The so-called war on terror has continued without success for the past 15 years and cost lives of 60,000 Pakistanis
ISLAMABAD: After the US invasion of Afghanistan — which was a dismal failure — the US forced Pakistan to support its so-called war on terror that has continued without success for the past 15 years and has cost the lives of 60,000 Pakistanis. Twice now, President Barack Obama has reiterated that Pakistan must do more to thwart terrorism, a problem that was created by the invasion of Afghanistan. Both the APS and Bacha Khan attacks were controlled by Taliban forces from inside Afghanistan. The US still maintains troop presence inside Afghanistan in support of the Afghan security forces, which are suffering from mass desertions. Perhaps the US should do more in Afghanistan to thwart terrorism by increasing troop strength there, which, of course, will never happen in an election year in the US. With a problem that found its roots in the abandonment of Pakistan after the CIA-backed support of the Afghan Mujahideen during the Afghanistan-Russia conflict, it is incredulous that President Obama has the audacity to insist that Pakistan “do more” now even as we observe the US doing less, other than begging the Afghan Taliban to come to the negotiating table. The US is currently bogged down by the conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere. To increase troop strength in Afghanistan now in light of its ill-timed troop drawdown in 2014 would be akin to admitting yet another failure of their so-called war on terror.
Did the US not expect a blowback?
Dan Hanley
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2016.
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