Afghanistan has always been a territory that various world powers have found easy to enter in but very hard to leave. First it was the British in the nineteenth century, then the Soviet Russia during the cold war and recently it was the US after 26/11, that met with more or less the same fate in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Rashid‘s book ‘Pakistan On The Brink’ focuses on the instability in Afghanistan caused by actors in Pakistan. The initial essay which starts with a story of an operation planned in a base camp in Afghanistan soon takes us to Pakistan. In the following essays, the author takes us to the White House, Kuwait, Kabul and also to a small village in Germany where the most important diplomacy took place between Americans and the Afghan Taliban in utmost secrecy. Rashid‘s book is an amalgamation of nine such informative essays which deal with nine themes or nine facets of a the Afghan problem, roots of which lie in Pakistan. These themes are based on the Afghanistan-Pakistan relations and various powers involved in the region.
The book starts with the enthralling account of Bin Laden‘s encounter by the US navy SEALs. In this captivating account, many minute and widely unknown details of the operation are produced by the author. Elimination of Osama bin Laden wasn‘t just a military achievement but it was also the objective that US had before itself. If Americans achieved their objective by terminating Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, then why did they take so long to leave the region? What was the rationale behind the decisions of the decision-making circles in US? Were Pakistani officials really unaware? What were the imperatives that resulted in surge of troops which was in fact contradictory to what President Obama had promised during his campaign? The book deals with such fundamental questions.
Americans learned the hard way that their old ally- Pakistan, had strategic interests in Afghanistan and many of which were exactly opposite to that of US interests in the region. The Pakistani leadership has been double-dealing with the Taliban and US. Consequently, both are losing confidence in the Pakistani establishment. One could say that the Pakistani military leadership takes the word ̳brinkmanship‘ rather casually. The book discusses deterioration of the CIA-ISI relationship from great Cold War cooperation to intense dislike and distrust.
One cannot talk about Afghanistan without referring to Pakistan, because most of the security issues in Afghanistan originate in Pakistan. The author devotes a great deal of attention to the internal schisms in Pakistan. The role of military and ISI in shaping of the Pakistan foreign policy has also been touched upon. Ahmed Rashid argues that the Pakistan has used Afghanistan to gain the so called ̳strategic depth‘- which necessitated the state of Pakistan to at least have a friendly neighbour whereas a puppet government in Afghanistan would give Pakistan a virtual control over the state. This was aimed at defending the Islamic Pakistan from a Hindu India. A perceived threat within the military establishment nurtures a sense of perpetual insecurity which in turn leads to a quest for acquisition of more and more power in the region. This pursuit of power has backfired in case of Pakistan and has had more devastating effects on Pakistan itself.
Rashid draws our attention to some reasons behind the continuing fall of Pakistan as a state. An important factor perpetuating Pakistan‘s fragility is the inability of its ethnic groups to find a working balance with each other. The provinces in Pakistan have always been at odds with one another. Therefore it is difficult for Pakistan to form a coherent national identity capable of uniting the nation. But, It has time and again meddled with the identity conflicts faced by its neighbours.
There is a civilian-military divide. No civilian leader could tame the military leadership and an enlightened military leader has never tried to change the status quo because there is an internal resistance from within the military establishment to any reforms which would strengthen civilian rule or empower democratic institutions.
The author also argues that Pakistan has become an ̳abnormal state‘ for it relies more and more on the non-state actors in the pursuit of its strategic and economic objectives. It uses Islamic militants and Jehadis along with its other instruments of state policy such trade and diplomacy. These factors make Pakistan the most volatile region on earth. These are the reasons why it has not developed as a cohesive state and as a democracy.
What is different about this book is the author‘s ability to provide a solution to the problem and his solution is not in favour of any particular state but in fact it seeks to stabilize the region. Also, the book gives us good insight into the decision making in White House. The author elaborates on the differences of opinion within the Obama administration and also talks about the views of US military and their influence on decision making. Another distinguishing characteristic of the book is the first hand experiences of the author and other such insider‘s accounts on various secret international deliberations.
It‘s certainly a good book for those interested in Area Studies, International Affairs, Foreign Policy, students of Strategic Studies and for Security enthusiasts. It might also interest those who study identity politics. The book is one of the three-book series written by the author. Ahmed Rashid is a Lahore based journalist and a columnist. It is a compilation of observations of a journalist who had a good access to all centres of power in the region. His personal interactions with presidents of Afghanistan and of US and his evaluation of these leaders is based on his nuanced knowledge of the domestic politics of each country. He knows the politics within a particular administration and that makes all the difference. After all, Foreign Policy of nation is a reflection of its domestic politics.
For Indians, especially, the book is highly suggested. The variety of issues and themes handled by the author gives us a clearer idea of the complexities of problems in the region. Knowing your neighborhood is of great importance in policy making and this book tells us what India‘s a neighbour have at the core of their national interests.
