Indian author’s killing shows Taliban’s real face
By the time Escape from Taliban released in 2003, the militant group had already been flushed out of Kabul by Western troops and there were hopes that a new era of peace and stability had finally dawned in Afghanistan. A decade later, the killing of Sushmita Banerjee — the Indian wife of an Afghan businessman whose experience under Taliban rule was depicted in the Manisha Koirala starrer — is a gruesome reminder of how little has changed in that war-torn country. In fact, the situation has tragically come a full circle. Banerjee, who had braved the Taliban and fled Afghanistan in 1995, had in recent years returned to that country to be with her husband and offer her services as a trained nurse at a local dispensary. In the early hours of Thursday, the Taliban arrived at her home, much like they would do in the early 90s to threaten her to convert to Islam; only this time around, they were even less tolerant. They dragged her out of the house, pumped 20 bullets into her and dumped her body. Banerjee's story is reflected in Afghanistan's overall socio-political trajectory — ousted in 2001, the Taliban have since re-grouped and returned stronger. Once blacklisted by much of the world, today they are legitimate and a strategic partner in the West's Afghan dialogue; and by all available accounts, they may gain more influence when US-led Nato troops withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014. In this context, Banerjee's death should serve as a potent symbol of how a Talibani takeover next year could reverse much of the West's hard-won gains in Afghanistan. Much will depend on the Afghan National Security Forces and how successful they will be in keeping the militants at bay. The international forces have already transferred all security responsibilities to the locals and now only provide them will logistical support. The Afghan forces have performed remarkably well in many cases but they are still under-staffed, under-trained and under-armed. Without continued international support, they will find it difficult to hold fort. In this context, possibly the most important aspect of the 2014 withdrawal will be the number of Western security personnel that stay back in Afghanistan and also the extent of support that countries such as India and Russia (that have a direct stake in Afghanistan) offer in terms of military support.
Banerjee's murder has also put the focus on another kind of soldiers who are fighting a different part of the war against the Taliban — the humanitarian workers. While the 49-year-old Calcuttan may have been targeted for any number of reasons — for one, she was an Indian woman who had consistently defied them on their own turf — there is reason to believe that the Taliban were not too pleased with her working as a nurse. Healthcare professionals like Banerjee particularly, and aid workers in general, have routinely been targeted by militants, putting them in fact on the frontlines of the war.