afghanistan on ethnic lines in order to ensure greater peace, a peace in which its neighbours, ethnicities and women population can flourish.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
