Dmitry Litvinovich: The list of peacemakers goes on

The list of the countries ready to participate in the fate of post-war Afghanistan is expanding, as India has been added. The UN’s variant Six plus Two does not seem to be fitting now.

India’s premier announced about his plans on Sunday during a ceremony that was devoted to the 200th crowning anniversary of one of India’s Maharaja. “The history of relations between the people of India and Afghanistan is over 500 years old, and it has recently been darkened due to the Taliban regime in Kalub. After Kabul and Kandagar have been liberated, then it became evident that India must participate in the post-war organization of Afghanistan,” – the Indian premier declared.

The end of the Taliban regime will also assist in the soonest possible return of the Indian people to Afghanistan, those Indians who used to live there but had to leave due to the beginning of the military actions in the country. Afghanistan nowadays is like Germany after the end of the World War II. It was then divided into several sections and, as the history showed, that was not a good decision to make. One may assume that the same is going to happen to Afghanistan. Each country that is interested in its future has its own interests in this or that respect, and these interests are presumably far from what the Afghan people would actually wish for.

India is congested, so the thing that this country definitely needs is territory. India has been waging a long war with Pakistan for Jamma and Kashmir. Pakistan used to have all levels to manage the economy when the Taliban was a ruling movement so it is not good for it to lose the control in the current situation. The goals for the USA and Great Britain include an oil pipeline and, of course, constant military presence in the region. Former Soviet Asian republics want to have stability on their borders and more capacity to influence on the politics in the country with the help of the ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks. To get rid of Moscow’s influence would be ideal for them. The interests of Russia and Iran are almost the same and, in this situation, it would be better to strengthen this union, taking into consideration the fact that this contradicts Washington’s politics. Time will tell what will happen in the long run.

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

AP photo: Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, leads the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, right, outside Downing Street in London, Monday, Nov. 12