Reading the Af-Pak Narrative, from the US Disengagement to Russian Re-Engagement

A Dhaka

doi:10.18611/2221-3279-2017-8-4-60-72

Abstract

The US has prolonged its stay in Afghanistan with the security situation remaining far from improving. The indefatigable demand for resources to maintain counter-insurgency operations was a major debate in 2016 US Presidential elections with a demand for an earlier withdrawal from America’s trillion dollars plus war effort. Russians having sensed the weakening of the US infl uence warmed upto the idea of new Afghan situation involving Taliban and their masters, the Pakistan army. Russia had experienced vulnerabilities of Islamisation in Central Asia and Caucasus, and the ISIS brand radicalisation added to the fear of political destabilisation of Central Asian states. The Islamic State showed up in Afghanistan and Pakistan as ISIS-Khorasan branch. Russia needed Pakistan as an ally to fi ght Daesh’s presence on its southern periphery. However, there remained many intertwined security challenges that complicate the South Asian geopolitics, especially, the Af-Pak region. Russia’s Taliban policy might be the hitherto unused leverage that it might be using in order to strike balance all along the shatter belt.

Highlights

The trilateral summit held in December 2016 in Moscow dwelling upon the security situation in Afghanistan expressed heightened concern from the stake holders working with the Kabul government
Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, himself an Afghan war veteran, said that the failure of the West to improve the political climate of Afghanistan might prompt Russia to act unilaterally in the interest of Central Asian Republics, who were threatened by Taliban offensive in the north, esp., Kunduz, Mazar-I Sharif region
Taliban as a legitimate political movement could not be dissociated from its ontology

Summary

Introduction

The trilateral summit held in December 2016 in Moscow dwelling upon the security situation in Afghanistan expressed heightened concern from the stake holders working with the Kabul government. Russia worked with India and Iran in thwarting Taliban in 1990s when there was serious threat to the minorities in northern Afghanistan and their further incursions into the neighbouring Central Asian republics.

Results

Conclusion