Soviet Union left Afghanistan in dignified manner: Fatemi

Islamabad:Former Foreign Secretary Tariq Fatemi has said that the opportunities offered by Taliban take-over in Afghanistan are accompanied by dangers of instability as well because the situation in Afghanistan could go either way.

Mr Fatemi was speaking at a seminar on ‘Post-Taliban takeover situation in Afghanistan,’ organised by Institute of Regional Studies here Monday. Mr Fatemi said that the prospects of peace and stability in Afghanistan offered tremendous opportunities to Pakistan. He was of the view that the Soviet Union had left Afghanistan in a more dignified manner than the Americans. He added that while the government installed by the Soviets had survived three years after their departure, the government installed by the Americans vanished while they had not even finished their departure from the country.

He said that the responsibility for the failure in Afghanistan rested entirely on the shoulders of the Americans. Another former Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua stated that the last Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was against negotiation with the Taliban until the end but was the first to leave the country as soon as they entered the capital. This, she argued, showed the level of his concern for the best interests of the people of his country.

She further opined that the Taliban had shown a considerable maturity and sense of responsibility since taking over Kabul. She said that they were fully cooperating with the international community and it was too early to judge them on their policies towards women and other human rights-related concerns. She was of the view that since the international focus was on Afghanistan, it was essential to guard against misleading media narratives of vested interests.

Former diplomat Ayaz Wazir argued that the international community needed to realise that Afghan culture was different from Western culture and that women’s rights had to be in accordance with the local cultural norms. He further stated that while the Americans were blaming the Afghans for corruption, the Americans serving in Afghanistan were more corrupt than the Afghans because most of the US funds went to American contractors instead of Afghans. He was of the view that the Taliban were taking time in announcing a government because they were trying their level best to have an inclusive government more readily acceptable to the people of Afghanistan. He said that former Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a better politician and statesman than Ashraf Ghani.