As we said before, beneath the surface, we have “invisible string pullers” or an “invisible government” running everything on the world scene. But on the surface, it is about the “Great Game” between London and Moscow. And at the heart of the “Great Game” is Afghanistan and control over it. Both London and Moscow seek control over Afghanistan, and as it appears, control of Afghanistan is the core objective or main goal in this “Great Game” between London and Moscow. It is also worth noting that London and Moscow are still the main protagonists or antagonists in this “Great Game” even though Beijing wields military and economic superiority over Moscow.
In a sense, India is insulated by Afghanistan, given that Afghanistan has always insulated India from Western and Russian advances because the Afghans were always the ones who fought off their advances and assumed the front line of the battle per se. But why Afghanistan? Why is Afghanistan the core objective or main goal of both Western and Russian foreign policy? For one, Afghanistan appears to be an Orientalist dream. Culture, money, religion, and sex all converge upon Afghanistan to make it an Orientalist dream. There is a history of British women and wives of American contractors sleeping with their Afghan or Indian gardener. But of course, lots of money is involved as well. Just the Afghan drug trade alone is the most lucrative business and enterprise in the whole world.
But in order for either the British or the Russians to extend control and influence over Afghanistan and thus extract from it, they needed to build an Afghan state through which they could extend their control and influence over Afghanistan. It is therefore no coincidence that the Taliban – the only truly indigenous and sovereign group to control Afghanistan throughout Afghanistan’s modern history and with no foreign strings pulling it aside from when King Amanullah Ghazi ruled Afghanistan in the 1920’s – has run into severe problems with London and Moscow over the course of the last number of decades. The problems mounted to the point where America even invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in order for Anglo-America to reclaim control over it. It is in fact the first priority of both London and Moscow to have a puppet state in Afghanistan and to control its finances and organize the state in the manner and fashion that they choose and prefer.
But of course, Afghan sovereignty would eventually win out, as is the case even today. Afghans could never seem to tolerate foreign interference in either their internal affairs or their foreign affairs. Why an understanding of international affairs at this point in time is so elusive is because control of Afghanistan remains elusive. Afghanistan is in fact our only case study for a proper understanding of international affairs. Afghans are not only an enigma, but they have also become a sex symbol of sorts, with one Afghan woman gracing the cover of “National Geographic” in the 1980s or with the compliments given to one Afghan rebel during the Soviet invasion by an American woman on how nice his teeth were. In short, amidst the clash or struggle between Western control over Afghanistan on one hand and the impulse towards Afghan sovereignty on the part of the Afghans on the other hand, the impulse towards Afghan sovereignty on the part of the Afghans has always prevailed.
Adam A. Azim 