British historian and writer William Dalrymple warned that Afghanistan could be ‘second Kashmir’ once the US forces pull out of the landlocked country.
While speaking to audience during a presentation at the launch of his latest book ‘Return of a King — The Battle for Afghanistan’, William Dalrymple said, there might be another proxy war between India and Pakistan as India would arm Hamid Karzai and Pakistan would arm the Taliban.
Dalrymple’s latest book “Return of a King” uses sources never before translated into English to draw startling parallels between the First Anglo-Afghan War and today’s conflict.
Mr Dalrymple gave a chilling account of British forces’ humiliating defeat in the early 1840s during the presentation while drawing paralells between the British invasion of Afghanistan in the first half of the 19th century and the US occupation of Afghanistan in the beginning of the 21st century.
He said, that the British invasion of Afghanistan (1839-1842) was the ‘biggest catastrophe’ that the Raj ever suffered as out of the 18,000 British and East India Company troops only one survived.
“There was a sensation in 2006 that history was in a general sense repeating itself but what usually happens is the closer you get to the detail, the parallels dissolve in the face of detailed evidence. What was so weird this time is the details lead to greater parallels,” he says.
This is the third time Dalrymple has turned his eye to the complex relationship between Britain and South Asia in the 1800s. In The Last Mughal and White Mughals he mined the Muslim history of India and the Raj.
The British historian and writer gathered epic poems, letters, memoirs and even Shah Shuja’s autobiography guided to a bookseller in Kabul while on a research trip but Dalrymple says English historians have long denied the existence of indigenous sources from the period.
Shuja had been the Shah or king of Afghanistan between 1803 and 1809 until he was overthrown by his brother Mahmud. His father and grandfather had been the first rulers of the Durrani empire. However, Mohammed Dost ruled Kabul between 1826 and 1839 until he was pushed out by the British.
I disagree with the idea that Afghanistan will become a second Kashmir . If any one knows Afghans , he or she will not make such a simplistic judgment on the future of Afghanistan .
The events of 19th century were mainly connected on the influence of British Empire in India which has little or no comparison to the current situation in the region .
Afghans will never allow any one to divide them or destroy them , they are always adamant to stay united against the common enemy no matter who that enemy may be .
Pakistan is NOT in a position to pose a threat to Afghanistan in any way except making itself un- neighborly neighbor , Pakistan itself is fighting for survival and facing a great danger of disintegration . India and Afghanistan have been very good friend for many centuries long before Pakistan came to existence and the friendship is growing stronger all the time particularly when the situation is difficult for both of them . A friend in need is a friend indeed .
Kashmir is one country and one nation which has been brutally divided by the colonial powers but Afghanistan is one country and one nation for many centuries and has never been divided by any one in history , therefore there is no parallel comparison between the two in regards to the current situation in Afghanistan .
The presence of NATO has no effect on the future of Afghanistan with its neighbors .
Afghanistan lived with its neighbors for over 100 years whether it liked them or not and is willing to do so now and in future but the problems are with the bogus political leaders who are using one nation against the other for political reasons and the people can understand that and always ignore their intentions for confrontation .
Common writer afghanistan also has option to support pakistan taliban… So second kashmir is pakistan
The Afghan people have no desire to make mischief to any one particularly to their neighbours or cause any harm to them but the history has shown that the neighbours are being unreasonable for invading and interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs . The presence of ISAF and NATO in Afghanistan is the direct result of the bad behavior of neighbours in the last 30 years that the international community has decided that enough is enough and deployed ISAF and NATO to establish peace and security in the country .
For as long as such behavior by the neighbours continue the people of Afghanistan have no choice but to remain dependent on ISAF and NATO to protect them against these predators .