The Great Game in Afghanistan continues

BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

In the nineteenth century there was an on-going tussle between two great European powers – Britain and Russia –in Afghanistan. The third country involved was China, then weak and battered by European nations which had extracted trading areas in Shanghai. However, Britain and Russia conceded that China had suzerainty over Tibet. Nicknamed the ‘Great Game’, it was fictionalised by Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim which was twice made into films.

There was then no Western aim to interfere with either the culture or the governmental structure of Afghanistan. However, the British meticulously studied Afghan culture and gazetteers on the tribes in Afghanistan and the neighbouring North West Frontier Province were published.

Britain’s aim was to block Russia from access to the Indian subcontinent, much of which had been subdued by the British. India was then a collection of British provinces and Indian princely states under British protection.

Russia desired this access whilst aiming to safeguard its expansion into the Turkishspeaking areas to the north of the subcontinent in what was vaguely known as “Turkestan”. The region was later demarcated into several Soviet republics which have now become the independent nations of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Within these independent republics, a strong Russian influence continues to prevails.

considered Afghanistan to be its exclusive domain and once even mooted a merger of the two nations: and (5) India, which has no military involvement in Afghanistan but has strong development and cultural ties.

To the above we need to add Afghanistan itself. During the 19th century Great Game, Afghanistan was weak, although because of its mountainous terrain it could create trouble for any invader. In the 21st century Great Game, it zealously guards its independence and even considers the border area with Pakistan which was denominated 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-seated relationship with India. Known as Pathans, Afghans are found in almost every city in India. In some areas they have settled for centuries such as in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. They are also found in clusters in Bihar. They came as warriors and small merchants and settled down with their families.

There are also Afghan single men who come without their families to earn a living as travelling salesmen.

During the 19th century Great Game, Afghanistan was weak, although because of its mountainous terrain it could create trouble for any invader.

Afghanistan has strategic importance as it lies along the corridor between the subcontinent and central Asia. It is through the passes in its high and dry mountains that invading armies have historically moved into the verdant lands of India and Pakistan.

Historians speculate that the Aryans migrated about 5000 years ago from northern Asia. Much later, the Greeks established kingdoms in these mountains and in the adjoining lowlands of the Indus valley. The Mongol-Tartars followed from Central Asia and set up the Moghul Empire (Moghul is the Indian word for Mongol).

The Great Game of the 21st century is radically different from that of the 19th century. Several powers are involved: (1) Russia through its allies within Afghanistan and its proxies in the neighbouring central Asian republics; (2) the USA with its NATO allies and Australia; (3) a powerful and resurgent China; (4) Pakistan which has

Rabindranath Tagore’s famous story Kabuliwala (made into a Bengali film by Tapan Sinha in 1957) concerns one such individual.

When the Taliban government was overthrown through US intervention, India sent a plane not with food and medicines as other nations had done, but loaded with discs of music and films so that the people of Afghanistan could once again enjoy the creations of Bollywood. The Taliban had forbidden playing and listening to light music.

The Prime Ministers of India and Afghanistan have had frequent contact. India signed a strategic partnership treaty with Afghanistan in 2011. India has given massive aid (2 billion dollars) to help fund highways and build a new parliament building.

The new Great Game in Afghanistan has morphed from being a military incursion intended to remove the Al Qaeda and the Taliban from power, to fighting a cultural war. In the 19th century neither the British nor the Russians attempted to promote cultural change. Such change has been looked upon by extremists as an affront to their centuries old traditions. Democracy had been non-existent in Afghanistan till now. Rather, warlord domains were the order of the day. Female education and the rights of women were unheard of.

The future will depend upon the outcome of the war between modernisation and tradition. Similar wars were fought in 19th century Japan and in a different way in 20th century China. India is still encountering similar problems In a variety of ways, especially in its remote areas.