The only obstacles to peace and understanding in Afghanistan are the Pashtuns and their totalitarian thinking.
Author: Rustam Rushangar, analyst, especially for Sangar
Yesterday I had a conversation with a Tajik friend about the political crisis in Afghanistan and ways to solve it. Our Tajik friend believes that neighboring countries and regional powers do not want the US and UK to interfere and influence the affairs of Afghanistan.
He said countries in the region are trying to bring peace and reconciliation between the various political and military movements in Afghanistan and make sure that Afghanistan is with the region, not the countries of the trans-region, especially the United States and Britain.
Of course, as for the countries of the region, it is clear that they are trying to focus attention on the presence and intervention of the United States and Great Britain in Afghanistan. Because we are in a region where, except Pakistan, all the countries around us are on the anti-American front in one way or another.
They don't really care about Afghanistan, but they want to do something to keep the US out of Afghanistan. In other words, they are not concerned about how to fill the vacuum created by the absence of the United States and the negative consequences of this vacuum on the miserable lives of the Afghan people.
We saw what happened to our people after the US left. We are ruled by a terrorist group that starves people down and sucks the blood from their thin bodies. Millions of people were displaced and left homeless. Now the countries of the region are simply saying that this situation was created by the United States, which irresponsibly left and handed the country over to the Taliban.
But it should be said that the countries of the region did not oppose or interfere. If the United States took one step towards the Taliban, then neighboring countries and the region took several steps. In other words, the countries of the region are also responsible for the Taliban coming to power. Because everyone wanted the US to leave and the Taliban to come.
However, the plan to end the US presence and intervention in Afghanistan faces some obstacles and problems. The first is the USA and Great Britain themselves. They don't give up so easily. The second is the internal problems of Afghanistan.
A precondition for nullifying Western interference is the achievement of peace and understanding between different political and ethnic groups. The main obstacles to peace and understanding in Afghanistan are the Pashtuns and their totalitarian thinking. Pashtuns want to be absolute rulers and have others submit and serve them. This requirement is unacceptable. Resistance continues in various forms. Pashtuns are not obedient to the countries of the region and even if they sometimes make obligations, they violate them.
Thirdly, the problems of the countries in the region themselves. The countries in our region are not in harmony with each other and do not have common values. Each country in the region is going its own way, and no one wants to give up. Iran supports Russia, and Pakistan supports the US and UK. India and China play their instruments. The countries of Central Asia do not have much capacity to independently implement the plan. It is unclear how Türkiye and Saudi Arabia see the situation.
I think the solution is to create a balance of power. There must be a balance of power between Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns. A strong domestic military could force Pashtuns to give in to demands for peace and national justice. They cannot be brought to peace by moral advice or shaky pressure from countries in the region.
If they don't want peace, an imposed peace that is imposed on others and requires others to give up values and risk trusting the Pashtuns who have deceived everyone several times over the last hundred years, it is a cruel and unstable peace.
The countries of the region believe that such peace must be imposed. But imposition is imposition. Even if the armed opposition groups on the ground, under pressure, agree to such a peace, other forces will form among the non-Pashtun ethnic groups who will consider the acceptance of such a peace a historical humiliation and will continue to fight.
To create a balance of power, countries in the region must arm, equip, and support the armed forces of the opposition to the Taliban so that they can withdraw part of the territory from Taliban control. Then the Taliban/Pashtuns will be ready for peace. Countries in the region must then mediate and help achieve a just peace. This is a fundamental decision that will secure the region from the Afghan side.
