During his visit to Indonesia for 5th Bali Democracy Forum, President Hamid Karzai signed with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono different agreements that were related to political, cultural and trade cooperation. Both the presidents met on Friday, November 09, and signed documents of "friendship and cooperation" including "visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and service passports and on bilateral consultations as well as on cultural exchange programs."
"Afghanistan is doing all it can to participate in the initiative Indonesia has launched as the biggest Muslim country to promote democracy," Karzai said, according to the press statement.
The Indonesian President said the meeting aimed to improve the relationship for the two countries for the near future.
"The bilateral meeting we conducted was very productive. We discussed cooperation that is currently undergoing and more importantly we discussed how to enhance the cooperation in the field of economics, education and culture and other fields," Bambang Yudhoyono said.
The agreements signed with Indonesia are going to play an important role if they are followed properly. The important factor is Indonesia's identity as the largest Muslim country. Moreover, its importance to play certain role in establishing strong economic ties with Afghanistan. As a matter of fact, Afghanistan would require support from all those countries who would in certain ways provide assistance in any form as the challenges that would be face by the country in the times to come would be immense.
As the transition period is going on in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of international forces are going to be completed in 2014, there are concerns about the capability of Afghan authorities to shoulder the responsibilities of carrying on the security and governance of the country appropriately. This fact is now widely accepted that Afghanistan would require a lot of support even after 2014 from prominent powers in the world. Strategic agreements with major powers in the world, the regional players and the Muslim world will definitely support Afghanistan in this regard.
It is expected that once the transition is over, Afghanistan would be able to stand on its own and would be able to shoulder the responsibilities of the country itself; however, there are major challenges ahead. After withdrawal of international forces, Afghanistan would face two major challenges; the first one is no doubt the security of the country which largely depends on the performance and maintenance of Afghan security forces. The maintenance of the Afghan security forces would require a large amount of financial, technical and technological support, especially from the countries that have strong professional institutions in this regard.
The second challenge for Afghanistan is no other than its economy. Afghanistan would require almost a decade of economic development after 2014 so as to reach somewhere near the economic independency. Currently, Afghan economy is run through the support and assistance of the international community. The only hope for Afghanistan to boost its economy is its mining sector and that would also require a complete infra-structure development and, undoubtedly, a decade of peace and stability as without peace and tranquility the investors would avoid investment in the sector.
Though the Western countries have promised and even signed strategic agreements with Afghanistan to support it both in security and economic infra-structure development, Afghan authorities have to establish strong connections with other countries in the world, as well.
With the international support, the regional cooperation can really work for Afghanistan but for that the involved countries must work out their differences that cause the different perceptions of the strategic challenges and ultimately result into clash of interests. The regional countries, with few exceptions, at the moment seem to be going on the divergent directions so as to achieve the regional interests.
The regional countries seem to have different perceptions regarding the ongoing issues and process relevant to Afghanistan and region. They have different opinions, as evident to a certain degree from their statements in the Conference, regarding the ongoing transition period, reconciliation process with Taliban, withdrawal of international troops and the permanent US bases in Afghanistan. On the other hand their veiled policies show further discrepancies.
The purpose of such a conclusion is not to say that the regional countries must not have their own interests. They should have and each one of them must pursue its own national interests but their regional cooperation can only be fruitful once they discover the issues that are common to the region and influence all of them alike.
For that issue they have to sit together and must negotiate upon their differences and try to find out a single course of action. Insecurity and terrorism form a common dilemma for the entire region in general and for Afghanistan in particular. A unanimous decision regarding the issue must be taken by the regional countries so as to form a real cooperation that has the capacity to assist Afghanistan and the region.
Apart from the strategic agreements with other countries, it is also interesting to note what will be the outcome of strategic agreement with the US, which has been the most dominant player in Afghanistan. US also seems committed to the withdrawal schedule promised by President Obama.
US has mentioned that though it would carry on the withdrawal as scheduled but would continue strategic cooperation with Afghanistan to guarantee lasting peace, better development and extinction of terrorism from the region. However, there are some important concerns about the strategic agreement with the US. Some of the authorities in Afghanistan and mostly the authorities of the regional countries have serious concerns about US presence in the region.
Definitely, these agreements are of great importance and they can serve as strong support for Afghanistan once it has to stand on its own. But at the same time, it must be maintained how to use the diplomatic ties wisely. As an intelligent country Afghanistan must always strive for peace and cooperation with other countries.
However, it must not forget that the same sort of strategic agreements must be planned with regional powers as well. The international community, the Muslim world and especially the neighboring countries can play tremendous role in building of Afghanistan, eradication of terrorism and development of its political and economic systems.