Failure of both Pakistan and Afghanistan to incorporate the Pashtuns into state structures and the economic and political fabric has compromised the security of both countries, says a new book.
Most contemporary accounts of the instability gripping Afghanistan and Pakistan have argued that violent Islamic extremism, including support for the Taliban and related groups, is either rooted in Pashtun history and culture, or finds willing hosts among their communities on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
In "The Pashtuns: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan", journalist Abubakar Siddique sets out to demonstrate that the failure, or even unwillingness, of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to absorb the Pashtuns into their state structures and to incorporate them into economic and political fabric is central to these dynamics, and a critical failure of nation-and state-building in both states.
He argues that religious extremism is the product of these critical failures and that responsibility for the situation lies to some degree with the elites of both countries.
The author, a Pashtun himself, says that some 50 million Pashtuns have paid a steep price over the past 30 years due to such flawed analyses.
"The Taliban and allied extremist movements, as well as regional states and Western powers, have used violence in a bid to mould the Pashtun lands to their liking. Their attempts have left behind a legacy of misery and mistrust, and contributed to the creation of a resourceful and committed enemy, the Taliban. The West's political goals for the region, meanwhile have remained unfulfilled," he writes in the book, published by Random House India.
"I have sought to show that the often extraordinary great power intervention in the Pashtun borderlands - and their focus on the Taliban as primarily a militant threat - have only prolonged the crisis. I have tried to show how regional states have fallen short in making the Pashtun homeland a bridge for transnational cooperation.
"And I have sought to demonstrate that regional extremism, mainly manifested in the Taliban and allied movements, is to a large degree a product of all these critical failures. Above all, however, I have tried to show that the main factor behind the rise of Islamic radicals such as the Taliban is the lack of development and stability in the Pashtun homeland," Siddique says.
The book attempts to explain the rise of Taliban, their contemporary behaviour, strategic vision and potential future.
Siddique says that after the departure of NATO-led forces, Afghans face a stark choice: either they will find a way to resolve their differences or the country is likely to descend once more into civil war.
