Articles

With the Americans having conceded a central role to Pakistan in the latest round of the never-ending ‘endgame’ in Afghanistan, the spectre of Taliban returning to power in Kabul is all too real for countries with vital interests in Afghanistan to ignore. Unfortunately, despite sharing deep antipathy for the Taliban, important regional powers like India, Iran and Russia are unable to read from the same page on how to counter Pakistan's pernicious game-plan in Afghanistan which also holds extremely serious ramifications for their own security.

Fatalities by Province

Courtesy the Iraq diversion, the critical Counter- Terrorist campaign in Afghanistan had been deliberately underfunded and under-resourced for nearly a decade. The situation began to deteriorate steadily from 2005 onwards and the Taliban steadily increased its area of influence. The first five months of 2009 were characterised by a major spurt in Taliban activities:

• In 2009, there were 7228 IED attacks in Afghanistan, a 120 % increase over 2008
• There were 519 foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan in 2009. Of these, 316 were US troops.

The London Conference on Afghanistan held recently has evoked differing reactions in the Indian media. At one extreme it has been welcomed as providing an effective solution to the Afghan problem, even though it may entail the return of Mullah Omar to power in Afghanistan, and at the other extreme it has been criticised not only for paving the way for the return of the Taliban but also for enhancing Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan at India's cost.