From the Borders of Discord to the Awakening of the Nation; Yesterday's Colonial Strategies and Today's Power Games

The borders that the colonialists drew on the Islamic lands were not designed based on the logic of civilization and identity, but rather with the aim of division, control, and domination. Durand in Afghanistan, the Balfour Declaration in Palestine, the Berlin Conference borders in Africa, and the bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 were all links in a single chain; a chain whose ultimate goal was the collapse of the united Islamic nation and the severing of the historical ties between Muslim nations.

British colonialism and its allies, with a precise understanding of the ethnic, linguistic, and religious structure of Islamic societies, created borders that are still a source of crisis, hostility, and distrust today. The Durand Line was a dagger that cut the body of a nation in two, and the Amu Darya Line Treaty (1895) between Emir Abdur Rahman Khan and the Tsarist Russian Empire was of the same kind; a treaty that led to the separation of parts of Badakhshan and the Pamirs from Afghanistan and made the Amu Darya River the official northern border of the country. This treaty, like Durand, was imposed by the will of foreigners and to contain Afghanistan.

In the heart of the Afghan nation, Kashmir remains an open wound between India and Pakistan, in Africa the borders drawn at the Berlin Conference have become the birthplace of genocides and endless wars, and in Palestine the Balfour Declaration still stands as the final laboratory of the Zionist project and a symbol of the dead conscience of the world.

These borders are not just political lines; they are walls that have transformed minds from the concept of a nation into islands of small and hostile nations. On the surface, they divided the land, but in reality, they shattered the spirit of Islamic unity.

Meanwhile, the history of Afghanistan is a testament to a decency that is rarely seen in the political arena. This land, with all its pain, occupations and deceptions by world powers, has never sought aggression or expansionism. In 1965, when the war between India and Pakistan flared up and world powers incited Zahir Shah to seize Pakistani territory, Kabul chose the path of honor and declared with the voice of Islamic conscience: “Rest assured on our behalf; We are your brothers, not your enemies.” Six years later, in 1971, when Pakistan was defeated on the Eastern Front and thousands of its soldiers were taken prisoner, Afghanistan could have used that crisis to change its borders, but it did not. These decisions were not simple; they stemmed from the roots of Islamic faith and morality, not from the calculation of fleeting benefits.

However, in recent decades, the interventionist policies of foreign powers and the duplicitous behavior of some politicians in Pakistan have undermined the trust between the two Muslim nations. This rift is the same wound that colonialism created yesterday and is perpetuated today through the media and political incitement. Now is the time for the peoples of Afghanistan and Pakistan to build a new future, above colonial lines and eroding policies; a future based on mutual respect, economic cooperation, and independence from the will of foreigners.

But colonialism is not just a thing of the past; its face has changed, not its essence. If yesterday Britain divided the Islamic world with a plan and trickery, today the US and its allies are continuing the same project with new tools through “hybrid wars”. Successive defeats in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria have led Washington to the conclusion that military occupation is no longer enough; it must occupy minds. Therefore, their new strategy is based on three axes: weakening from within by fueling ethnic and religious differences, inciting from without by creating artificial crises between neighbors, and managing the crisis instead of resolving it, so that the fire of disagreement always remains under the ashes. Behind this policy, there is a precise plan; Afghanistan must remain weak and needy so that it never becomes a bridge between East and West, Pakistan must be dependent so that it can play the role of a political and military broker for the West, Iran must be isolated and sanctioned so that its intellectual and cultural power is contained, and the entire region must remain chaotic and divisible so that no Islamic unity can be formed. This is the same old idea of ​​“divide and rule”, this time managed not from the chambers of London, but from within the Pentagon and NATO.

In the face of this all-encompassing plan, the only way to salvation is the awakening of the nation and the reconstruction of regional ties. If our region wants to stand on its own feet, it must adhere to five strategic principles:

First, regional security will only be sustainable when it is free from the intervention of foreign forces and relies on honest dialogue between the countries of the region. Second, unity must be based on common interests, not ethnicity and imposed ideologies; energy, transit and trade can be the link connecting countries, not the arena of competition between foreign powers.

Third, is the revival of cultural and civilizational continuity between Muslim and Eastern nations that have emerged from a single root and must reconstruct this common heritage in the face of artificial borders.

Fourth, there is the need for rational diplomacy that resists the artificial dichotomies of East and West and, instead of following the powers, builds a “third pole” of independence and dignity. And fifth, there is the creation of a resilient and regional economy that breaks the dependence on the dollar and Western-controlled routes and is able to Bring the economy back into the nations.

If Britain once tore apart the geography of the nation with a ruler and a map, today the enemy wants to do the same with minds. Colonialism drew the Durand, Balfour, and Kashmir borders, but if we are still fighting in them today, it is not colonialism's fault; it is our sleep that is to blame. The enemy created geographical borders, but we accepted mental borders. Now is the time for the nations of the region to come out of the shadow of London and Washington and look at each other; because the future of this land is not determined in the palaces of the West, but in the consciousness of its nations.

If colonialism wrote yesterday: "Afghanistan must be powerless, Pakistan dependent, Iran isolated, and the region in turmoil," today we must write: "Afghanistan is awake and powerful, Pakistan is a nuclear state, Iran is stable, and the Islamic Ummah is united and independent."