भारतलाई पठाइएको ‘कूटनीतिक नोट’ खासखुसको विषय हो ?

 भारतलाई पठाइएको ‘कूटनीतिक नोट’ खासखुसको विषय हो ? 

परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालयले ३ दिन बितिसक्दा पनि औपचारिक जानकारी दिएको छैन

कान्तिपुर, भाद्र २२, २०७८मणि

काठमाडौँ — दार्चुला तुइन घटना र नेपाली आकाशमा अनाधिकृत भारतीय हेलिकोप्टरको उडानका विषयले अहिले सरकारविरुद्ध सडक तातिएको छ । राजधानीका धेरै स्थानमा हरेकदिन यी घटनालक्षित प्रदर्शन र विरोध भइरहेका छन् । सामाजिक सञ्जालदेखि नागरिक तहसम्म यो विषयमा सरकारले राखेको मौनतामाथि प्रश्न उठेका छन् ।

सर्वत्र आलोचना र दबाबपछि सरकारले गत शुक्रबार र आइतबार क्रमशः तुइन घटना र हेलिकोप्टर प्रकरणबारे भारत सरकारलाई कूटनीतिक पत्र पठाएको छ । तर, पत्र पठाएको तीन दिन भइसक्दा पनि सरकारी अधिकारीहरू मौन छन् ।

सञ्चारमाध्यमहरूले आफ्नो स्रोत प्रयोग गर्दै कूटनीतिक नोटबारे समाचार प्रकाशित/प्रसारित गरेका छन् । यस्तै पत्रबारे हालसम्म परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालय मौन छ । हाल प्रधानमन्त्री शेरबहादुर देउवाले नै मन्त्रालयको जिम्मेवारी सम्हालिरहेका छन् । यो विषयमा प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालय पनि बोलेको छैन । मन्त्रीहरु पनि अनौपचारिक कुरा मात्र गर्छन्, यस विषयमा मुख खोल्न चाहँदैनन् । सडकमा प्रर्दशन बढ्दैछ, नागरिक जिज्ञासा चुलिँदो छ । तर, सरकारले एउटा विज्ञप्तिसमेत जारी गरेर औपचारिकता पूरा गरेको छैन । यसलाई कूटनीतिक जानकारहरू समेतले आश्चर्य प्रकट गरेका छन् । कूटनीतिक सम्बन्ध, पत्राचारहरूलाई कति पारदर्शी बनाउने भन्ने राज्यको सीमा हुन सक्छन् । तर जनमतको बलमा बन्ने लोकतान्त्रिक सरकारले नागरिकबाट उठेका जिज्ञासालाई सम्बोधन गर्ने औपचारिकता पूरा गर्नुपर्ने हुन्छ । तर, यो मामिलामा कसैले औपचारिकता पूरा गर्ने जमर्को देखाएका छैनन् ।

परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालयका पूर्वसचिव मधुरमण आचार्यले पत्र जस्ताको त्यस्तै सार्वजनिक गर्नु राम्रो नहुने भएपनि विज्ञप्ति जारी गरेको जानकारी गराउनु पर्ने बताए । ‘लेखेको पत्रको सबै कुरा बाहिर सार्वजनिक गर्नु हुँदैन । तर के के विषय बस्तुलाई उठाएका छौं भनेर जानकारी सबैले पाउनु पर्छ । यस विषयमा मन्त्रालयले प्रेस रिलिज नै गर्नुपर्ने हो’ आचार्यले इकान्तिपुरसँग भने, ‘दार्चुलाको विषय जनचासो र राष्ट्रिय मुद्दा बनिसकेको छ । खासखुसको विषय होइन ।’

सरकारले दार्चुला घटनाको विषयमा भारतसँग विरोध गर्न नसकेको भन्दै आलोचना हुँदै आएको छ । प्रमुख प्रतिपक्षी दलले घटनालाई ढाकछोप गर्न खोजेको आरोप लगाउँदै आएको छ ।

वैदेशिक मामिलाका जानकार एमाले सांसद दीपकप्रकाश भट्टले कूटनीतिक नोट पठाउने विषय गोप्य नभएकाले जनतालाई सूचित गराउने जिम्मेवारी सरकारको भएको बताए ।

‘यो कोभर्ट होइन ओपन कुरा हो । पत्र पठाएको विषय गोप्य राख्नुपर्ने विषय होइन,’ भट्टले भने, ‘एक त सरकारले यो विषयमा ढिलो कदम चालेको छ । नियमित पत्रकार सम्मेलन वा विज्ञप्तिमार्फत के-के विषयहरु रहेका छन् सार्वजनिक गरिनुपर्छ ।’ भट्टले प्रजातान्त्रिक मुलुकमा अन्य देशको सम्बन्धको बारेमा जनताले सूचित हुने अधिकार हुने भन्दै सरकारले औपचारिक रुपमा जानकारी गराउनुपर्ने बताए । ‘जनताले मेरो सरकार के गर्दैछ भनेर आश्वस्त हुने विषय हो नि । प्रजातन्त्रमा यो भ्यालु झनै बढी हुन्छ,’ भट्टले भने ।

पूर्वसचिव आचार्यले यसअघि सीमा विवादको विषयमा भारतलाई कूटनीतिक नोट पठाउँदा परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालयले विज्ञप्ति जारी गरेको उदाहरण दिए । २०७७ वैशाख २९ मा तत्कालीन परराष्ट्रमन्त्री प्रदीप ज्ञवालीले भारतीय राजदूत विनयमोहन क्वात्रालाई परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालय बोलाएर कूटनीतिक नोट बुझाएका थिए । मन्त्रालयले क्वात्रालाई कूटनीतिक नोट बुझाउँदाको फोटो पनि सार्वजनिक गरेको थियो । भारतले अतिक्रमित नेपाली भूभाग हुँदै कालापानी क्षेत्रमा सडक निर्माण गरेपछि नेपालले विरोध गर्दै कूटनीतिक नोट पठाएको थियो ।

गत साउन १५ गते वैदेशिक रोजगारीका लागि हिँडेका दार्चुला ब्यास गाउँपालिकाका जयसिंह धामीले तर्दै गरेको तुइन भारतीय सुरक्षाकर्मीहरु खुस्काईदिएपछि उनी महाकाली नदीमा खसेर बेपत्ता भएका छन् । गृहमन्त्रालयले गठन गरेको छानबिन समितिले पनि भारतीय सशस्त्र सीमा बल (एसएसबी) को संलग्नता रहेको प्रतिवेदन दिएको थियो । त्यस लगत्तै गृहमन्त्रालयले परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालयलाई भारतीय पक्षसँग पत्रचार गर्न आग्रह गरेको थियो । त्यसैगरी नेपालको दार्चुला जिल्लामा भारतीय हेलिकोप्टरहरु अनाधिकृत रुपमा उडान गरेको विषयमा कान्तिपुरमा समाचार आएपछि त्यस विषयमा पनि सरकारले विरोध जनाएको छ ।

प्रकाशित : भाद्र २२, २०७८ १५:५६

 

We have armed the Taliban to cause destruction

 We have armed the Taliban to cause destruction in Afghanistan and elsewhere for generations

By 

Douglas Murray

September 2, 2021

It was quite the handover at Kabul airport this week. The last American troops to exit Afghanistan reportedly left facing an ‘elite unit’ of the Taliban. In a season finale that the most dystopian screenwriter would have struggled to invent, the elite Taliban unit was itself bedecked in US military gear. That is, they were not only wearing uniforms and protective gear provided by the fleeing US army, but were parading the airport with US-provided guns in US-provided vehicles.

This was the culmination of a two-week period that the White House is still trying to present as a success. One of the biggest airlifts in history, they insist. In reality the Biden administration has pulled off a feat few of us thought possible: A military-political defeat that gets worse the more you look at it.

Take the issue of the gear that the Americans have left behind. I’m sure by now everyone has seen the lists of armaments that the US left with the swiftly dissolved Afghan army that America and its allies struggled to train for two decades.

Taliban forces stand guard in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2, 2021.REUTERS/Stringer

The Taliban inherited that defeated army’s equipment in its entirety. That entirety includes 33 Black Hawk helicopters, 43 MD 530 helicopters, 32 Mi-17 helicopters, 23 A-29 light attack planes, at least 33 other attack planes and three gigantic Hercules aircraft thrown in for good measure. Thanks to the largesse of the American taxpayer, the Taliban now has more attack helicopters than the UK, and is better armed than almost every NATO country, apart from the US.

A helicopter displaying a Taliban flag flies above supporters gathered to celebrate the US withdrawal of troops out of Afghanistan.JAVED TANVEER/AFP via Getty Images

When these facts emerged this week, a portion of the commentariat tried to pretend this was no great shakes. These last defenders of the President insisted it didn’t matter that the Taliban had control of all these Black Hawks. For how could a group of goat-herders, who have barely learned to operate their rusty old Soviet motorcycles, be expected to retrain as helicopter pilots? As if they were listening, right on cue, the Taliban began flying one of their new Black Hawks over the skies of Kabul. That was quite the F-you: top equipment, in new hands, only one previous owner, hardly used.

Perhaps aware this does not look great, the US military is claiming to have disabled some of the equipment they left behind. On Monday, Gen. McKenzie said that before leaving Kabul airport the US military permanently disabled 150 vehicles and aircraft so they can “never be used again.” The rocket air defense system was reportedly kept online until the last minute and then demilitarized.

Taliban special force fighters arrive to the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the US military’s withdrawal.AP Photo/Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi

Certainly, it is good to know that the Americans didn’t leave a ground-to-air missile system at the airport so the Taliban could shoot down the last American plane as it left Kabul airport. But aside from that, it is hard to see the success here. For instance, there is no word on whether the US managed, in their hasty withdrawal, to disable the 350,000 assault rifles they left behind. Or the 126,000 pistols, 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,000 machine-guns, 22,000 Humvees or 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs.

We’ll be seeing the fallout from that for a long time to come. And we’ll be lucky if that equipment only remains in Afghanistan.

The defeated powers are playing the game of “reformed Taliban” to buy themselves the tiniest amount of time in what looks set to be a long game of humiliation. Canada’s minister for equality, Maryam Monsef, addressed the Taliban direct last week. In a video message, she called on “our brothers, the Taliban,” to “ensure the safe and secure passage” out of Afghanistan of anyone who wants to leave.

An Afghan Air Force A-29 attack aircraft is pictured inside a hangar at the airport in Kabul.WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images

Yet in the competition for lead Pollyanna in the West, Monsef doesn’t even make the finals. That award must surely go to the US special representative to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad. As the last US troops were leaving, Khalilzad could be found proclaiming the Taliban “now face a test.” What is that test? “If you can get one Black Hawk over Kabul on the first day, how many days will it take you to get the whole fleet in the air?”

No, according to Khalilzad the big test for the Taliban is: “Can they lead their country to a safe and prosperous future where all their citizens, men and women, have the chance to reach their potential?”

If you had to take a guess, what would the answer to that question be? I would go for “no.”

The Taliban continued their victory celebrations with a military parade as fighters wave white Taliban flags from Humvees and armored SUVs.Majority World/Shutterstock

Khalilzad continued: “Can Afghanistan present the beauty and power of its diverse cultures, histories, and traditions to the world?” Again, that’d be a “no” from me.

Just about the only things the Americans didn’t give the Taliban was a drone capability. America still has the advantage there at least. Perhaps now would be a good time to use it.

Reprinted with permission from The Spectator.