Brahimi and the Order of Ghazi Amanullah Khan

By:Dr. G. Rauf Roashan

Upon completion of his tour of a two-year duty in Afghanistan as the special representative of the United Nations Secretary General Annan, Mr. Brahimi, a former minister of foreign affairs of Algeria has been appointed as the United Nations Under-secretary and Special Adviser.

The appointment reflects the feelings of the United Nations regarding Mr. Brahimi's mission in Afghanistan that culminated in the promulgation of a new Constitution in that country. Mr. Hamid Karzai, president of the transitional government, in an emotional speech sent Mr. Brahimi back to New York with the Order of Ghazi Amanullah Khan, pinned to his lapel, that he bestowed on him in appreciation of his services to the Afghan cause. This is the first time since King Amanullah's rule that an Afghan leader bestows such an Order on any one. (King Amanullah Khan is credited by the Afghan nation and history as the monarch who attained Afghanistan's independence from the British in 1919. King Nadir Shah and his son King Zahir Shah suppressed references to him during their reigns. They had succeeded him after his self-exile in Italy due to the take over of his government by a bandit in Kabul. General Nadir Shah defeated the bandit, Bacha-e-Saqqa and became King himself.)

Brahimi was given a big role to play as a peace broker in Afghanistan. First he was deputed to represent the UN Secretary General in finding of a solution to the Afghan quagmire. He did not score any success in doing this. But later as opportunity for peace knocked in the form of Bonn meeting on Afghanistan, he was reassigned to represent the UN once again in the process. Brahimi, the UN diplomat and Khalilzad, the American diplomat then faced the great challenge of solving of the Afghan crisis. The other players, the Afghans, it was thought, would provide some degree of legitimacy to the Bonn effort. One of the important Afghan figures with a high standing among the Afghans was a former Afghan minister of justice Mr. Abdul Sattar Sirrat. In Bonn, he led the delegation of the former King. Apparently, the UN and the US facilitators were able to lead the meeting toward the option of implementing of the former King's three-point proposal for convening of an emergency Loya Jirga. As to the choice of the person to lead the country in the interim, and notwithstanding the inclination of the meeting for choosing of Mr. Sirrat for the task, the two diplomats were able to talk the meeting into accepting Mr. Hamid Karzai, who was then inside Afghanistan and fighting the Taleban regime, to become the head of the interim administration. Their reasoning was ethnical consideration as Mr. Karzai hailed from a Pashtoon tribe. Thus Mr. Sirrat was sidelined and he chose to quietly go the United States and stay there.

Mr. Sirrat attempted to reorganize the sequestered movement of the supporters of the former King into a new movement aimed at uniting the Afghans. It was this very movement that led to the establishment of a party just prior to the Constitutional Loya Jirga in Kabul made up of the supporters of the former King. Mr. Sultan Mahmoud Ghazi, the former King's cousin, was chosen to lead the party. There were two major problems that faced the newly established party. 1) The former King almost immediately announced that no one is allowed to use his name for political purposes and 2) Mr. Sirrat who was in the US at the time was not considered for any leadership position in the party. The party's deputy chief, in a political maneuvering announced that his party was supporting the stance of the transitional government regarding the choice of a presidential system for the country.

In an article titled: "The Long Way for Peace in Afghanistan," Mr. Abdul Sattar Sirrat writes: "Mr. Ibrahimi intervened in the political life in Afghanistan and he supported ethnicity as the basis to get any position in the political and administrative affairs in Afghanistan. By doing that he endangered the national unity of Afghanistan." Mr. Sirrat is referring to the role played by Brahimi at Bonn as well as afterwards in efforts that made the two Loya Jirgas possible in Kabul. He also suggests that relying on ethnicity and geographical divisions in Afghanistan has been one of the tactics that was specially used by the former Soviet Union for establishing its domination in Central and South Asia including Afghanistan. Obviously Mr. Sirrat implies that Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi did not serve the Afghan cause properly as he allowed for the ethnical divisions to sustain their evil presence over the political atmosphere of Afghan efforts for nation building.

On the other hand, the United Nations as well as the transitional administration in Afghanistan considers his role in the Post-Taleban era in Afghanistan as positive and selfless. The United Nations therefore gave him the prestigious position of Under Secretary and the Transitional Government of Afghanistan gave him the highest order of the land namely the Order of Ghazi Amanullah Khan.

History, however will record that after a long period of desperation with the Afghan problem, the historic Bonn Meeting on Afghanistan gave Lakhdar Brahimi another chance. Influenced by the politics of the United States in the form of advice by Mr. Zalmai Khalilzad, Brahimi was able to negotiate a decision by the Meeting that was attended by opposing delegates and schools of thought and provide for the solution to be implemented. That task alone required a lot of maturity and a lot of diplomacy. He may have chosen methods that might not have had universal acceptance. He might have chosen methods to get to the decision that might have endangered the fabric of the Afghan society. But the end result brought about a palpable solution in the creation of the interim administration. As to the choice of Hamid Karzai, obviously his ethnicity and American influence have played a great role. On the other hand, the inability of the former King to arise as a national leader and to support his own adviser Mr. Sirrat made it possible for the choice of Karzai as the leader of the interim period. The former King was given yet another chance to emerge as a national leader during the Emergency Loya Jirga. However, it is speculated by many that Mr. Khalilzad, who was deputed by President Bush to look after the interests of the American administration, talked him out of any claims for leadership. Forgetting all about Mr. Sirrat and his own chance of returning to power as the King, he settled for a title of "Father of the Nation." Mr. Khalilzad has consistently denied playing any role in all of this, but no amount of denial has been able to change the perception.

Brahimi, took it upon himself to play a greater role, as a UN political officer in Afghanistan, to provide for guidelines regarding the selection and election of representatives to the Loya Jirga, providing logistics, manpower and hands on assistance. His office helped in laying down rules of procedure for the Jirga and other necessary tasks. His office, under his direction made the establishment of the constitutional drafting committee and its work possible. He further played a greater role in the work of the Constitutional Review Commission. His office helped again in the selection of an electoral college of some 19,000 members who chose the delegates to the Constitutional Loya Jirga. During the Jirga, he along with Mr. Khalilzad, played a decisive role in getting the meeting to agree on very divisive issues. They employed diplomacy to the full. Mr. Brahimi is also credited for making voter registration start for the upcoming general elections in Afghanistan. Being a Moslem and a senior individual made him a good candidate to play the roles that were assigned to him. During the course of his work, he acquired familiarity with Afghanistan. His knowledge of the country and of the culture may not equal that of Mr. Sirrat, but he had acquired sufficient understanding of the Afghan way of life to make his task easier. Yet, in Afghanistan, he was a UN official and his foremost obligation was to the UN.

Considering the above the awarding of the Order of Ghazi Amanullah Khan upon him only seems appropriate by those who benefited most from his mission. And among them, one name stands out: Mr. Hamid Karzai. 1/17/04