Ammar Ali Jan@ammaralijan
The Taliban claimed that 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on a rehabilitation center in Kabul. While many independent observers challenged the numbers and the precise location of the attack, it is beyond doubt that a high number of civilian casualties occured in Kabul. This is an atrocious incident that not only undermines humanity, but would also fan the dangerous flames of hatred between the two nations.
The response is predictable. Many claim that "400 is an exaggerated number" (what number of bombed civilians would be acceptable to our conscience?), while others indulge in an endless search for an original sin by reminding us that "the Taliban also killed our civilians". Sure, there has been an exponential increase in violent attacks emanating from Afghanistan, a fact noted by regional powers, including Russia and China. It has severely impacted Pakistan with incessant attacks on our mosques, imambargahs, hospitals, courts and security personnel. Yet, why stop the clock where it is convenient for our national narrative?
It would have taken no genius to predict that a Taliban-run Afghanistan would become a hotbed for religious extremism and militancy.
However, our state continued to provide covert support to the Taliban project despite being the frontline state in the US-led "War on Terror". Decades earlier, we became the frontline state in another US-led counterrevolutionary war against the socialist government in Afghanistan. Our current defense minister, Khwaja Asif, has admitted that both these wars were the result of Pakistan's addiction to dollars, rather than any commitment to Islam or counter-terrorism.
This history does not mean, of course, that Pakistan is disqualified from raising genuine grievances, particularly pertaining to the rising incidents of terror that are slaughtering our citizens on a daily basis. Yet, no efforts have been made to find the political root causes of the insurgency, including addressing concerns of political forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, who fear the state's double role based on past experiences. Instead, we have been thrust into a war where we remain unaware whether the end goal is the destruction of TTP camps, downgrading Afghan Taliban's military infrastructure, or regime change. To make matters worse, we do not even know what victory would look like on any of these fronts, opening the spectre of endless asymmetrical warfare between the two countries.
It is not surprising that during its abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US left behind weapons worth $7 billion that continue to circulate and are used by multiple proxy groups that target both Pakistani and Afghan civilians. The imperialist aim is not to support any particular group but to deliberately create an unstable situation and generate conflict and chaos across the region, similar to the US tactics in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, where it provided weapons to both sides so that the two neighbours could turn their lands into killing fields. The long-term aim, of course, is to create enough destabilization on the borders of China and Russia in order to reverse any gains being made by the emergence of a multipolar world.
The volatile regional situation after US-Zionist aggression on Iran is all the more reason to exercise extreme caution. Pakistanis must demand accountability and transparency of military operations, and compel the government to present a clear roadmap in front of the parliament, delineating how the current policy differs from the catastrophic practices of the past. Both governments must also respect each other's inviolable sovereignty and territorial integrity, and with mediation from regional powers, must begin to cooperate in the fight against terror.
Most importantly, every effort must be made to avoid the resumption of hostilities, as the continuation of this mindless conflict would be an unprecedented disaster for our people and a gift to the enemies of our region.
