An Afghan Diary: Zahir Shah to Taliban by J N Dixit

 Be it an individual or a country, the proverbial “journey is as important as destination” holds true. A glimpse into a chronicle of a country’s journey offers phenomenal insights about its identities, ideologies, societal behaviour and its response to external and internal insurgencies. Historically, the first-hand accounts of travellers or ambassador of the medieval periods served as an important document to appreciate the state of affairs of a region or country. Though a vast repertories of various knowledge sources do exist in contemporary times, a chronicled diary of events by an ambassador of a host country does have a special significance in discerning the inherent complexities.

Sudden collapse of a democratic government in Afghanistan this year sent the World and especially the region into a tizzy. While the staggering events benumbed the millennials, analysts simply sighed and rued the repeat of history. The book by J N Dixit, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1981 to mid-1985, - “An Afghan Diary: Zahir Shah to Taliban” serves as an important handle to get a glimpse of travails the country has meandered. Acclaimed as the “grave yard of empires” the return of Taliban and the descent of the country into a morass of chaos isn’t a dramatic event as portrayed.

Afghanistan’s current trail of instability can be traced back to a ferment of political bickering and a spark of revolution that led to dislodging of the monarch King Zahir Shah in 1973, the successor of Nadir Shah. The political power play ever since, has deprived the country of a stable regime and witnessed the rise of many rulers who failed to restore peace.

Dixit’s book laid out into six chapters includes a brief prologue that delves into the forced ouster of Zahir Shah with dedicated chapters of diary noting on a daily and weekly basis spanning his four years of stay. The last chapter, which is added after many years is a post-script that details the sequences of events portending the bomb attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. Published in 2000, the book attempted to foresee the prospects for Afghanistan.

Written in simple English, the book records the crumbling of Afghanistan. The first and last chapters essentially distill through the geopolitical conundrum that afflicted the Afghanistan and the ominous Soviet presence in the region. This brief overview essentially satiates quest of a general reader for a comprehensive understanding of Afghanistan under Soviet invasion. An astute foreign policy wonk has to scrape through the diary records splashed across four chapters to appreciate the critical details.

Afghanistan has dominated the global headlines for ominous reasons. Unfortunately, the country is now identified with Islamist fundamentalism and global terrorism. Hence, the existence of political parties or a mass movement for reforms in Afghanistan in late 1960s till 1990s is just inconceivable. Indeed, the churn in Afghanistan had its roots in people’s desire to challenge the orthodoxy. The mass movement popular as Saur Revolution, led by Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) eventually paved way Soviet Army’s entry into the country on Dec 27^th 1979.

Dixit arrived in Afghanistan in 1981 when President Brezhnev controlled the Afghan administration through President Babrak Kamal of PDPA who was intensely loyal to Soviet high command. The Ambassador vividly records the brewing bitter resentment between two factions of PDPA- Khalq and Parcham which led to the collapse of the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). Khalq comprised of Pashtuns from the rural background while the semi-urban and Urban elite formed the Parcham faction.

With collapse of the Babrak Kamal’s government DRA became Republic of Afghanistan in 1986. The name over the course of time underwent multiple transitions, Afghanistan became Islamic Republic in 2004. With the return of Taliban to power on August 15^th, this year, Afghanistan is now renamed as Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. With every name change, Afghanistan reincarnated itself into a new form. Every new avatar brought forth a new constitution and a raft of new reforms.

Dixit’s stay spanning over four years records the administrative reforms, burgeoning Soviet penetration into ever branch of government under the presidencies of Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and Gorbachev. Unlike any analysis, the Diary entries being a first-hand account narrates the events as they unfolded without attaching any opinion to it.

Besides the domestic politics, Dixit’s Diary covers substantial ground on the nexus between the Pakistan and the US to evict the Soviet forces from Afghanistan. Wary of the Afghan nationalism, Pakistan began training the Afghan refugees in its territory to raise Mujahideen force. Pakistan offered shelter to the insurgents mostly the orthodox tribal clan who were at war with PDPA. Besides troops from Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya also joined the Mujahideen.

With the generous handouts from America, Pakistan not only filled its coffers but armed the Mujahideen that attacked the PDPA government and infiltrated Kashmir. Thus, the unending flow of US finances kept both Afghanistan and J&K on boil.

Indeed, the CIA brought Osama bin Laden to assist the Mujahideen operations against Russians. Osama a trained civil engineer was tasked with building bunkers and infiltration tunnels was later absorbed into Afghan Resistance Force.

Regionally Pakistan, US and China worked together. Dixit states that China trained Mujahideen troops in Southern Xinjiang province. The West in collaboration with Pakistan even prodded Zahir Shah living in Italy to establish government in exile and stake claims for Afghan regime.

Entry of Soviet troops has turned Afghanistan into a ground for Cold war power games. Aside the relentless ideological propaganda war Afghanistan faced diplomatic isolation. In fact, the western media started advocating “Islam is in danger” as a part of psychological warfare against Soviet. They extolled the virtues of Islamic orthodoxy and virtues. The World is now heaping consequences of this sinister agenda, which has provided staple to Islamist fundamentalism and menacing Jihad.  On the pretext of danger to Islam from communist forces, US and Pakistan defended their aggression against Afghanistan.

A calibrated policy to politically and diplomatically isolate Afghanistan was unleashed by the West and ably assisted by Pakistan. Contracts were broken, economic and technical assistance from the UN was suspended to Afghanistan. Baring East European countries, Soviet Union, India, Vietnam and PLO no other country maintained diplomatic missions in Afghanistan. Entire Muslim world led by Pakistan opposed Afghanistan. OIC passed resolution against Afghanistan at 1984 Casablanca summit.

Dixit’s duration of stay in Afghanistan was a period of intense turbulence in Afghanistan. The PDPA trying to fire fight external aggression of insurgents, Mujahideen and attempting to bring waring internal factions together, finally floundered under the burden of several contradictions. Around the same period, India reeled under the rising rebellion of armed Khalistanis with Pakistan providing the needed support and assistance.

Afghanistan and India shared similar views about Pakistan. Indeed, India always stood with Afghan people. In fact, walking a tightrope, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been little reticent of Soviet occupation on global platforms though bilaterally she pushed Soviet to withdraw forces from Afghanistan.

Being a chronological record of events, the diary, had a wide stock of information scattered across various chapters with parallel events running together. The task of piecing together, this information to make a cogent analysis has been left to the reader.

Dixit makes who no secret of his unabashed adoration of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi indeed dedicates the book to her. Baring the first and last chapter, the reader has to expend lot of time to get a hang of situation in Afghanistan. Clearly, the book is not for a general reading, but certainly piques interest of Afghanistan observers.

@ Copyrights reserved.