The Great Game in Afghanistan continues

For

In the nine teenth century t h ere was an o n-going tussle between two gr eat Europeru1 powers - Britain and Russiain A(e;ha.ni stan The third country involved was C hina, then weak and battered by European nations w h ich bad extracted trading areas in Sha nghai. However, Britain and Russia conceded that China had suzerainty over Tibet. Nicknamed the 'Great Game', it was fictionalised b y Ru dyard Kipling in his novel Ki111 which w as tw ic e made into films

There was then no \Xfestem aim to interfere with ei ther the culture or the goverrun ental structure of Afghanistan. However, the British meticulously studied Afghan culture and gazetteers on the tribes in A fghanis tan an d the ne ighbouring r onh West Frontier Province were published.

Britain's aim was to block Ru ssia from access to the lndian subco n tinent, much of which had been subdued b)' the British. India was then a collection of British provinces and Indian princely scares under Britis h p rotec ti on. considered Afgh anistan to be i ts exclusive domain and on ce even moored a merger of the two n ations: and (5) India, whi ch has n o military involvement in Afghanis tan bm has strong development and cultural ties.

T o the above we n eed to add Afgh anistan itself. During the 19'h century Great Game, Afghanistan was weak, although because of its mountainous terrain it could create trouble for any invader. rn the 21 " century Great Ga.me, it zealous ly guards its independence and even co nsiders the border area w it h Pakistan which was denomi11a.ted by the British as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) as its own It has predominantly Afghan people including some three million Afghan refugees.

Afghans have a deep-seared relationship w ith Indi a. Kn own as Pa.tha.ns, Afghans are found i n almost every city in India. In some areas they have settled for cenmries such as in Gujarat, Ra.jasthan and Punjab. They a.re also found in clusters in Bihar. They came as warrio rs and small merchants and sett.led down with their families

''There are also Afghan single men who come without their fa m ilies to earn a living as travelling salesmen. Rabi.ndranatl1 Tagore's fan1ous sto r y !G/)1//iiJJa!"

During the 19th century Great Game, Afghanistan was weak, although because o f its

Rus sia desired this access whilst aimi ng to s afeguard i ts expansion into the Turkisbspeaking areas to the north of che s ubco n tinent in

(m ade i.nto a Bengali film byTapanSinhain 1957) concerns one such individual. \Xlh en tl1e Taliban government was overthrown tl1roug h US intervention, lndia. sent a p lane n ot wi th food and medicines as mountainous terrain it could create trouble for any other nations had done, but loaded wi tl1 discs of music and films so tl1at the people o f Afghanistan c ould once what was vagu el y known as "Turkestan". The reg ion was later demarcated into several invader. '' agai n en joy the creations of Bol1 ywood. The Taliban had forb idden playing and Listening to light music.

Soviet republics w hich have now become th e independent nations of Kazakhs tan , Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, T aj ikistan and Uz bekistan. Within these indepe ndent republics, a stro ng Ru ss ian influence continues to prevails.

Afghanistan has strategic i mportance as it lies along the corridor b etween the subco ntin ent and central Asia. It is tluough th e passes in its high and dry moumains tl1at invading armie s bave histo ric ally moved i nto the ve rdant lands of India and Pakistan.

Historians speculate tl1at the Aryans migrated abou t 5000 years ago from n orthern Asia. Much later, the Greeks established kingdoms in these mountains and in the adjoining lowlands of the Indu s valley The Mon gol -Tartar s fol1owed from Cen tral Asia and set up the Moghul Empire (l\foghul is tl1e Indian word for Mongol).

Th e Great Grune of the 21" cenmry is radically different from thar of the 19' h century. Severa.I powers are involved: (1) Russi.a th.rough its aUies w it hin J\fghanistan and its proxies in the neighbouring central Asian republics; (2) the USA with its NATO allies and Aus tralia; (3) a powerful and resurgent China; (4) Pakistan which has

The Prime Jvlinisrers of India and Afghanistan have had frequent contact. India signed a strategic partnership treaty with Afghanistan in 201 1. India has given massive aid (2 billion dollars) to help fund highways and build a new patliament building

The new Great Game in Afghanistan has morphed from being a military incursion inte nded to rem ove tl1e A.I Qaeda and the Taliban from power, to fighting a culmral war. lo the 19'" century neither tl1e British nor the Russ ians atte m pted to pro m ote cultural change. Such change has been looked upo n by extremists as an affront to tl1eir cenmries o ld tradi tions. D emocracy had been non-existent in Afghanistan till now. Ratl1er, watlo rd do mains were the order of the clay Female ed ucation and the rights of women were unheard of

The future will depend upon the outco m e of the war between modernisation and tradition Similar wars were fought in 19'h century Japan and in a different way in 2o•h century China. India is still encoun tering similar problems In a va riety o f ways, espec iall y in its re m ote areas