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Pushtoon heartland still unsafe for Indians

With large bands of erstwhile Taliban cadre still sheltered in southern and eastern Afghanistan, anti-India sentiments are still rife in this Pushtoon heartland of Afghanistan and travel for any Indian in the region is almost a close brush with death.

Though common Pushtoons when confronted by Indians turn nostalgic about the centuries old historic ties with New Delhi, the ever lurking erstwhile Taliban and Al Qaeda elements amongst them, make sure that any bonhomie is short-lived and often open threats are held out to clear off the area.

Some Indian journalists who dared to undertake a perilous five-hour arduous journey from the Afghan capital to erstwhile Taliban stronghold of Kandahar described the travel as a'nightmare'.

"Though officially the Taliban may have thrown in the towel, their armed cadres still dominate the southern Pushtoon majority provinces like Gardez, Ghazni, Zabul Paktya, Helmand, Uzurgun right up to Kandahar making travel in the area extremely difficult for Indians, Europeans and Americans," the five Indian journalists said.

Even at Kandahar, where there is a sizeable American army presence, the Indian journalists after their harrowing encounters on the road had to seek intervention of Northern Alliance Governor Agha Gulsherzai, who posted his guards outside their hotel rooms.

But away from wary eyes of the Taliban and Al Qaeda cadres, the average Pushtoon was more than forthcoming and wanting revival of pre-partition traditional ties with India.

Community leaders wanted New Delhi to re-establish consular offices in Jalalabad and Kandahar, a practice which came to an end after the ouster of King Zahir Shah in 1973.

They blamed New Delhi cutting off contacts with the region post-Daud Khan regime and close proximity of the area to Pakistan for emergence of anti-India sentiments and forces like the Taliban.

A top commander of the region Mahmud Ahmedzai said, during their meeting with interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the tribal leaders - who are likely to play a key role in August's Loya Jirga - had pressed for reviving the proposal for a trade and transit treaty for allowing Afghans surface access to the Indian market.

Such a treaty, first proposed by the deposed King Zahir Shah, has over the decades been stoutly opposed by successive Pakistani regimes, who fear any growth of Indian influence in their backyard.

The proposed Afghan trade and transit treaty was on the lines of the one between New Delhi and Kathmandu, which gives the mountain-locked kingdom access to Indian seaports.

The temporary Indian Charge d' Affairs in Kabul, Azad Singh Toor, is a firm backer of opening more consular offices in Afghanistan. He said that embassy officials would soon undertake probing missions to Herat on the Iranian border and to Mazar-e-Sharif, the doorway to the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan.

He said reviving mission offices in Kandahar and Jalalabad was also on the cards and that the Indian government was waiting for things to stabilise in the Pushtoon heartland region before taking any concrete steps.

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