However, Riaz said, “The international community should have done more.”
“We should have focused more on Afghanistan in terms of its development,” he said. “Development is more an antidote to radicalization than anything else.”
The real wildcard in terms of Afghanistan’s future, Riaz explained, is Pakistan.
“Part of Pakistan has become embroiled in this because of ethnicity, the porous border and also because of Pakistani’s (desire) to influence Afghan politics,” he said. “That is not new- not post 9-11 or because the United States is there, it’s just what Pakistan is trying to do and they’ve been doing it a long time.”
India, a declared enemy of Pakistan, doesn’t want to see outsized Pakistani influence in Afghanistan, so it also is trying to influence events in the war-torn country. None of that would be as important if Afghanistan functioned better on its own.
“If their national identity had flourished on its own this might not have happened,” Riaz said.
Pakistan has significant influence over Afghanistan’s Islamic political factions.
“The role Pakistan will play will be very important,” Riaz said. “Pakistan continues to see they can actually help one group against another. That is not going to help bring peace in Afghanistan.”
The professor also said Westerners who are dismayed by the continued presence of entrenched radical Islamists in Afghanistan, should get used to it.
“They will have to be a part of the future of Afghanistan,” he said. “They have a support – however little — they do have it.”
