Külügyi Szemle - A Teleki László Intézet Külpolitikai Tanulmányok Központja folyóirata - 2002 (1. évfolyam)
2002 / 2. szám - RÉSUMÉ - Katona Magda: The Oppurtunities of Resolution of the Crisis of Afghanistan
Résumé As a country with long lasting experience in fighting terrorism and trying to recover from its deepest economic crises for decades Turkey will be loyal to its NATO allies especially the U.S. and is ready to play a leading role in the International Coalition against terrorism. The strategic cooperation between Turkey and the U.S. further strengthens. In return Turkey demands inter alia uncompromising measures against "its" terrorists taking shelter in Europe and asks for more support for its economy. Turkey hopes for political help in its EU-integration and a favorable solution to the Cyprus question. Magda Katona: The Oppurtunities of Resolution of the Crisis of Afghanistan Afghanistan is placed in a very sensitive focus of faultlines of international and regional geostrategic interests, where the international and regional players of the "Great Game" used proxies - proxy problems and proxy forces - to impose their political will, strategic and economic interests. This artificial buffer-state is an unique kaleidoscope of several nationalities, ethnic groups and tribes, while the Afghans themselves - the state-forming nation - are divided by the Durand-line which separated the majority of them from the motherland. The deepening of interethnic conflicts is the most viable and most frequently used proxy problem to cover the real purposes and interests. The hopeless decades of unresolved conflicts began in the last quarter of the 20th century, in the bipolar world order, when both superpowers attempted to overbalance this very sensitive balance of powers. This led to the failure of the attempts of the Western-Orient modernization of the republic of Daud, and after to the failure of the socialist orientation, the defeat of the Red Army, the advent of Islamic political extremism, the chaos and disintegration of the state in the era of the Mujahedin and the rise of the Taliban movement. The danger of territorial fragmentation, the lack of law and order created a political vacuum favorable to international terrorist activities, while the external powers feared to topple this very sensitive power balance once more. The events on September 11th forced the US and its allies to wage a war against terrorism directly in Afghanistan as well as to find a military proxy ally inside the country as soon as possible. Only the Northern Alliance, a loose alliance of warlords of bad reputation was available to fight the Taliban. The Talib regime collapsed too quickly and there was a "big hurry"' to find a political solution. So, the notorious warlords of the failed period of 1992-1996 seemed to return to the political scene and the Northern Alliance is overrepresented in the Bonn agreement of December 2001. The political resolution is multiphased. In the first phase there is a change of generations, the classical Jihadi leaders are in the process of disappearing from 206 Külügyi Szemle
