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Archive for category AFGHANISTAN BASED RAW TRAINED TALIBAN ACTIONS

Afghanistan: The War That Shames America By Eric Margolis

Posted by admin in Afghan Regugees, AFGHANISTAN, Afghanistan, AFGHANISTAN BASED RAW TRAINED TALIBAN ACTIONS, Afghanistan Hell, Afghanistan-Hell for Western Troops, Afghanistan-Land of Backstabbers, Foolish Wars of Foolish Nations, Taliban & Afghanistan War, US on August 24th, 2018

Afghanistan: The War That Shames America

By Eric Margolis

August 20, 2018

 After 17 bloody years, the longest war in US history continues without relent or purpose in Afghanistan.

There, a valiant, fiercely-independent people, the Pashtun (Pathan) mountain tribes, have battled the full might of the US Empire to a stalemate that has so far cost American taxpayers $4 trillion, and 2,371 dead and 20,320 wounded soldiers. No one knows how many Afghans have died. The number is kept secret.

Pashtun tribesmen in the Taliban alliance and their allies are fighting to oust all foreign troops from Afghanistan and evict the western-imposed and backed puppet regime in Kabul that pretends to be the nation’s legitimate government. Withdraw foreign troops and the Kabul regime would last for only days.

The whole thing smells of the Vietnam War. Lessons so painfully learned by America in that conflict have been completely forgotten and the same mistakes repeated. The lies and happy talk from politicians, generals and media continue apace.

This week, Taliban forces occupied the important strategic city of Ghazni on the road from Peshawar to Kabul. It took three days and massive air attacks by US B-1 heavy bombers, Apache helicopter gunships, A-10 ground attack aircraft, and massed warplanes from US bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar and the 5th US Fleet to finally drive back the Taliban assault. Taliban also overran key military targets in Kabul and the countryside, killing hundreds of government troops in a sort of Afghan Tet offensive.

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Afghan regime police and army units put up feeble resistance or ran away. Parts of Ghazni were left in ruins. It was a huge embarrassment to the US imperial generals and their Afghan satraps who had claimed ‘the corner in Afghanistan has finally been turned.’

Efforts by the Trump administration to bomb the Taliban into submission have clearly failed. US commanders fear using American ground troops in battle lest they suffer serious casualties. Meanwhile, the US is running low on bombs.

Roads are now so dangerous for the occupiers that most movement must be by air. Taliban is estimated to permanently control almost 50% of Afghanistan. That number would rise to 100% were it not for omnipresent US air power. Taliban rules the night.

Taliban are not and never were ‘terrorists’ as Washington’s war propaganda falsely claimed. I was there at the creation of the movement – a group of Afghan religious students armed by Pakistan whose goal was to stop post-civil war banditry, the mass rape of women, and to fight the Afghan Communists. When the Taliban gained power, it eliminated 95% of the rampant Afghanistan opium-heroin trade. After the US invaded, allied to the old Afghan Communists and northern Tajik tribes, opium-heroin production soared to record levels. Today, US-occupied Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium, morphine and heroin.

US occupation authorities claim drug production is run by the Taliban. This is another big lie. The Afghan warlords who support the regime of President Ashraf Ghani entirely control the production and export of drugs. The army and secret police get a big cut. How else would trucks packed with drugs get across the border into Pakistan and Central Asia?

The United States has inadvertently become one of the world’s leading drug dealers. This is one of the most shameful legacies of the Afghan War. But just one. Watching the world’s greatest powerbomb and ravage little Afghanistan, a nation so poor that some of its people can’t afford sandals, is a huge dishonour for Americans.

Even so, the Pashtun defeated the invading armies of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, the Mogul Emperors and the mighty British Raj. The US looks to be next in the Graveyard of Empires.

Nobody in Washington can enunciate a good reason for continuing the colonial war in Afghanistan. One hears talk of minerals, women’s rights and democracy as a pretext for keeping US forces in Afghanistan. All nonsense. A possible real reason is to deny influence over Afghanistan, though the Chinese are too smart to grab this poisoned cup. They have more than enough with their rebellious Uighur Muslims.

Interestingly, the so-called ‘terrorist training camps’ supposedly found in Afghanistan in 2001 were actually guerilla training camps run by Pakistani intelligence to train Kashmiri rebels and CIA-run camps for exiled Uighur fighters from China.

The canard that the US had to invade Afghanistan to get at Osama bin Laden, alleged author of the 9/11 attacks, is untrue. The attacks were made by Saudis and mounted from Hamburg and Madrid, not Afghanistan. I’m not even sure bin Laden was behind the attacks.

My late friend and journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave shared my doubts and insisted that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar offered to turn bin Laden over to a court in a Muslim nation to prove his guilt or innocence.

President George Bush, caught sleeping on guard duty and humiliated, had to find an easy target for revenge – and that was Afghanistan.

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune the Los Angeles Times, Times of London, the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times, Nation – Pakistan, Hurriyet, – Turkey, Sun-Times Malaysia and other news sites in Asia. ericmargolis.com

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Future Expects Tougher Times for Afghanistan by Ishaal Zehra

Posted by Fayad in Afghan Regugees, AFGHANISTAN, AFGHANISTAN BASED RAW TRAINED TALIBAN ACTIONS, Afghanistan Hell, Afghanistan-Hell for Western Troops, Foolish Wars of Foolish Nations, Taliban & Afghanistan War, US on April 25th, 2018

Future Expects Tougher Times for Afghanistan

Ishaal Zehra

 

 

 

In the changing geopolitical scenario, President Trump’s Afghanistan policy signifies tougher times for an already fallen regime.

The US urgency for an exit from this decades’ old Afghan war is being felt by the policy thinkers and onlookers though there is no working timeline given by President Trump. Determining the cost and productiveness of the troops in Afghanistan, the businessman turned President of the United States is now interested in withdrawing those troops from this costly war. The uncertainty produced in the region thus has translated into a situation where the other regional actors are responding to the reservations by aligning their own interests.

For these countries, there is no uncertainty about the bottom line. The White House is looking for an exit with the shortest considerable timeline. This has also been confirmed by the departure of ex-trump advisor on Afghanistan, H.R. McMaster, and the appointment of Iran and North Korea focused, John Bolton as his successor.

The US military commanders are seen moving quickly to finish the job. The situation has become so obscure that the other powers in the region — the two influentials, China, Russia and neighbouring Iran, India, and Pakistan — have started recognizing their security options, threats and opportunities once the United States fully withdraws, while minutely weighing in the limitations of the Kabul government.

The US is building up the strength of Afghan units with a re-energized air campaign and new advisory units emplaced with Afghan army battalions while the administration pushes for talks with the Taliban in order to bring a negotiated end to the conflict. China has made it clear that it will support Afghan government-led efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict with the Taliban – an approach which is supported by the United States. It has also signed a defence agreement with Afghanistan to build a base in northern Afghanistan and set up a trilateral contact group with Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat terrorism.

Moscow, on the other hand, has heightened cooperation between Russia and Pakistan that is empirically visible. In February of this year, Moscow appointed an honorary consul in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. Moreover, the addition of Russian language signage in the tribal belt and even around Islamabad also reflect upon the camaraderie both the countries are enjoying. Iran’s concern about ISIS spillover beyond her boundaries can be seen as a reason behind its move to cement relation with Pakistan. In the past Iran and India have traditionally worked together at many visible times, however, as India has now moved closer to the United States and Israel, Iran has begun to take on a more adversarial tone vis-à-vis India. This became quite visible in 2017 when Iran rejected Trump’s call for greater Indian engagement in Afghanistan and criticized Indian military actions in Kashmir.

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Other small non-aligned countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan have joined Russia and China in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) thus putting their weight behind these big regional powers. Apparently, India seems to be the only odd man out in the aligning of interests in the region. It has a long and most of the time troubled relationship with both China and Pakistan having a history of hostile conflicts with both. Her relations with Iran have become more difficult in recent years as New Delhi deepened her relations with the United States. This new friendship with the US has actually dismissed the chances of allying with her long-gone love of the past, Russia also.

Russia is the dominant military partner for Central Asia while China takes the lead in economic activities. Owing to the changing US policies in Afghanistan, both the countries, for varied reasons, are concerned about the ability of the Afghan government to keep control of its territory and its capability to fully contain the radical elements without the support of US army. Besides, they also recognize the importance of the role Pakistan is playing in reigning in the militants. And this recognition has made them adopt a two-track policy: providing support for the Afghan government while trying to get Pakistan on board vis-a-vis the Taliban.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is coming at a time when the United States has relegated Pakistan’s role in the Afghan conflict culmination strategy and blocked the military assistance funds to Islamabad on the pretext of not doing more. The inability of the Afghan government to address the prevailing security situation is having a negative impact on her economic development consequently leading the major regional powers to look for other options to stabilize the region. Moreover, India will never put her boots on the ground because she is still been haunted by her failed experience with intervention in Sri Lanka in the 1980s. Also, given the uneasy relationship with Pakistan and Iran, the geography of the region precludes an easy way to do this and Indian army is neither trained to nor have the courage to go for a war in this terrain single-handedly.

Stakeholders in Afghanistan need to understand new ground realities. Any viable regional mechanism for taking on the Afghan cauldron cannot seem possible without having Pakistan on board. Especially at a time when both Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the course of redefining mutual relations. For a peaceful and economic exit plan, the US also cannot deny that Pakistan provides unmatchable logistic routes for the foreign forces engaged in the Afghan war. Routes through Pakistan are the shortest and cheapest and presently are the safest owing to the Pakistan army’s resolve to ascertain peace in the country. Another exit option could be through aligning the SCO with US exit policy since all the major regional powers are available under this one umbrella. Interestingly, and quite contrary to the US beliefs, the members of the SCO also trust Pakistan of being the lone brave lion to handle this menace impeccably. A better understanding of regional sensitivities will help the US to better grasp the situation in Afghanistan if she really wants to end this decades-old deadly conflict.

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The Afghan War Settlement

Posted by admin in Afghan Refugees Bombing in Pakistan, Afghan Regugees, AFGHANISTAN, AFGHANISTAN BASED RAW TRAINED TALIBAN ACTIONS, Afghanistan Hell, Afghanistan-Land of Backstabbers on February 1st, 2016

 

 

There-Are-18-Million-Afghan-Refugees-In-Pakistan-Alone-And-More-Than-28-Million-Total

Reference: 

The Afghan War Settlement

 

 

In 1979, Russian forces invaded Afghanistan. Communism came to the threshold of Pakistan when forces led by Babrak Karmel overthrew the Government of Afghanistan. Some 120,000 Russian troops entered Afghanistan .The Afghan people organized a resistance force against this blatant aggression. The Soviet forces suffered greatly in terms of manpower and material, and the Afghan War proved expensive even for a world power like the Soviet Union.

It has always been said about Afghanistan that it can be invaded and occupied easily but it is very difficult to hold and control it. Afghans have a history of resisting foreign invaders. The British imperial power failed in all three attempts to occupy and control Afghanistan. The Soviets were to learn the same lesson. In the beginning, the Soviet army was successful in occupying and controlling Afghanistan.

The Numbers Given Below are Not Accurate:The Are 10 Times Higher:Afghan Refugee Camps in Pakistan Province of KPK, Balochistan,Punjab

General Zia stood against the spread of communism. He reiterated his solution to the Afghanistan crisis in 1983 in New Delhi. He said that Pakistan has given political asylum to millions of Afghans. He demanded the expulsion of Russian forces from Afghanistan. America responded to the call of Pakistan and flooded Pakistan with monetary help to finance the anti-communist regime in Afghanistan and to equip the freedom fighters. The freedom fighters, the mujahideen, put forward a strong resistance to the Russian invasion. Although the Afghans suffered enormous causalities in the beginning of the war but the turning point in the war came when the U. S. supplied them with surface-to-air Stinger missiles.

danger. As Pakistan was a frontline state, huge amounts of money, military equipment and aid arrived in Pakistan. The huge amounts of aid that poured in propped up Zia’s government. With the Afghan problem, a new phase of modernization of the military began. The arms provided to Afghanistan freedom fighters were also provided to the Pakistan Army. As a result the Pakistan Army became better equipped.

Other than the problems faced due to the Afghan War efforts, the Soviet Empire was breaking apart at the seams. This led the Soviets to seek peace in Afghanistan. Negotiations on Afghanistan were carried out under Zia’s Government, and the Geneva Accord was signed on April 14, 1988, under which the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its forces in two installments .The Soviet Government lived up to its commitment of withdrawal of forces according to the agreed timetable.

The victory in Afghanistan was achieved at a great cost to Pakistan. It had to look after and feed more than three million Afghan refugees that had crossed over to Pakistan. The refugees were a great economic burden on Pakistan. Not only this but, they also caused the problem of drugs and gunrunning in the country.

Long after the Soviet forces had left Afghanistan, fighting continued between the various factions of the mujahideen. With the emergence of the Taliban, Pakistan found itself an ally in Afghanistan that enforced peace and virtually eliminated the drug cultivation. After the September 11 tragedy of 2001, world attention again focused on Afghanistan as they considered it as training grounds of terrorists responsible for the tragedy. The Talibans were removed by power and a U. S. led coalition installed an interim government in Afghanistan, which till today keeps a fragile peace in the country. Meanwhile Pakistan continues to suffer numerous problems from the legacy of the Afghan War such as refugees, drugs, guns, crime, and terrorism.

Courtesy:

A great site for history of Pakistan

http://storyofpakistan.com/the-afghan-war-settlement

This article was last updated on Sunday, June 01, 2003.

Additional Readings:

2015 UNHCR country operations profile – Pakistan

 

 

 

 

UNHCR 2015 planning figures for Pakistan
Type of population Origin January 2015 December 2015
Total in country Of whom assisted
by UNHCR		 Total in country Of whom assisted
by UNHCR
Total 2,311,750 2,311,750 2,352,080 2,352,080

 

 

| Overview |

 

 

 

Working environment

  • Pakistan hosts almost 18 million registered Afghan refugees – still the largest protracted refugee population globally. Since 2002, UNHCR has facilitated the return of 3.8 million registered Afghans from Pakistan.

  • Efforts to address the needs of Afghan refugees and their host communities, and to advance durable solutions, are undertaken within the framework of the regional Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR), the tripartite agreement on voluntary repatriation, and the Government of Pakistan’s national policy on Afghan refugees.

  • To complement UNHCR and partners’ international support, the Government of Pakistan has extended Afghan refugees’ Proof of Registration (PoR) cards until the end of 2015, issued birth certificates for 800,000 Afghan refugee children, provided land for several refugee villages, and given refugees access to public schools and health clinics.

  • In August 2014, there were 714,548 registered internally displaced people (IDPs) in need of humanitarian assistance due to the ongoing security operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The North Waziristan emergency has further displaced approximately 500,000 people.

  • The operating environment for humanitarian actors in Pakistan remains volatile, with fragile security, as well as access, social and economic challenges likely to affect humanitarian operations. In order to improve outreach to populations of concern and to build local capacity, UNHCR works closely with local partners and government counterparts.

People of concern

The main groups of people of concern planned for in 2015 under the Pakistan operation include: Afghan refugees, of whom approximately one-third live in refugee villages, and two-thirds in urban and rural host communities; some 7,000 asylum-seekers and individually-recognized refugees from various countries (mostly Afghans), living mainly in urban areas; IDPs, including those relocated by military operations and ethnic/religious conflicts in FATA, and, since the beginning of military operations in June 2014, IDPs from North Waziristan; and three groups presumed to be stateless or at risk of statelessness in Pakistan, namely Bengalis and Biharis, as well as Rohingyas from Myanmar.

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Pakistan’s ailments by Brig (Retd).Asif Haroon Raja

Posted by admin in AFGHANISTAN, AFGHANISTAN BASED RAW TRAINED TALIBAN ACTIONS, Afghanistan Hell, Afghanistan-Land of Backstabbers, INDIAN GOVTS LIES EXPOSED, INDIAN TERRORISM FROM CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS on September 26th, 2015

Pakistan’s ailments

Asif Haroon Raja

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pakistan is inflicted with large numbers of diseases and some of the reasons for these afflictions are leadership crisis, feudalism, weak governance, financial mismanagement, rampant corruption and crime, weak judicial system, lack of accountability, non-adherence to rule of law, political polarization, tense civil-military relations, provincialism, lack of nationalism and above all India’s meddlesome role which wants to keep Pakistan politically unstable, economically weak and militarily fragile. These diseases have given rise to religious extremism and terrorism and impeded Pakistan’s progress. Among the ailments, corruption has become cancerous and is contaminating the moral turpitude of the society. In order to control this cancerous disease, our leaders have been making some token efforts but none succeeded in curing it since all went for symptoms and none made any effort to cure it.

PML whose leadership was wholly from India soon got factionalised and lost its shine in 1954 after getting defeated at the hands of Jugto Front in East Pakistan. It made no effort to end feudalism and absentee landlordism and to integrate the society. East-West wrangling over power and security concerns impelled our leaders to accord higher priority to defence over development. To deal with corruption among the politicians, Liaquat Ali Khan introduced PRADA. Ayub Khan enforced EBDO to keep parasitic politicians out of power but couldn’t keep them out for long. Gen Yahya Khan sacked 303 officials to put sense in corrupt bureaucracy but the effort proved elusive. He presided over the breakup of Pakistan into two in 1971. ZA Bhutto sacked large numbers of senior military officers and set up Hamoodur Rahman Commission to probe East Pakistan debacle to rein in military establishment but failed. He created dreaded FSF and opened up Dalai Camp to put fear into the hearts of his political opponents but couldn’t. In his bid to alleviate the poor he inculcated indiscipline in the society. His promotion of secularism antagonized the Islamists and widened Islamic-secular divide.

In his bid to discipline the unruly Jayalas, Gen Ziaul Haq setup Qazi courts and whipped the offenders but it made little difference except for inculcating never ending hatred of the PPP against him. During his tenure religious extremism and sectarianism gathered pace due to seeping in of Kalashnikov and drug cultures from Afghanistan. During Benazir’s two tenures corruption increased. PML-N in its second tenure in 1990s established Ehtesab Bureau to deal with large-scale corruption cases of PPP leaders and affiliated bureaucrats but the judiciary couldn’t convict any. Era of 1990s heightened political polarization. Gen Musharraf formed much trumpeted NAB but soon it gave in to political expediency and NAB became a tool to garner political support and to victimize opponents. His pro-western policies, compromise on Kashmir and promotion of secularism under the garb of enlightened moderation provoked the Islamists and intensified religious extremism.   

Military operation was launched in Sindh by Nawaz in 1992 to deal with dacoits and criminals but it was halted midstream by Nawaz Sharif owing to political expediency. Decision was taken despite knowing that MQM was linked with RAW and recovering Jinnahpur maps and flags from MQM unit offices. This lapse proved very expensive. Another Rangers-Police operation was launched during Benazir’s second tenure in 1995/96 but it too was called off before breaking the back of criminals affiliated with MQM. Besides lack of political will, other reason for failure of the two operations to rid Karachi of criminals was poor performance of the judiciary which let off all arrested criminals for want of evidence. The MQM known to be having an armed wing and involved in heinous crimes since 1984 remained in government in Sindh and in the centre as a coalition partner with PPP and PML-N all along. MQM gained extra ordinary strength during the nine year rule of Gen Musharraf. His worst sin was issuance of infamous NRO in October 2007 essentially meant to cleanse PPP leadership and bring the party back to power. Not only the corrupt leaders of PPP indicted in corruption charges were absolved, 8000 MQM leaders and workers involved in heinous crimes were also pardoned. As a consequence, the MQM in league with PPP wrecked havoc in Sindh during their rule from 2008 till March 2013. RAW in league with MQM and helped by PPP choked the jugular vein to suffocate Pakistan.

Whatever actions taken against corruption in the past were at best cosmetic. No consistent effort was ever put in to root out this evil which has contaminated the moral turpitude of the society as whole. Whatever efforts made were at best aimed at treating the symptoms and not curing the disease. The elites involved in mega corruption were hardly touched. Most were let off after plea bargain. As a result, fascination for corruption kept growing and made individuals and few families dirty rich, emptied national kitty, made the country debt ridden and dependent upon foreign aid, and made the poor poorer. Corruption scaled new heights during PPP-MQM-ANP coalition black rule from March 2008 till March 2013. NAB was made toothless and accountability set aside on the plea of national reconciliation. Loot and plunder became a norm, corruption was institutionalized, merit axed and cronyism promoted. Only those who were adept in mal practices were given key jobs and the honest sidelined. As a consequence, corruption scaled new heights. State corporations became non-productive and railway, PIA and Steel Mills became white elephants. Foreign debts doubled, economy reached the verge of collapse. Pakistan suffered from worst energy crisis and was seen as a failing and irrelevant state. 

The ones rolling in wealth began to finance mafias, terrorists and criminal gangs to further multiply their ill-gotten wealth and protect their political power and clout. Karachi became the major den of these evil practices. Absence of security and justice forced business magnates to migrate to other countries. Karachi, which is the economic hub-centre of Pakistan, began to die a slow economic death. 2013 elections reduced PPP from  national to regional party but still it learnt no lesson and not only retained aged and inept CM Qaim Ali Shah but also continued with its looting spree. Although the MQM remote controlled by Altaf Hussain from London since 1992 lost its blackmailing power for the first time after it was not made a coalition partner in Sindh and in the Centre, it continued with its criminal activities and the Sindh government looked the other way.

It was owing to constantly deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi where the daily toll of deaths at the hands of unknown target killers was 10-15, that intelligence based and Rangers led operation was launched in September 2013 with the blessings of regional political parties. Substantial progress has been achieved by law enforcing agencies in Karachi against terrorists and criminals. Majority of nabbed criminals belong to MQM. Lower tier MQM leaders have disclosed the involvement of their top leadership in terrorism and criminal activities.  Incidents of target killings, kidnappings, extortion street crimes have been radically brought down. RAW agents are being arrested and MQM’s connection with RAW since early 1990s has been established. RAW is deeply entrenched in Sindh and it has of late shifted its base from Afghanistan to coastal belt of Pakistan where it has large numbers of brainwashed Pakistani fishermen who had been caught from the high seas and then released after months of detention and indoctrination. Urban terrorism in Karachi is yet to be fully controlled owing to presence of RAW agents and Rs 230 billion annual financial terrorism spearheaded by PPP and MQM.

While the noose around the neck of MQM has been tightened, the PPP leadership which is part of the problem is yet to be collared. Arrest of some leading lights of PPP particularly Dr Asim, blue-eyed boy of Zardari, involved in corruption and their confessions have brought to light the involvement of higher leadership of PPP in financial terrorism. JIT has collected sufficient evidence, which has rattled PPP leadership. In the wake of impediments created by Sindh government and objections raised on acts of Rangers after the raid on Sindh Control Board, NAB and FIA was married up with Rangers in Sindh and operation accelerated to nab bigwigs involved in corruption and financial terrorism. This move has alarmed Sindh Government and made Asif Zardari, now based in Dubai/London nervous. He first fired his guns against the military but now he is targeting the government. PPP leaders are aping MQM by making hue and cry and are threatening the government of dire consequences. Both the MQM and PPP leaders are wailing as to why their workers/leaders are being arrested on charges of terrorism, criminal acts and corruption and pushed against the wall. They say why only Sindh politicians/officials are being targeted and why not Punjab politicians/officials.      

On one hand corruption is eating into the vitals of the country like termite; terrorism has shaken the foundations of Pakistan. Terrorism is relatively a new phenomenon which was deliberately pushed into Pakistan after 9/11 by scheming foreign powers harboring dangerous designs. Ongoing efforts till recent have remained focused against terrorism while other hazards were looked the other way under the flawed concept of national reconciliation. FATA, Swat and Baluchistan and later on Karachi became the hub of terrorism. Terrorists were financed, equipped and trained by RAW and other anti-Pakistan intelligence agencies as well as local elites. Operation Zarb-e-Azb launched in June 2014 in the wake of terrorist attack on Karachi airport and accelerated after Peshawar School tragedy on December 16, 2014 succeeded in dismantling main base camp of terrorists in North Waziristan. Last toehold of militants in Shawal Valley in Datta Khel district is being cleared. Likewise separatist movement in Balochistan has to a large extent been defused. Abettors and sympathizers of terrorists residing in urban centres are also being taken to task. National Action Plan is gradually being implemented although the progress is slow. External and internal financing has prevented security forces from bottling up terrorism.

Notwithstanding the fact that Pak security forces have dismantled the network, command & control centres, communication network, training grounds of militants in FATA and broken their back, sporadic acts of terror are still taking place since their bases are still active in Kunar, Nuristan and Nangarhar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Absconding Fazlullah and Khalid Khurasani are being fully patronized by Afghan NDS and elements of Afghan Army. Latest attack on Badaber camp was planned by Khurasani. Former President Hamid Karzai and Dr Abdullah who are pro-India are supporting cross border terrorism. President Ashraf Ghani wants to get closer to Pakistan but he is weak since he lacks political roots. After few months of bonhomie, he has started to speak the language of Karzai and Abdullah against Pakistan. India has a big hand in keeping Afghan-Pakistan relations tense. RAW is making frantic efforts to further destabilize troubled regions of Pakistan and to scuttle under-construction China-Pakistan economic corridor since it knows its commissioning will make Pakistan strong and prosperous.It knows that CPEC will defeat Indo-US plan to encircle Pakistan and China and foil establishment of the US Asia pivot. Besides covert operations, India has also heated up the LoC in Kashmir and working boundary in Sialkot sector and has adopted a highly belligerent posture to overawe Pakistan.           

Opposition leader Khurshid Shah is advising the military to focus its attention towards the borders rather than towards the misdoings of political forces. Slogan of ‘democracy is in danger’ is being raised. In simple words, corrupt politicians want a free hand to indulge in mal practices and to promote sham democracy. They are least bothered about India’s aggression along the LoC and Working Boundary or about national interests but are extremely worried that their selfish interests which are in jeopardy. The Army chief wants to expose all faces abetting, harboring, financing and helping the terrorists while the MQM and PPP wanting to hide and protect them as well as their ill-gotten wealth are making concerted efforts to fail the operation or as a minimum slow it down.

The government on the other hand is continuing to follow self-defeating policy of appeasement towards India and has yet to take tangible steps to expose Indian jingoism and terrorism in Pakistan despite having tons of proofs of involvement of RAW in Balochistan and Karachi. For unknown reasons it has been reluctant to take up the case to the UN and to mount a diplomatic and media offensive to expose the ugly face of India. It is high time an astute and seasoned Foreign Minister is appointed. Internally, pressure generated by PPP, MQM as well as PTI is unnerving Nawaz Sharif and he is fearful that political parties are ganging up to de-seat him. Tied to Charter of Democracy with PPP, he wants to terminate Karachi operation before the big fish are netted particularly because of his apprehension that sooner than later the hand of NAB will fall on PML-N as well. After-all, all have been bathing in the same tub. He is finding himself in a fix because of pressure from military establishment and the public both wanting to take Operation Zarb-e-Azb as well as Karachi operation to their logical end. Gen Raheel Sharif has on several occasions expressed his resolve not to rest till complete elimination of terrorism and those promoting it.

Gen Raheel’s growing popularity because of his exemplary personal conduct is another upsetting factor for Nawaz. He has not forgotten his rough experiences with Gen Kakar and Gen Musharraf and cannot altogether rule out repeat of similar action, particularly when the people and vested groups want the Army to takeover and rid the country of multiple diseases. It is now to be seen how long Nawaz will remain firm and aligned with the Army against the PPP and MQM. It is in his interest and Pakistan’s interest to back up the military engaged in battling vermin and foreign paid militants incapacitating Pakistan. Towards this end, the government should make strenuous efforts to operationalise all 20 points of NAP as soon as possible and help the Army in knocking off all obstacles in its way and in catching the big fish to make Karachi peaceful.

Delay in this will benefit the MQM the most, which is busy poisoning the minds of Urdu speaking Karachiites that the operation is Muhajir specific to hand over political power to other communities. There is a need to revisit 18th Amendment particularly after Zardari and Altaf outbursts, both playing Sindhi and Muhajir cards respectively. Either the germs of regionalism and fissiparous tendencies in smaller provinces should be killed by making efforts to integrate the divided society, or else 18th Amendment which is recipe for fragmentation of Pakistan, should be set aside. Steps must be taken to prevent cross border terrorism from Afghan soil. Strategy to pullout regular troops from war on terror must be worked out. Kashmir issue must be highlighted with full force. To effectively counter the internal/external challenges it is important to put own house in order, gear up accountability process and keep civil-military relations harmonious.

The writer is a retired Brig, war veteran/defence analyst/columnist/author of five books, Director Measac Research Centre, Director Board of Governors TFP. asifharoonraja@gmail.com         

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The rising threat of terrorism and Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Posted by admin in Afghan Regugees, NDS-Afghan Intelligence on September 24th, 2015

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Pakistan suffered a great shock with three major bomb attacks carried out in the country in the past month. In a recent attack, six people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Lahore police headquarters. Less than two weeks ago, a Shia mosque in Peshawar was attacked during the Friday prayer (the most crowded time in a mosque), which killed 20 civilians and injured more than 50 people.

The Pakistani Taliban undertook both attacks. Mohammad Horasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, made a statement regarding the attacks and said the reason for the attack was the execution by the Pakistani government last December of Dr. Usman, who was said to be the mastermind behind the attack on the Pakistani Army general headquarters in October 2009. Horasani also said they would continue to take revenge and that these attacks were just the start.

The gradual increase in attacks that target civilians in Pakistan points to the possible chaos in the country, which is going through a very critical period in terms of security and stability. Less than a month ago, another Shia mosque in Shikarpur was attacked, and more than 60 civilians died. In another attack on a military high school in Peshawar on Dec. 16, more than 150 people were killed, including 134 children.

Following the attacks, the death penalty, which had been abolished several years ago, was reinstated and the militants who were held responsible for the military high school attack were executed. The main purpose of the attacks carried out by different groups in the Pakistani Taliban in the past month was to call the Pakistani government to account and take revenge.

It was declared earlier that a wing of the Pakistani Taliban paid homage to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). ISIL aims to increase its activities in Central Asia as well as in South Asia, another unstable, volatile region after the Middle East. The Pakistani administration has taken new measures in order to follow an active and effective policy against terrorist groups especially after the military high school attack. After reinstating the death penalty, the Pakistani government also established military courts to make an imprisonment sentence quicker and increased the number and expanded the area of attacks in particular in areas close to the border of Afghanistan.

However, these measures are problematic as they either focus on the expansion of current military operations or on the militants who have carried out the attacks. There is no policy aiming to prevent possible attacks and take pre-emptive action. Yet, there has to be efficient and effective policies that aim to deal with the daily problems of the Shiites and other religious minority groups such as discrimination and violence.

The Afghan refugees in Pakistan are one of the most affected groups from such attacks, which have increased gradually. These refugees, who had to flee Afghanistan due to the climate of war in the past 35 years and took refuge in Pakistan, have been experiencing hardship here but at the same time they live shoulder-to-shoulder with their Pakistani neighbors. In the wake of the recent attacks, Afghan refugees began to be exposed to violence and marginalization from Pakistani officials and their Pakistani neighbors. Even though the Pakistani Taliban carried out the military high school attack, two of the attackers were Afghan, and this is one of the main reasons there has been use of violence and anger towards Afghan refugees.

The recent attacks in the country brought the Pakistani government and the opposition together on the same page after a very long time. It is clearly very important to get wide public support on the measures taken and develop policies to fight against terrorism. However, it is also a serious issue that these decisions and their implementations should be “right” and inclusive and should not exclude and factionalize the Afghan refuges and religious minority groups. After all, Afghanistan is currently not capable of providing a peaceful and prosperous life for these people due to its unstable and unsecure environment.

*Salih Doğan is a research fellow at the Turkey Institute, a Ph.D. candidate at Keele University and a research assistant at Turgut Özal University.

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