Afghan leader looking to Russia for assistance

By JEAN MacKENZIE

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

KABUL, Afghanistan — History has a funny way of repeating itself in Afghanistan.

Back in the 19th century, a wily Afghan emir, dissatisfied by the level of support being offered by his British ally, turned to his Russian neighbors for support.

That gambit set off years of fighting between the British and Russian empires, a conflict that became known as The Great Game, and turned Afghanistan into a bloody battlefield.

Something similar may be occurring now, with President Hamid Karzai, apparently disillusioned by the level of assistance he’s receiving from the West in general and the United States in particular, once again looking toward Russia for support.

Karzai’s disappointment first became evident in June after he returned from a donor’s conference in Paris. The Afghan president was clearly in a bellicose mood after apparently being told that Western nations were no longer willing to present him with a blank check to support his regime.

And despite its recent commitment to send an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, the Obama administration has made it clear that it is dissatisfied with Karzai’s performance.

In November, Karzai quietly sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. While Karzai was not willing to share the content, he was more than happy to leak the response he received from Medvedev.

According to the Karzai administration, the Russian president’s message was full of assurances of friendship and offers of cooperation on defense.

Karzai has been quick to capitalize on Russia’s renewed interest in Afghanistan, telling graduates of the National Military Academy last month that “if the United States does not help us, we will ask other countries for planes and tanks.” While not naming his new partner, most observers believe he was referring to Russia.

Within days, the Afghan Ministry of Defense was announcing that a delegation could soon be traveling to Moscow.

Karzai’s overtures to Moscow have alarmed many here.

“Whenever Afghan leaders have a problem with the West, they turn to Russia, and vice versa,” said Habibullah Rafi, of the Afghan academy of sciences.

“When Daoud Khan was prime minister in the 1960s, he repeatedly asked Western countries for military cooperation, but they did not respond,” he said. “So he turned to the Soviet Union.” Daoud Khan prided himself on his ability to juggle the superpowers, deriving benefit from both. “I am happiest when I can light my American cigarettes with Russian matches,” he was often quoted as saying.

Soviet invasion

Ultimately, of course, the entire country went up in flames when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Russia has recently indicated it intends to become more engaged in the region. Earlier this month, it sealed a multi-billion dollar loan deal with nearby Kyrgyzstan in exchange for that country’s decision to evict a critical U.S. air base. Washington had been counting on that facility to help supply the increased number of troops in Afghanistan.

Many here who remember the years spent battling Soviet forces and the civil war that followed are not anxious to see their country turned into a superpower battleground once more.

“We lost everything because of these military (rivalries),” said Ehsanullah, of Kabul. “We do not want to get caught in these games again.”

X Jean Mackenzie is program director in Afghanistan for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization in London that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.