Dubai: As Grand Council chieftain of the Kuchis of Afghanistan, Hashmat Gani Ahmadzai is a tribal leader and politician at the centre of developments in Kabul.
During a recent visit to Dubai, Ahmadzai took time out from a busy schedule to talk exclusively with Gulf News about the proposed opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, and to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan.
Gulf News: How would you describe the situation in Afghanistan at present?
Hashmat Gani Ahmadzai: We are following two different paths. Our cities and villages are going in opposite directions. Hamid Karzai and his people are doing everything in their power to loot the country for their own ends to stay in power and he’s not doing anything for the Pashtun. At least there is good news now in the involvement of the [Gulf Cooperation Council] and Qatar is taking the lead with the opening of the Taliban office there. Western powers had taken the lead in Afghanistan, but did not have a full understanding of the history and culture of the people of Afghanistan.
The cities have a totally Western aspect whereas our villages, where most of the people in the country live, have been turning back to medieval times and we need to find a balance to bridge the country as a whole.
You can look at Afghanistan geographically as a country but you cannot call it a nation, because of the various different divisions. The GCC nations have a good understanding of the culture and tribal divisions in Afghanistan and understand what is going on.
Western nations and security forces would be opposed to talking to the Taliban.
I don’t think so. My understanding from most of my meeting with most of the generals is that they are careful enough not to come out in public and say that they would like to talk to the Taliban.
In the last two or three years you have seen too much opposition to Karzai in the western media. Now with this development in Qatar [with the proposed opening of a Taliban political office], the generals recognise that this could be an opportunity to remove Karzai gracefully from the scene without some sort of another civil war.
But Karzai is going to step aside in 2014?
Exactly. But if you look over the past several months he was trying to attempt to change the constitution. But he didn’t succeed, and he has made noise about bringing his brother into power, or some of his other cronies.
Would you welcome if [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar recognised the constitution? Would you welcome him if he ran for president?
I don’t think he is looking for that. I think that is too far ahead.
Most of the Taliban have started to represent the village element in Afghanistan that sees it deprived of culture, deprived of any sort of economic aid, that sees them unable to make a daily basic living. If the Taliban are to come in, it will not be a simple process of just shifting power. It will take time. All of the tribal culture has to be involved in this change.
What I have been hearing across the country in the past couple of months is that they are willing to back such a move.
Afghanistan is a very difficult place to understand and the GCC leaders have a long and deep understanding of the tribal culture in Afghanistan and can figure out what Afghanistan is all about. You don’t get that from reading a book or two.
What role can the UAE play?
The UAE can play a very solid role actually. The UAE can get involved and it has serious concerns, as do all in Afghanistan, about the way Iran is getting involved in trying to export its vision of religion, especially in the last 20 years.
The UAE has soldiers in Afghanistan and the UAE can support this initiative and the UAE does have an understanding of the Taliban. They had an embassy when they were in power and they should follow the example that Qatar has taken with the first step.
If the Afghanistan situation were to deteriorate it could have a severe impact on the Gulf and so, for that reason, the UAE needs to get involved.
Pakistan has put a lot of time, energy, resources and money into trying to ride their country of Taliban influence. How do you think Pakistan will react to Taliban political offices in Doha or in other GCC cities?
I think Pakistan will welcome the idea of an office in Doha as it relieve Pakistan of the direct pressure of dealing with the Taliban.
They are suffering just as much as Afghanistan is so I think they would welcome any outcome from a negotiating table of tribal leaders on both sides of the border and including the Taliban.
Western forces have expended a lot of time and energy in Afghanistan over the past decade. How realistic is it to expect that Afghanistan will be allowed to act as a free and sovereign nation?
It’s the economic situation that is the main problem in Afghanistan when you talk to people.
When the western leadership got involved in Afghanistan — and they got involved in a hurry — they looked for a temporary solution, that they would remove those elements, and they even looked to remove Karzai after a year or two. But he brought his cronies on board and that two years has become ten years.
When the west got involved in the Iraq war, they left Afghanistan pretty much on auto pilot and Karzai and his family found the perfect way to loot the country and do what they wished to do under the doctrine of the West. They have kept pressing Karzai for a cleaner government, cleaner ministries, for representation of all of the tribal areas. Even though on the face of it it looks like he is a Pashtun and so are a few ministers, realistically none of them represented any of the tribes or have any kind of background on it. When they run into trouble they run to the West for help.
Your security forces, despite training, remain woefully substandard.
Yes, and that is a mistake also.
Before, Afghanistan had a draft system and to change that and bring in a volunteer system is not really the right solution. You still don’t get involvement of every community.
When it’s a draft system, you have everyone involved and they have the confidence to back up a system like that. About $4 billion is needed for the payroll of the army and we don’t have that like they have in the West. The donor community has stopped funding that. And the only reason when people aged 16 or 17 are joining the army is the lack of real economic opportunity. They are going for the payroll, they are not going in to defend the country. It’s simply a job.
Where do you see Afghanistan in ten years?
Afghanistan is a country that has always based its survival on trade, on re-export.
If we do end up with a leadership — or even a collective leadership — I would hope that in two or three years it can work on its economic relationship with the GCC. They would bring their investment into our mines, and re-open Afghanistan as a hub for Pakistani, GCC and Western investments.
It is the economic situation that will change our future, not the political situation.
Everyone takes Afghanistan for granted, but for centuries, we have been doing trade and business. In 10 years, we can become a main hub on the silk route.
