ISAS Briefs

The international community is set to meet again in London on 28 January 2010 to devise a new plan for the economic recovery and development of Afghanistan. The outcomes of the meeting will be analysed in a later brief by ISAS. This paper discusses how the continuing conflict in Afghanistan should be viewed and what countries with large Muslim populations in the Middle East and South Asia can do to save Afghanistan from edging closer to becoming a totally failed state. It is wrong and misleading to see the Afghan conflict in terms of a clash between two ideologies à la Huntington. It should be viewed instead as a case of relative deprivation of people who were once economically and politically powerful in the country. If the conflict has strong economic undercurrents then why seek a solution by suggesting that countries with large Muslim populations should step forward and save Afghanistan from totally collapsing? The reason for that presumably is the way the narrative of the conflict has been allowed to be shaped; it is being written in religious terms. Therefore a credible alternative may come from countries that can speak on behalf of the religion whose flag has been raised by the insurgents that seem to be winning at this time. The use of the term “countries with large Muslim population” is ostensibly for including India as well. It is critical to finding a lasting solution to a conflict that has gone on for more than three decades.