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A suicide bombing site in Kabul, September, 2006. Many Afghans believe Pakistan is behind Taliban-perpetrated violence (Reuters photo). |
Some bombs are left in bags on a crowded street, wrapped up neatly like gifts from a friend. Others are delivered by taxi drivers who remain blissfully ignorant as their suicidal passenger looks for a passing army convoy.
These are the things Afghans talk about, the fear of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. And they often blame their neighbor for the death that awaits.
"Who is our enemy? Pakistan is our enemy. Pakistan doesn't want kids to have an education, they don't want people to be literate, they don't want us to have a brighter future," Zuhoor Afghan, a spokesman at the Ministry of Education told me earlier this year.
"We will never accept money from Pakistan. If we were dying of thirst and they tried to give us one drop of water, we would not accept it because we believe in that one drop of water there would be poison," he added.
Many Afghans despise George W. Bush and Tony Blair. A growing number also use swear words before spitting out the name of Hamid Karzai, their own president. But the government they reserve their worst vitriol for, lies to the east and it is one of America's closest allies in the so-called war on terror.
Pakistan's "Two Faces"
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"If there is no Pakistan, there is no war."
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Enayat Aman, an Afghan-born security contractor, summed it up nicely. "Mr. Bush knows very well that Pakistan has two faces," he told me. "To your face they say I am your friend, but behind your back they send people here.
"If the border of Pakistan is closed, not one bullet will be fired in Afghanistan because my people have seen war for 25 years and they do not want to fight. They have their home, they have their religion, they have their mosques — whyshould they fight? If there is no Pakistan, there is no war."
This kind of animosity dates back to an agreement Afghanistan reluctantly signed with British-run India in 1893. The deal later formed the basis of the border with Pakistan, but it has never been accepted here.
Age-old tensions are fuelled by the growing violence now engulfing this side of the divide. Suicide bombings have become a regular occurrence in Kabul and the Taliban are stronger than at any other time since the US-led invasion.
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, met this week with his Afghan and American counterparts to discuss the insurgency. What followed was wearily predictable: He denied letting the militants regroup and hurled the accusation straight back at Karzai.
Bush just tried to keep both men happy, which meant nothing obvious was achieved.
It has always been like this and the people suffering most are growing increasingly frustrated. Since I began reporting from Afghanistan in August 2005, virtually everyone I have interviewed about the war has claimed their neighbor is orchestrating events.
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"The Taliban get money from Pakistan and some Arab countries. All the income of Afghanistan is less than the budget of the Taliban."
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By the time of our meeting earlier this summer, General Abdul Rahman Sarjang had survived seven assassination attempts in his three years as Ghazni police chief. And he had no doubt who was trying to kill him.
"The Taliban get money from Pakistan and from some Arab countries. All the income of Afghanistan is less than the budget of the Taliban," he said.
"And they have very modern equipment. We found the dead body of one Talib who had a Kalakov [gun]. Even in our army we don't have them. He also had a very good motorbike and a satellite telephone."
Asked why he was willing to risk his life, he replied, "I am the enemy of Pakistan; that's why I do my job."
Dangerous Terrain
The terrain along Afghanistan's eastern border is some of the most hostile and dangerous in the world. It is not controlled by the government, the US Army, or NATO, but by Pashtun tribesmen who live according to a strict code of honor.
Paktika province lies along this frontier and its residents say their neighborhood is a hive of insurgent activity.
Mir Afzal, a tribal leader, told me, "There are three types of people who are fighting us. The first type are Afghan Talibs who have been staying in Pakistan and studying in madrassas. The second type are Arabs, Chechens, and Uzbeks, who are fundamentalist Muslims. The third type are Pakistanis and Al-Qaeda.
| Pakistan's intelligence agency is training Taliban insurgents, says the Afghan Interior Ministry. |
"We have evidence that it's the Pakistani government [who is training these people]. Commandos of Pakistan have attacked our area and we have captured them. We have their dead bodies and they are wearing army uniforms."
Islamabad vehemently denies supporting the insurgents. It has often sent troops to fight militants on its side of the border and Musharraf has survived repeated assassination attempts by Islamic extremists.
But the feeling persists that Pakistan has undue influence here. With the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan was one of only three nations to officially recognize the old Taliban government. Afghans widely believe that support must still exist at some level within the current administration.
Then there is the growing friendship between Afghanistan and India. Musharraf has already accused the two of forming an alliance against his country. Peace here would surely just strengthen that bond.
US special forces are known to have operated inside Pakistan’s Waziristan area, most notably launching a missile strike on a village earlier this year. The attack killed a number of civilians and some alleged Al-Qaeda members. However, America does have an agreement with Islamabad not to conduct missions over the border.
In his Kabul office, Major General Abdul Manan Farahi, the Interior Ministry's counter-terrorism chief, put a DVD into his computer and sat back to watch it. What followed was footage of militants running in units of three across some barren terrain. One man fired his gun into empty space, another launched a rocket-propelled grenade at nothing in particular.
Major General Farahi switched off the slick production and told me it was just a fraction of the evidence he has to show insurgents are openly training over the border.
"People are crossing every day from Pakistan and this is specifically planned by the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's military intelligence agency] and the Pakistani army. Other countries are also causing problems in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism, but Pakistan is the worst," he said.
"I have got some documents that show the ISI is training them even now. They are being trained by Pakistanis. I know some exact centers where the Taliban are being trained for suicide attacks.
"They are inside Pakistan, in Quetta, in Karachi. The majority of Al-Qaeda are in Karachi. Some people in the Pakistani government are friends with very famous members of Al-Qaeda."
Major General Farahi was certain of that, but he was decidedly less sure about what America and her allies are doing to tackle the problem.
"I don't know what their tactics are," he said. "They are not listening to us."
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