REGION: Ceding Afghanistan

Trotted out on every outing like a favourite suit, the 'mantra' of regional cooperation in and on Afghanistan was seen once again at the end of April, at the SAARC Summit in Thimphu, and at the early-May Washington visit of President Hamid Karzai. In both instances, regional cooperation was touted as a key element of the way out of the Afghan conundrum. Like an old suit, however, the concept has long since ceased to fit. The slender window of opportunity for reshaping the regional engagement that emerged post-2001 has all but disappeared. Largely responsible for holding back any regional cooperation is the mutual distrust between India and Pakistan, which exhibits itself as a zero-sum game in the context of Afghanistan. Historically divided on their interests in Afghanistan by the mutually confrontational positions held during the Cold War, India and Pakistan have thereafter adapted their hostility to the realities of a unipolar world. Proximity to the US government – based on a longstanding relationship for Islamabad and a new one for New Delhi – is being used by both to jockey for footholds in Kabul. Though traditionally the division saw Pakistan supporting the Taliban regime and the Indian government supporting the Northern Alliance arraigned against it, New Delhi's relationship with the Kabul political configuration has long since moved on. President Karzai, goes the thinking, will provide the moderate Pashtun leadership required to preserve Indian interests than if there is a more belligerent anti-Indian government in Kabul, supported by Pakistan.

Unfortunately, Indian officials have chosen to follow the rather narrow approach of singling out Pakistan and its influence as the sole barometer of their diplomacy in Afghanistan. Influencing the international community and the Afghan government in order to reduce Pakistan's influence has thus become the overriding Indian focus. The result is that India is not emerging as a critical player at a time when the new Afghan state is being shaped – not in the image of Western democracies, but rather in the image that many Western countries have of 'third world' countries. According to their view, 'Western' values of human rights, freedom of speech, and civil and political rights are an unnecessary imposition, and democracy and democratic values are seen to have relatively limited value. Ironically, this fundamentally undermines the conditions for the emergence of social and political forces that would support a more tolerant and inclusive polity – the only sustainable bulwark against violent extremism.