In principle, Malaysia should contribute and participate in any United Nations peacekeeping force in Afghanistan but the Cabinet should be extra-careful before committing a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan as there must be “peace” to keep and not “war” or “wars” to be waged.
Although in the space of about a week, the Taliban has gone from controlling 90% of Afghanistan, including almost all its towns and cities, to holding almost none, the war is far from over in Afghanistan.
The United States has dropped hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bombs only to create a power vacuum and bring about the re-emergence of warlordism, with Afghanistan threatening to slide back into the early days of the 1992-94 civil war, when at least 50,000 people died as armed ethnic gangs fought each other for Kabul, turning most of the city into a wasteland of bombed-out houses and rubble.
While the United Nations is racing against time to establish a viable multi-ethnic, broadbased coalition government, Northern Alliance leader and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani has entered Kabul and re-enthroned himself as the legitimate head of state, declaring that while Zahir Shah was welcome to return to Afghanistan, he could do so only as a private citizen, not as a king; and the British, who had intended to deploy 6,000 troops in Kabul, given notice that British forces are not welcome as they have never been invited.
Is there a role for any UN peace-keeping force if Afghanistan degenerates into same murderous anarchy, chaos, factional fighting and division that paved the way for the Taliban's rise in the last decade?
(19/11/2001)