Living With the Taliban Next Door: The Indian Dilemma

The rapid takeover of Kabul by the Taliban after two decades of political exile signifies a total failure of the American experiment in installing democracy and western-style institutions in a seventh century feudalistic and Islamic society. This experiment cost the American government over two trillion dollars, two thousand five hundred American and NATO lives, and loss of face and identity as the world’s greatest superpower.

The vacuum created by the departure of American forces from Afghanistan was quickly filled up by the advancing fighters of the Taliban leading to schadenfreude in Beijing, Islamabad and Moscow. There were even scenes of celebration and bursting of crackers all over Pakistan accompanying the end of the American moment in Afghanistan. No matter how we look at it, the present situation is a source of extreme jubilation and satisfaction for Pakistan as it signifies the defeat of American intervention in Afghanistan at the hands of Pakistan-aided Taliban.

Pakistan has reaped enormous benefits by agreeing to be a partner to America in its global war on terror after 9/11, and earlier throughout the eighties as a conduit to the Mujahedin and for training other militant groups on Pakistani soil to fight the Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan. To milk the American cow, Pakistan adopted the strategy of "running with the hares and hunting with the hounds". When it started to become clear that Pakistan was actually sabotaging the American war on terror by withholding vital information about the Taliban and its leader Osama bin Laden, it began to play the victim card by claiming that so many numbers of Pakistanis had lost their lives due to the ongoing war on terror.

It has been estimated that Pakistan siphoned off at least twenty billion dollars over the years by pretending to be a partner to America in its global war on terror, while the terror groups were all being nurtured and trained on Pakistani soil.

The deception of America by Pakistan still continues by using new tricks and traps. The success of the Taliban in capturing Kabul and other large cities within a matter of nine days, is due largely to the help and material support provided by the Pakistani establishment to the Taliban.

The war in Afghanistan began in 2001 after the Taliban (which was in power in Kabul at that time) refused to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States for planning the attack on the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon on September 11, costing at least three thousand lives. It was supposed to be a swift operation to eliminate Osama and his Al Qaeda, but morphed into a nation-building exercise against all odds, in a moment of irrational exuberance.

It is not easy to predict what the revived Taliban’s behavior will be in its second avatar, but we can draw some conclusions based on past actions and present pronouncements (whatever they may be worth). The first Taliban rule during 1996-2001 was brutal and full of Islamic rhetoric. Sharia was the pivot on which rested crime and punishment. Reprisals and punishments were swift and cruel, and unimaginable in today’s world. Thieves who were caught stealing would have their hands chopped off, women who were accused (not proven guilty as yet) of adultery faced the death penalty by stoning.

Although the Taliban spokesmen have been saying recently that they will declare amnesty for all, and that they seek no vengeance against anybody, including Afghans who worked for the American forces such as translators and those who worked for the Afghan army, it is doubtful if they will keep their word.

As regards the equality of women, the Taliban spokesmen have been saying that women in Afghanistan will have rights “within Islamic law”, girls can go to girls’ school, and women can do jobs such as teaching girls, etc. At the same time, their spokesmen have also clarified that women will have to wear the burqa which covers their face completely. They will also not be allowed to come out of their homes without a male member of the family, such as their father or brother. Gender equality, eh?

Old proverbs and ageless quotations have the habit and strength to survive through good times and bad. The American withdrawal has led to the validation of an old cliché which describes Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires. The Americans forgot this old saying even though the Soviet Union had already suffered a similar fate back in 1988 after being in Afghanistan for ten years. In a way, Americans took over where the Soviets had left, after a gap of thirteen years.

The new Taliban regime means different things for different countries in the region. For China, Afghanistan’s fall is proof of American hubris. But the Taliban’s return to power raises the risk of extremist threats on its own doorstep. The Uighur minority in the South-west of China, and only a few hundred kilometers north of Afghanistan, might be emboldened by the Taliban’s return to power.

For Pakistan, the return of Taliban is a matter of extreme pride. It has visions of becoming a regional power in South Asia and dreams of bringing Afghanistan under its own sphere of influence through the Afghani Taliban, and with the active support and connivance of its all-weather ally, China. But it forgets that the Pakistani Taliban could derive strength from their Afghani counterparts and pose a serious threat to the government in Islamabad. Which way the Taliban will move—Pakistani government or Pakistani Taliban—is anybody’s guess. Moreover, Pakistan would like to use the Taliban to create disturbance and instability in Kashmir.

The country which has the most to worry from the Taliban seizing power in Afghanistan is India. It now has three enemies forming an “Axis of Evil” from the West to North-East. There can be no convergence of interests and warmth between a radical Islamic Taliban and a nationalist BJP government in India. Despite the great PR offensive launched by the Taliban to seek acceptance from the community of nations in the last few days, there is no doubt among governments that this is just an eyewash, and that the Taliban would go back to its old ways of fomenting unrest and terror. A moderate Taliban is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms.

India has been able to invest in Afghanistan’s future partially because of the presence of U.S.-led troops and the relative stability it brought. With that stability now gone and Taliban back in power, India needs to urgently reposition its priorities. Indian assets in Afghanistan have been targeted by the Haqqani group, a major Taliban faction in the past and there is no assurance that it would not happen again.

In my opinion, the Taliban’s reliance on Pakistan is unlikely to change anytime in the near future. Nevertheless, the cost to India of remaining distant from the new dispensation in Kabul would likely be much higher than the cost of engaging with them. Being more involved in international negotiations, and even agreeing to talk to certain sections of the Taliban as part of a broader diplomatic initiative, are options that India can no longer afford to disregard.

In conclusion, we can be sure that the Taliban coming back into power will definitely energize and embolden the hundreds of Islamic terror groups from Indonesia to Kashmir, and Somalia to Nigeria, even if the new regime in Kabul does not get involved directly in international terrorist activities for the time being.

The Consequences of American Withdrawal from Afghanistan

 As the American and NATO forces begin to withdraw from Afghanistan, there is an air of impending apocalypse now.  The return of foreign powers will be accompanied by an almost immediate meltdown of the civilian Afghan regime and by the end of this year we could see a regime change in Kabul. The new Taliban regime would be more extremist, more repressive, and more fundamentalist than their earlier regimes two decades ago. The Afghan army, trained and equipped by America, is no match for the battle-hardened Taliban forces who do not operate under any moral, ethical, or Geneva-type conventions. The Afghan army will burn their uniforms and go hiding in the mountain passes, Tajikistan, or another neighboring country. The American government should seriously consider the fate of their Afghan “collaborators” who will be quickly exterminated by Taliban. It is the moral obligation of America to save as many of these people as it can.

The entry of American forces in Afghanistan twenty years ago was not an altruistic action. It was a strategic move, in furtherance of American national interests, to defend America, to hunt down Osama bin Laden and to destroy ISIS, and it incorporated the collateral benefits of being able to keep one eye on (nuclear) Iran and the other on deception-filled Pakistan. The presence of Americans in the region has produced only one long-term success—the killing of Osama bin Laden inside the territory of Pakistan, its treacherous buddy. The withdrawal of America will result in the rebirth of ISIS, the Taliban, and a host of other extremist and terrorist groups. They will be able to freely roam through both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and pose a serious threat to Kashmir, as well as to India as a whole. India would need all its resources, luck, and new relationships such as The Quad to fight these forces of evil.

 The vacuum created by the departure of American and allied forces will suck in China, a country that is always ready to swoop down and take advantage of any opportunity that comes its way. By the end of this year, we can expect to see the birth of a new Axis-of-Evil comprising of China, the failed state of Pakistan, and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. This is not a far-fetched scenario, we will definitely see this regressive development in the coming months. What can India do to safeguard its interests? “Buckle Up” and prepare for the worst. The Islamic forces that are now beginning to gather at our doorstep to the northwest comprise of the extremists, terrorists, and jihadi groups. And then we have China which will now be able to threaten us from two fronts.  India will need to use all its political and diplomatic prowess to divert the aggression of terrorist and Jihadi groups in Afghanistan towards China, that would before the yearend be ensconced in Afghanistan, for the persecution of its Uighur minority suffering a few hundred miles to the north.

Election Commission of India to manage American Elections

While the world waits with a bated breath for an official announcement anointing Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, the government-in-waiting is seriously considering to outsource the job of conducting the U.S. elections to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The ECI, it was noted, has been extremely successful in conducting elections in the world's most populous democracy, India, with an electorate of close to a billion people. The last time the ECI conducted national elections in India was in 2019, which returned the ruling BJP and its allies to power with a huge mandate and majority. The elections were conducted very professionally and efficiently, and there were no complaints or lawsuits, challenging election results. And this, despite the participation of hundreds of criminals and rogues, who all consider themselves PM-material in their self-assessment.

On the other hand, the recent American elections have resulted in lawsuits challenging not only the results but also the validity of its democratic processes. This has already happened before in the 2000 presidential elections resulting in the Bush vs. Gore lawsuit.

In view of the above, the American government-in-waiting as mentioned earlier, is thinking of outsourcing the job of election management to the Election Commission of India. The basis for this is not only the perceived mismanagement of elections in America, but also a realization that in order to compete globally, certain things must be left to those who can do them best. The success of globalization during the last three decades is in no small means due to the implementation of division of labor by global companies. A good example of putting this principle into practice is visible in the fact that major corporations and governments worldwide outsource their IT-related jobs and services to Indian IT companies.

I think the next American government realizes that if it wants to convert the Trumpian slogan "Make America Great Again" into reality, it will have to forget about another Trumpian promise of bringing back jobs to America, and outsource the thousands of jobs being done by Americans to the Election Commission of India.

You are fired, Donald Trump!

 "I'm not losing, I 'm being cheated."

As they say, "Every dog has his day." And, the day of reckoning has finally come for the greatest CONMAN of this century. He is not only a loser, he's a very angry and sore loser. He won't mind taking his country through another civil war, if he could. I can't help comparing him to Senator John McCain whom he called a 'loser' because he allowed himself to be captured during the Vietnam War. Trump can't bear to see anybody being respected because he himself doesn't respect anyone.

We all have our heroes. Have you ever heard Trump talk about his hero or idol? He has none. He is the ultimate hero. He is the greatest.

Mr. President, you're now fired. You have been certified by the American public as a 'loser'. You labelled John McCain, a real American hero, as a "loser". Your words will now come back to haunt you during your retirement, after being a one-term president.

Long Live Appeasement

When England and France finally declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939, disrupting a policy of appeasement towards Hitler, appeasement did not end there. Instead, it keeps rearing its ugly head from time to time and shows to the world that it remains a potent tool in the hands of weak and un-leader-like politicians who are unable to take a firm and principled stand on any issue. History is replete with examples of such leaders or kings who gradually lost their countries in the hope that by giving in to the seemingly modest demands of the bully they would be able to avoid war. But, it is not in the nature of bullies to be appeased. When their first demand is met, the bullies are emboldened to make their next demand, and so it goes on and on. There is no end.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, is a classic example of a weak politician who took the baton of appeasement from Neville Chamberlain within a decade of him (Chamberlain) laying it down reluctantly. Nehru’s appeasement of the British government and of Jinnah in the early forties, led to India’s partition and a permanent headache in the form of ‘Special Status for Kashmir under Article 370’ for generations of Indians. The repercussions of Nehru’s appeasement policy have kept India bogged down in a relentless faceoff with Pakistan, and provided an opportunity to Pakistan to hone its skills in waging and spreading global terror, since it cannot win a direct and conventional war with India.

Today, on June 26, 2020, I am seeing another Western leader, “Sleepy” Joe, as Donald Trump calls him, pick up the baton of appeasement and declare his full support for Islamists and Pakis by attacking the abrogation of Article 370, the CAA and NRC. It is hugely shocking that despite Mr. Biden having been in politics for more than half a century, he does not understand that by making such a statement, not only is he interfering in the internal affairs of India, he is also supporting a failed and terrorist state of Pakistan, and siding with a country that helped bring about the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. He is supporting a country that has always milked the United States of tens of billions of dollars during the long period of America’s War on Terror, by playing the double game of “running with the hares, and hunting with the hounds”. And, when President Obama was in the ‘War Room’ of the White House directing and watching the United States’ mission to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan where he was being hidden by that treacherous country, did you fall asleep “Sleepy” Joe? Or have you been sleeping throughout the frustration-filled years of your one-way alliance with Pakistan? Have you slept through the seventy years of free India’s history during which your friend Pakistan has waged a proxy war on the world’s largest democracy, India, wherein its terrorists, jihadis, infiltrators, ISI, and the regular army have conducted non-stop warfare/shelling killing three or four people almost every day along or inside our border.

What is most shocking about this act of appeasement, is the fact that despite America being the land of immigrants where millions of people come to escape persecution and genocide, the president-in-waiting of this great nation sees fit to oppose India’s parliamentary passage of the CAA and NRC bills, the main purpose of which is to give citizenship and home to the persecuted (bordering on genocide) minorities in Pakistan and other Islamic countries.

Do Us a Favour, Mr. Kejriwal

I am writing to you, Mr. Kejriwal, because you have taken a number of bold initiatives to improve the living conditions of the common man during the last five years in Delhi. But we need to do much more since the previous governments have done precious little or nothing for our citizens.

Allow me to clarify, Sir. I have been living in Japan for over forty years, and I teach at Nihon University. During this period, I have had the opportunity to visit a government office for about 12-15 times to get a tax certification, new car registration, my signature or stamp certificate, and to register the acquisition of a new property.  Most of these things can be done at a local government 'ward office' (the interface between people and government) which may not be more than four or five kilometers away from anyone's residence. None of these tasks takes more than five minutes to do. When you leave the ward office after five minutes, you have the certificate or document in your pocket. Moreover, you can send your proxy to get this job done. You don't need to carry any document from your home to the ward office. Every document is there--in the government's vast data network. This is accessible from every ward office. Please note that the citizen is never asked to bring any previous receipt or document. It is the job of the government to check against its vast database that the statements made by the citizen are correct. As a citizen, I don't have to get my statements, documents and affidavits attested by a third person, because none of this nonsense is required to be carried. We in India make arrogant and pompous statements about our achievements; perhaps we should learn something from this little country, Japan. One thing we surely need to learn is to trust our own citizens, that, unless proven otherwise, he/she must be presumed to be telling the truth.

Now, back to Greater Kailash, New Delhi , where I spent my childhood and where I grew up and went to school. Why is it that whatever steps our governments take, whatever policies they make, nothing really seems to work.  Lots of new schemes are started with much fanfare, but the result is hardly visible. I can't even enjoy a walk to the market because there is no space on the sidewalk as cars are parked in all places. Everywhere in Greater Kailash, it looks like a huge junkyard of cars, leaving no space for people to walk. Similarly, the government's efforts in providing the two most essential things in life--clean air and water, leave much to be desired. Like fifty years ago, there is still only one hour of running water in the morning and one hour in the evening. If I do not get up at 6:00 in the morning and switch on the water motor to take water to the storage tank on the roof, that day becomes a dry day.

I applied to the DDA in March to get our house converted from leasehold to freehold. It has been six months and we are still nowhere. Finally, I got a letter from the DDA asking me to produce a 'No Dues' certificate from the co-op housing society. This certificate had already been submitted along with a host of other documents, some dating back to the early seventies. I mean, this is a joke. The DDA website proclaims that the process of application has been simplified and people can expect to get their work done really fast, and can even monitor the progress online. Well, I can actually monitor my file on the DDA website, except that there is no progress and the site shows the file has been sent to the Cooperative Societies Dept., where it is still languishing since March. The DDA took conversion charges of over six lakhs at the time of application. I have tried to follow up by going to the DDA many times, but these people are from another planet. We cannot communicate. They not only refuse to understand, they usually are outright rude or hostile to everyone, including me, a senior citizen.

Mr. Kejriwal, I know you started your political career on the promise of ridding the government of corruption and to provide a clean and citizen-friendly government. You have done a few things for the poor which I fully support. How about the middle-class people of Delhi who regularly face harassment from government bodies such as the DDA?

I know that a majority of flats/houses in Delhi are on a lease, and thereby cause considerable stress to owners. People want to convert their properties to freehold but the process and harassment by DDA/LDA is daunting and scares people away. As a person who does not shy away from taking such initiatives, I wish to suggest that as the CM of Delhi, you promulgate an ordinance stating the Delhi government is opening a window for three months wherein people who wish to get their properties converted to freehold can do so from 1 October to 31 December 2019 at a considerable discount. Property-owners can go to any PSU bank with their lease deed and a copy thereof, and pay conversion charges at the rate of Rs. 500 per square yard/meter for plots/houses, and a similarly worked out plan for leased flats. The PSU bank official can calculate the amount to be paid by looking at the lease deed which shows the actual area of plot/flat. The copy of the lease deed can be attached to the copy of the Freehold Payment Challan so generated and sent to the concerned government department by the bank. Life can be simple, like here in Japan, if you make it so.

The people of Delhi would be ever grateful to you for doing this, and will raise your stature to the level of a hero or a game-changer. If you announce this scheme in the next two weeks, you will surely be voted-in for a second time with a massive majority like the BJP government was in May of this year. Please keep it simple, Mr. Kejriwal.

The people in our democracy do not elect their representatives so that they can go and live in multi-acre palatial houses in Lutyens Delhi. They elect their representatives so that they can terminate the trappings of the imperial raj, democratize the babus and the bureaucracy, enhance the quality of life of everyone, and create conditions for a holistic development of society.

Thank you very much, Sir, for your kind attention to this issue.

Nichidai Bloggers students of Satish Tandon

Today is the last day of Spring semester at Nihon University. On Monday, July 29, I am going to fly back to New Delhi to be with my mother. I will spend four weeks in Delhi, however, it will be really hot. I will share with you some information about New Delhi on my return to Tokyo. Enjoy your vacation.