'A VICTORY FOR KARZAI'
[Hoje Macau,
Macau]
Novosti, Russia
Afghanistan and Central
Asia's New Political Order
"It's
an order still being formed … but take note that the end of the war is nowhere to
be seen, yet already, Afghanistan's neighbors behave as if all the shooting has
stopped."
By Dmitry Kosyrev
Translated By Igor Medvedev
December 14, 2009
Russia - Novosti - Original Article (Russia)
MOSCOW: In those days 30
years ago, immediately after a meeting of the Politburo where it was decided to
invade Afghanistan, a task force headed by General Sergei Akhromeyev,
chief of the general staff of Soviet Forces, traveled to Kabul to prepare for
the operation.
But all those years ago when Soviet
forces entered Afghanistan, the two states at least shared a common border. Today,
the Islamic Republic borders Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, this creating a
fundamentally different situation.
Thirty years ago was also the
beginning of the end for the Soviet Union - and at the same time, roots were
planted for a new political order in Central Asia. It's an order still being
formed today, although some people may think that there are American and NATO
troops and nothing more.
Nevertheless, it will come as
a surprise to many that a very high-ranking source in the Indian government recently
reported that to date, Indian public and private investment in Afghanistan has
reached $1.3 billion. And then there's China, which is investing up to $3
billion in a single project - the Ainaka copper mine. Meanwhile, Iran also
maintains contacts in Afghanistan, albeit in a very low-key manner.
Take note that the end of the
war is nowhere to be seen, but already, Afghanistan's neighbors behave as if all
the shooting has stopped.
It's worth
recalling that the current American administration has repeatedly promised to
correct the mistakes of its predecessors and develop a kind of "regional
approach" to war. True, so far nothing precisely like this has materialized,
but the approach, such as one can see it, is being conducted by those outside
the United States, while America continues to do most of the fighting.
Returning to thirty-year-old
events, it's important to recall that that rear base of that Soviet war was in
Tashkent - in its hospitals, where the men who were recovering were sent (or were
so wounded they would never recover). Now the role of Uzbekistan has changed
dramatically.
Uzbek Ambassador to Russia Ilkhomzhon
Nematov told me that the main threat to the security of Central Asia, including
Uzbekistan, comes from Afghanistan, where more than 30 years has left a ruined
land that produces 90 percent of the world's heroin. In this context,
Uzbekistan is vitally interested in strengthening peace and stability and resolving
the Afghan crisis as soon as possible.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Uzbekistan, he says, is
working on a bilateral basis to help Afghanistan make an economic recovery. Uzbekistan
has built 11 bridges in Afghanistan and supplies the country's northern
provinces with electricity and a lot more, including mineral fertilizers and
construction materials, such as cement, fittings, bricks and more.
Now together with the Asian
Development Bank, Uzbekistan is actively involved with the construction of the Hayraton-Mazari-Sharif-Heart railway, which will
be a major piece of infrastructure for the sustained development of all Central
Asia.
[Toronto Star, Canada]
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Le Figaro, France:
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Rceczpospolita, Poland:
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Frontier Post, Pakistan:
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La Stampa, Italy:
Obama Must Finish Bush's Work or 'Marginalize' the West
DNA, France:
To America or France,
Sarkozy Must
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Le Monde, France:
Nicolas Sarkozy's 'Neither-Nor' on the Afghan Surge
Berliner Zeitung, Germany:
Obama's Hope is All
Afghanistan Has Left
Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Russia:
NATO Still 'Clueless' About What to Do Next
Liberation, France:
Obama's Hesitation on Afghanistan May Cost Him Dearly
The Nation, Pakistan :
Obama's Speech:
'Servility' Toward
U.S. Has its Limits
The Frontier Post, Pakistan:
America Reveals Dark Side of the Human Intellect
Asia Times, Hong Kong:
China Maps
End to the Afghanistan War
Gazeta, Russia:
U.S. and Russia Share Responsibility for 'Afghan Anthill'
Accordingly, Ambassador
Nemati says he welcomes American efforts to establish peace and stability in
the country. The Uzbek ambassador would therefore be the obvious person to
compare the efforts of his country to those of the U.S. - and to tell us what there
is to welcome.
Ambassador Nematov answers
this way: a large percentage of the humanitarian cargo supplied by the U.N. as
well as a number of countries in the region, reach Afghanistan through Uzbekistan
territory. Like Russia and other countries in the region, Uzbekistan has also
cooperated with the United States in the transit of non-military goods into
Afghanistan.
Mr. Nematov said that
Uzbekistan always told the American side that it's ready to continue development
cooperation with the United States on issues of common interest and on the
basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. This primarily involves areas
like the battle against international terrorism, drug trafficking and extremism.
In this context, the
ambassador said that Uzbekistan welcomes the U.S. administration's decision to
send more troops to Afghanistan. Just to be fair, one has to acknowledge the
opinions of a large majority of analysts - that Afghanistan has gone critical
in recent years, and that it's growing worse every day. There's growing popular
discontent over the large numbers of civilian deaths caused by erroneous
bombing. And then there's the other major problem - drugs. In other words, the catastrophic
increase in heroin production. Paradoxically, according to U.N. data, Afghanistan
produced about 300 tons of heroin in 2001, but by 2008 the figure had reached 8,300
tons.
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All of this, the ambassador
concludes, confirms the correctness of the view that the Afghan problem cannot
be resolved militarily. "For this reason, we are confident of the
effectiveness of the initiative of Uzbek President Islam Karimov to establish a
"6+3" contact group, which will provide a venue to involve Uzbekistan's
closest neighbors in addressing the problem."
[Toronto Star, Canada]
This group deserves special
mention. At the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest, President Karimov proposed
reviving the group, which was launched before the 2001 U.S. war. Karimov suggested
that, as before, the group should be comprised of the six countries that border
Afghanistan (Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), as well
as "the three" - Russia, the United States and NATO.
Perhaps there are grounds for
displeasure with Karimov's desire to add NATO to the former contact group (the "6
+ 2"), or even jealousy over his current proposal (why wasn't it
introduced together with Russia or within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization - and where is India, and so on). But the most important thing to
note about this initiative is its essence: a group of countries that are neighbors
to Afghanistan are trying to take on key roles in addressing the region's woes.
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