Afghan Interpreters Pullout: A Saigon Airlift in Making? — II
World should know that the proverbial “Great Game” of the yore which had Afghanistan as its center piece on its chess board has now come cloaked in a different attire
By
Colonel Satish Singh Lalotra
Few Afghan interpreters who were dismissed by the British army for flimsy reasons for the last so many years and living on the margins have tried their hand numerous times for extradition to UK but every time rejected on grounds which are preposterous to say the least. Ranging from coming late to the office to slouching to smoking in office, the interpreters are now feeling a cheated lot. Though Britain has publically announced that they owe a huge gratitude to the Afghan interpreters for putting their lives on the firing line working alongside their armed forces much remains to be seen to be done. With the grim scenario unfolding as explained above in Afghanistan, what are the options available for the Afghan interpreters as well as the western powers? It seems that US army and the nation as such have numerous examples in front of them to emulate as a template to wriggle out of this tight corner, provided the most important intangible factor “Time” is controlled by them. It stands to conviction that US would not like to see itself in an unenviable situation as it was in September 1996, when the unfortunate Afghan president Mohammed Najibullah was hounded out of the UN compound by the Taliban where he had taken shelter and executed with horrendous spell of torture followed by castration, to be finally hung from a lamp post for the entire Afghan population to see in Kabul. Under the given circumstances US government should not wait till the last pen of Taliban / US is put to agreement papers for cease fire by the former. Neither should it follow in the footsteps of its predecessors in 1975 during the “fall of Saigon” when in a desperate move it devolved upon the then US President Gerald Ford to directly intervene and order Mr Graham Martin the US ambassador along with the supporting staff to be bundled out of South Vietnam to international waters or neutral lands with fast approaching enemy, North Vietnamese army. A cursory look of the military situation map of Afghanistan as depicted in this article says it all. The marine dark colored areas in the map depicts Taliban controlled portion, the light grey areas contested portion between the two warring factions and finally the white portion areas under the government influence. It goes without saying that almost all entry and exit points to the border areas are having a Taliban footprint hence the most plausible way forward is for the ISAF led US army to air lift the Afghan interpreters to bordering airbases of Tajikistan with which ISAF has friendly relations or else to Turkmenistan with which US has a MFN
(Most favored nation) status inked as a temporary reprieve for their visa grant and verification/reviews. Being neutral nations in the Afghan strife and in close vicinity of airbases of ISAF, Tajikistan/ Turkmenistan can be the temporary staging posts for the US and UK to review / grant SIV(Special immigration visas ) to these interpreters as was done by US during the Vietnam war when thousands of Vietnamese support staff were flown out to “Clark air force base” in Philippines as a neutral nation to give a breather to the Gerald Ford government .Alternatively CSTO/ Collective security treaty organization which has 6 member nations on its rolls with Tajikistan as a full member too be approached by the ISAF / US /UK governments for such an out of the box solution. Else flying out and crisscrossing entire stretch of Pakistan into the international waters of Arabian Sea can be another but costly proposition for these Afghan interpreters. The ISAF has heavy lift Chinook helicopters C-47 D placed all over its forward operating bases in Afghanistan which can carry 33 persons in its belly and cruise at 310 kmph. These work horses can easily take these Afghan interpreters in a matter of 2 to 3 hours from their FOB’s (Forward operating bases) to safety since land routes/roads would be under direct infringement of the Taliban forces making it impossible for their use. Solutions are many but then it takes a world class statesman like Gerald Ford to do his bidding to finally let out of the country hordes of South Vietnamese without even proper visas during the closing hours of the Vietnam War. Joe Bidden should do his bidding on humanitarian grounds and let the coalition forces follow his cue in Afghanistan lest a typical ‘Saigon airlift” is reenacted in all its ignominy. World should know that the proverbial “Great Game” of the yore which had Afghanistan as its center piece on its chess board has now come cloaked in a different attire ‘The New Great Game” whose rules of engagement are now totally different with the changed geopolitical stratagem.
(Concluded…)
(The writer can be approached on his email id: slalotra4729@ gmail.com)
