Kidnapping in Afghanistan

It was ironical that the seven Indians were kidnapped near a shining testament of benign Indian aid to Afghanistan. India had built the power transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri, close to where the kidnapping took place, to Kabul as part of several development projects in the aftermath of the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001. It is just as well that the Indian Government has avoided jumping to quick conclusions. It is automatic to suspect Taliban elements supported by Pakistan for the deed but the kidnapping could have been the handiwork of any of the myriad shifting power centres in a conflict-torn country. A retaliation for the US-India and the US-China discussions on joining hands in Afghanistan cannot be ruled out but so can’t the hand of the burgeoning kidnapping industry in Afghanistan, part of the conflict economy.

The loved ones of those kidnapped are in for drawn-out days and nights of anguish but the bright side is the local Afghan authorities have already swung into action. There is no doubt that significant military and political pressure will be brought on the suspects. The countryside of Baghlan, the province where the kidnapping took place, has swung between the Taliban and the US-backed forces several times and is now reportedly back as a major kidnapping centre. The authorities, well-versed with the grammar of violence, would have kick-started the standard operating procedures to get back the abducted men alive.

But as the Westerners have learnt to recognise, Indians too should be prepared to absorb the occasional pain as it positions itself to benefit from pickings in a conflict-torn country. India has already won the rights to Asia’s biggest iron ore reserve in Afghanistan which fits in with its plan for an industrial complex at Chabahar, an Iranian port. The intention is explicit: bypass Pakistan as a transit destination for landlocked Afghanistan and thereby reduce its salience in Kabul’s politics. Even if this kidnapping is a purely criminal enterprise or due to mistaken identity or because of local grievances over denial of electricity, Indian public opinion must also steel itself for the occasional bad news from Afghanistan.