Military forces from Western powers are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, but it is the policies of these very governments that is boosting the Taliban, going by several indications over recent days. Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif spoke of these “double standards” at a meeting he held in London on Wednesday evening with Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister of Pakistan. The Pakistan Muslim League of Sharif and the Pakistan People’s Party of Bhutto have come together in an Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy to challenge the military rule of Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf. Western powers “praise the democracy in India on the one hand and support dictatorship in Pakistan on the other,” he said following the meeting. Sharif said he plans to return to Pakistan and challenge Musharraf’s rule. Elections are due in Pakistan towards the end of this year or early next year.

Afghanistan comes into the question of democratic rights for these formerly elected leaders in view of what Bhutto called the “Talibanisation of Pakistan.” To the extent that Pakistan is being Talibanised, it is also steering away from any democratic path, Bhutto said. The recent instances of violence in Pakistan are the work of “pro-Taliban and pro-Al Qaeda elements,” she said, which have government backing. “We are looking for fair elections; democracies don’t go to war with other democracies, and they bring in policies that undermine terrorism.” Western powers are complicit in encouraging the Taliban through their backing of Musharraf rather than support for democratic choice. Sharif said he will not look to the US to change any policies that could enable the exiled opposition leaders to return to face an election.

But in the face of heavy US support to Musharraf’s regime, Talibanisation could become a bigger issue for Pakistan as it is becoming for Afghanistan. Much of north-west Pakistan is in the hands of the Taliban, or Taliban-like groups. Within Afghanistan, the Taliban have come bounding back faster than anyone anticipated — and with unintended Western assistance. “Support for the Taliban has increased dramatically,” Norinne MacDonald who carried out a study for the Senlis Council, an independent group monitoring developments in Afghanistan said. “The results of our survey were chilling; 26% of the 17,000 Afghans surveyed openly said they support the Taliban; a couple of years back it was 3%.”

Through the lack of development and a counter-narcotics policy that has impoverished people the US is only “strengthening its enemies.” These policies are putting the military forces of the US and its allies at a disadvantage, she said. In Afghanistan, in Pakistan, US policies are emerging as the primary US enemy. In both countries the United States has propped up artificial presidents. It has then encouraged, even dictated policies that support the individuals in the posts while weakening their legitimacy. And it has backed — and funded — policies that will and are arming only its enemies. — IPS