Firm dates cannot be set for withdrawal of troops by a superpower from a combat zone. Washington has indicated that it may pull out of Afghanistan earlier than the deadline of 2014. It is indicative of the indecision among western powers about their military involvement in the rugged terrain. According to US Defence Secretary Leon Panette, international forces in Afghanistan may switch over to a supportive and training role in 2013. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his country will pull out of Afghanistan in 2013. It is perhaps because both President Barack Obama and President Sarkozy are facing an election this year. The people of both countries are fed up with their decade-long armed presence in Afghanistan. Washington is still committed to retain a small residual force there. But it may not stick to the decision.
All international stakeholders had so far been reckoning with a 2004 deadline for the handing over of security responsibilities by western powers in Afghanistan. The US armed forces had been opposed to a withdrawal and wanted to fight till the end. The White House has evidently nixed the military proposal. So a scramble for power is in the offing with President Hamid Karzai’s coalition comprising non-Pushtin ethnic minorities throwing their hat in the ring. Pakistan and other neighbours will try to fish in troubled waters. India should have anticipated the early US pullout and prepared for a withdrawal before 2014. It has not merely a stake in the Afghan reconstruction but also needs to have a political presence in Kabul to cope with Pakistan’s influence. Kabul’s future is uncertain but New Delhi should play a proactive role in giving it a positive direction.
