Indonesia in the Afghan foreign policy

 

After a three-day trip to Australia, the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. In this two-day trip, Ghani met Indonesian President, Vice President, Speaker of Indonesia’s Regional Representative Council (Senate), the people in charge of Islamic centers and some of the Indonesian traders and discussed the strengthening of the relations between the two countries.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared that his respective country was ready to offer any help to maintain peace in Afghanistan and said that he would shortly send an Indonesian delegation to share their views and experiences with Afghan officials. The Indonesian President also promised to put the foundation of a great center of Islamic Educations in Afghanistan so that, through this center, the scholars of the two countries could remain in contact.

Afghanistan has 62 years of friendly relations with Indonesia, and religious commonalities play an important part in these relations. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, and 99% of the Afghan population are Muslim as well.

Here you would read about the Afghan-Indonesian relations, Jakarta’s place in the Afghan foreign policy and President Ghani’s recent visit to this country.

 

The background of bilateral relations

Afghanistan was one of the first countries that recognized Indonesia in 1949 after the revolution ended in this country. In 1954, diplomatic relations between the two countries were established and in the same year, the Afghan Embassy opened in Jakarta.

The first friendship agreement between the two countries was signed on 24 April 1955. The then Indonesian President Sukarno visited Afghanistan in 1955, making himself the first Indonesian President to visit Afghanistan.

During the cold war, Afghanistan had better relations with Indonesia, and the main reason behind that was the start of the Non-aligned Movement. Both Afghanistan and Indonesia were not willing to enter neither the capitalist nor the communist block and therefore, alongside with India, Egypt, and China began the Non-aligned Movement. However, Afghanistan did not become prominent in the list of the founders of the movement.

When in 1979-1989, Russia occupied Afghanistan, Indonesia, as a sign of opposition, did not participate in 1980 Olympic Games held in Russia. Moreover, Indonesian Muslims assisted the Afghan Mujahedin as well. However, after the Afghan Jihad, when civil war erupted in the country, relations between the two nations weakened and was at a low point.

 

After 2001

After the collapse of the Taliban regime, Indonesia supported the Afghan government and people in various fields and hence bilateral relations between the two countries improved. In 2012, the former Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Indonesia to strengthen relations with this country. In this trip, in addition to participating in the fifth session of the Bali Democracy Forum, Karzai signed a new cooperation agreement with Indonesian authorities in areas of politics, trade, and culture and Indonesia pledged to support Afghanistan in the fields of technic, capacity building, strengthening of institutions, agriculture and enabling women.

In President Karzai trip to Indonesia, the agreements were signed for visa-free travels with political passports and exchange of services and bilateral consulting between the two countries. Besides that, Indonesia vowed to train Afghan teacher and provide scholarships for Afghan students. Up to date, 358 Afghan students are graduated from Indonesian universities, but trade between the two countries is only $16m annually. 

 

President Ghani’s recent visit to Jakarta

After the formation of the National Unity Government in Afghanistan, it was Ghani’s first trip to Indonesia which was warmly welcomed by the Indonesian President and officials, and 21 artillery shots were fired to salute Ghani. In this trip, six cooperation agreement were signed in areas of education, agriculture, statistics, administrative reforms and civil services, science and technology, and higher education.

In his meeting with Indonesian President, President Ghani, pointing out the successful endeavors of Indonesia in areas of maintaining peace, development and economic growth, said that Indonesian experience in ensuring peace, stability and economic growth could be useful in Afghanistan.

Indonesian President also showed preparedness to any help to maintain peace in Afghanistan and said that, in the near future, he would send an Indonesian delegation to share their opinions and experiences with Afghan authorities. Furthermore, the Indonesian President announced 100 scholarships for Afghan students.

In separate meetings between President Ghani and Indonesian Vice President and the Speaker of Indonesian Senate, the two sides reiterated on bilateral cooperation in various fields between the two countries. The Afghan President also met with the heads of the main Islamic centers as well as Indonesian investors and traders.

 

The importance of Kabul-Jakarta relations

In his electoral charter, Ghani writes: “The circle of Islamic countries is one of the important circles that could impact the situation in Afghanistan either positively or negatively; because our views, thoughts and deeds and behaviors are all on the basis of Islamic teachings and there is no part of our existence where Islam is not dominant.” Among the five circles of the Afghan President’s foreign policy, Islamic countries stand in the second circle, therefore, being an important Islamic country, Indonesia has a significant place in the Afghan foreign policy.

Indonesia has previously experienced the situation that Afghanistan is currently in. About 40 years earlier, Indonesia was one of the poorest Asian countries but, within 20 years, Indonesia succeeded to come out of misery and become one of the developed countries of Asia. Hence, Indonesia’s cooperation with Afghanistan is assumed beneficial for the maintenance of peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan needs Indonesia’s cooperation and experience regarding the resolution of conflict and talks with opposition groups of the government, fight against corruption, agricultural development, education and some other aspects, and proper utilization of this cooperation and experience could lead to desiring outcomes. After returning from Jakarta, during a press conference, President Ghani said, “Indonesia could help Afghanistan in areas of conflict resolution, maintenance of peace, democracy, and economic growth.”

Indonesia is not the first country that Afghanistan is attracting its commitment for cooperation, but the Afghan government is constantly trying to have the world countries’ commitments with Afghanistan in various areas, something that the Afghan government has been, to some extent, splendid at. However, most of such commitments did not have desiring outcomes which are linked to paving the way for the implementation of these commitments inside the country. The Afghan government is faced with challenges in this area, which are the continuation of the war in the country, corruption, internal difference, etc.

Another issue in the bilateral relations between the two nations is Afghan refugees in Indonesia. Annually, thousands of Afghans are trying to make their way to Australia through Indonesia, hundreds of whom have lost their lives in Indonesian waters. In the past, Indonesian path was a calm route for the Afghan refugees, but when Australia tightened its migration policies, and after the see routes had been blocked, Afghans faced worst situations. Currently, there are thousands of Afghan refugees in refugee camps in Indonesia waiting and hoping to reach Australia and other countries. Most of the Afghan refugees have to wait for years in Indonesian camps and prisons in order to get residence in a third country. Indonesia is not a member of the International Migration Convention and, therefore, based on the laws of this country, migrants are not allowed to work in Indonesia.  

The Afghan refugees are confronted with many problems in Indonesian camps, and with a small move (for instance food strike) they are beaten and end up in prison. Based on the reports, until the end of 2014, about 3000 Afghans were imprisoned in Indonesian prisons while the Afghan government has held no step in this regard. Therefore, now it is expected that the new wave of relations between Kabul and Jakarta would also heal the wounds of Afghan refugees and prisoners in Indonesia.

The end