GUYANA AND AFGHANISTAN: LESSONS LEARNT

Oct 15, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Much has been written publicly and broadcast internationally about the decades of foreign military interventions and debacles in Afghanistan ending with the Saigon-style departure by US forces from Kabul following the swift assumption to power by the Taliban.
Because Guyanese are prone to be more preoccupied, and quite justifiable so, with jobs, ‘bread and butter’ issues and trying to ‘make ends meet’, they are likely to pay scant attention to developments in Afghanistan.
A tour d’horizon as regards the struggle for political democracy in some countries in Africa and Central Asia and Afghanistan, among others, would show some striking similarities with Guyana’s.
Thankfully, the Caricom region, to which Guyana belongs, unlike the regions where those countries are located, is not a hot bed of tension. On the contrary, the Caribbean is internationally recognised as a Zone of Peace.
Internally, the governments in some, if not most of those countries are guilty of gross violations of human rights. And much of the peoples’ suffering there is because of foreign interference and in some cases, corrupt and undemocratic regimes.
Guyana had its share of outside interventions in 1953 and the 1962-63 periods to thwart democratic rule followed by rigged elections to prop up a corrupt and authoritarian regime.
Take Afghanistan, for decades, it has been a pawn to big powers’ self-interests, however, now that the country appears to be on a path to self-determination, speculation is rife about the economic direction the Taliban would pursue.
Irrespective of the religious orthodoxies of the Taliban, it will be challenging for Afghanistan to avoid embracing a full-fledged market economy and by extension, global capitalism with all the internal political problems of transition from a semi-feudal, semi-capitalist economy with traditional social structures.
The Taliban’s declared intention to uphold Sharia laws will inevitably clash with what obtains in ‘western democracies’, their cultures and values invoking as it were, shades of Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’.
The Taliban’s firm grip on power can be understood through the prism of the following analysis by Karl Marx: ‘The class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time, its ruling intellectual force.’
The extant situation in Afghanistan couldn’t have been captured more succinctly. As the ‘ruling intellectual and material force’ in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s declared interest is to ensure Afghanistan’s populace is guided by its persistent religious ideology and philosophical orientation toward the past.
But the sum total of the Taliban’s world view is likely to be modernised in light of the changed international situation since the last time Taliban was in government. Even the Taliban’s traditionalist view in respect to the role and place of women and girls in Afghan society is likely to undergo changes. The international donor community has already put the Taliban on notice in this particular matter.
Afghanistan’s national territory comprises of 652,860 sq. kilometers. Almost six times the size of Guyana. The country has a population of 38.4 million while Guyana has fewer than a million people.
Ethnicity, caste, tribal and class distinctions play a big role in Afghanistan’s body politics.
Save for ethnic, caste and tribal factors, ethnicity and class are two factors that continue to influence social, political and economic life in Guyana. And just as ideological, cultural and religious persuasions play important roles in the evolution Afghanistan’s development so do they in Guyana.
Though the similarities between Guyana and Afghanistan are not highly pronounced, nevertheless, they are buttressed by other common factors.
Afghanistan like Guyana is rich in natural resources including huge deposits of lithium and cobalt, key components for the production of electric vehicle batteries; however, the country is highly dependent on foreign aid.
According to the World Bank, ‘Afghanistan’s economy is shaped by fragility and aid dependence. The private sector is extremely narrow with employment concentrated in low productivity agriculture. Private sector development and diversification is constrained by insecurity, political instability, weak institutions, inadequate infrastructure, widespread corruption and a difficult business environment.’
By 2019, Afghanistan received $4.2 billion in foreign aid accounting for 76 percent of GDP.
Where Guyana was in the 1980-1990 period, as one of the poorest countries in the Southern Hemisphere, is where Afghanistan is presently in 2021.
Afghanistan remains among the poorest countries in the world notwithstanding the billions poured into the country for a prolonged period of time and for a variety of reasons.
Gripped by an economic and financial crisis, the situation is compounded further by the freezing of US$1.2 billion including €100 million in promised aid by the donor community and international financial institutions. Worse yet, the IMF suspended Afghanistan’s access to the bank’s resources.
Also, 80 percent of Afghanistan’s previous $5.5 billion budget was financed by external assistance. The Taliban has already declared it will reject aid with strings attached.
While Guyana never experienced a similar situation, it is to be recalled that in the run-up to the 1990 election, eight US Congressmen and six senators wrote separate letters to the State Department requesting that US aid be tied to free and fair elections. This was followed by resolutions and statements in the US Congress seeking to block aid to Guyana for the fiscal years 1990-1991 and for 1992-1993, if the 1992 election was not free and fair.
Like Guyana, in the 1974-1976 periods, Afghanistan had a brief episode in the search for a political solution between 2014 and 2017. The aim was to bridge the ethnic-political divide. The attempt failed because of ethnic domination of one group over another and allegations of corruption.
Following the 2014 election in Afghanistan, two major political formations representing the Pashtun and non-Pashtun ethnic groups claimed victory. Efforts by the Obama administration to find a political solution to establish a multi-ethnic inclusive government instead of parallel governments collapsed, since the constitution did not provide for a power sharing arrangement.
The results of the election proved that Afghans are divided by ethnic, caste and tribal factors.
This was compounded by the fact that Afghans chose to vote for individual candidates rather than an electoral system based on Proportional Representation, which they claim, would have given rise to strong central government comprising mainly of the Pashtun tribe, to the exclusion of the majority non-Pashtuns.
The end result was a weak government with disagreements and bickering over the powers the CEO/Prime Minister, ministerial appointments, the principles of governance as well as policy formulation and implementation.
In Guyana, attempts in 1961 to bring together the PNC with the PPP failed. Later, efforts in February 1964 to find a political solution by establishing a PPP/PNC unity government collapsed. And in 1968, a PNC/UF coalition government crumbled because of disagreements over leadership issues, ministerial appointments and corruption.
Attempts at unity government in Afghanistan failed due to claims of ethnic domination and centralisation of power and rejection of calls for multi-ethnic inclusivity and decentralisation of power to check the untrammeled power of the president.
Pledges to initiate constitutional and electoral reform to facilitate a more inclusive government were never fulfilled.
With Taliban now in government, they have announced their intention to embark on constitutional and electoral reform, which they claim will facilitate an inclusive government.
Over the years, Guyanese have been engaging in discussion concerning constitutional and electoral reform.
Some feel that we must move away from the PR electoral system and revert to First Past the Post. The debate continues.

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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