The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui spoke with veteran Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, who is out flogging a new book -- Descent into Chaos. Rashid believes the troubles of Afghanistan are tightly wound into the Gordian knot of Iran, central and south Asia.
It says that Afghanistan constitutes a worse crisis than Iraq. Not just because of the escalating violence (8,000 Afghans killed last year, and 1,800 so far this year; more NATO troops killed in May in Afghanistan than in Iraq) or the opium that finances the insurgency. Or the ineffective Hamid Karzai who presides over corruption, warlords and drug barons. Or the frightening rise of Taliban sanctuaries and sympathizers across the border in Pakistan.
Afghanistan affects the entire region. The turmoil in Pakistan is well-known. Problems are also brewing in the five Central Asian states, especially Uzbekistan, where a repressive dictatorship is battling (and feeding) a rising Islamic militancy, whose tentacles reach back into Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Central Asia is the new frontier for Al Qaeda." ...
What to do?
"You cannot deal with one country without dealing with the region.
"You cannot deal with Afghanistan without dealing with Pakistan.
"You cannot deal with Pakistan without dealing with India, without making India more amenable to dealing with Pakistani insecurities by dealing with the Kashmir issue or the Indian interference and influence in Afghanistan. The Pakistan military remains fearful of India's involvement in Afghanistan. They fear that Karzai may fall and they need their own proxies in Afghanistan (just as India and Iran have theirs) ...
"You cannot deal with the Iranian role in Afghanistan without dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue."
There is no military solution – not in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan and not in Iran.
"You need a multilateral diplomatic push on several fronts, all going on at the same time, along with a push for democracy, human rights and economic development throughout the region."