Kabul’s Kurdoglu

Every time I see the character Kurdoglu in the Turkish TV show Dirilis: Ertugrul, I see Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Kurdoglu is a cunning, viscous, and selfish man who secretly plots with the enemies to destabilise his own tribe; all to become the leader of the tribe.

Ever since the US and the Taliban signed the peace deal, Ghani has used a variety of cunning moves to ensure his stay at Kabul’s presidential palace. First, he declined the release of Taliban prisoners arguing that it was the Americans, not him, who signed the deal. Later, he relented. Then he delayed the phased release of the same prisoners to ensure he is declared the winner of the Afghan’s disputed election that was held in September 2019.

Now that he has been declared president, he is loyally executing his office to perform his real job description assigned to him by his backers in New Delhi, which is derailing the peace deal between the Americans and the Taliban by creating hurdles for the release of Taliban prisoners. General Frank McKenzie, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, confirmed last week that US troops in Afghanistan went from 12,000 to 8,600. Kabul’s Kurdoglu interprets that as the end of his presidency’s raison d’etre. In order to ensure his continued presidency and even his existence, he is plotting with what Zalmay Khalilzad called the “enemies of peace”.

On Monday, there was an attack in Kabul where unknown gunmen opened fire on a vehicle of the Afghan attorney general’s office, killing all 5 passengers. Two of the prosecutors in that car were members of the team supervising the release of the Taliban prisoners. While it shows viciousness on part of the “enemies of peace”, it also shows sheer desperation.

Interestingly, there have been some terrorist attacks in Afghanistan lately, which no group has claimed responsibility for. Usually, a terrorist attack is a badge of honour for a terrorist group because its profile and fame go up, bolstering their recruitment.

However, the terrorist attack on Kabul’s maternity ward last month and the one this week killing the prosecutors are terrorism successes that are orphans. Usually, failure is an orphan, not success. But when a group becomes a foreign country’s shock troops, advertising attacks at the behest of a foreign nation is suicidal for a militant group that claims to adhere to an ideology.

Furthermore, Kabul has unusually released official casualty numbers accusing the Taliban of killing 291 Afghan NDS forces and 550 wounded in 422 attacks unleashed in 7 days. The Taliban denied it and called it a “propaganda” by Kabul to undermine the peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

However, and it may sound crude, didn’t Ghani order his forces to be in the “offensive mode” against the Taliban after Ghani blamed the Taliban for the Kabul maternity ward attack? Declaring a war against an enemy and then complaining about the deaths the enemy brings is exactly what Kurdoglu would do. The Taliban had denied involvement in the maternity ward attack and the US also blamed ISIS for it. Kabul’s Kurdoglu can release the identities of those attackers and make his case. But he won’t because it will blow the cover over India’s plausible deniability.

While the Taliban always rejected talking to Ghani, calling him the “puppet”, it turns out it is actually Ghani who does not want the talks to succeed. It’s sort of like a whodunit story where the Taliban always rejected talking to the “puppet” but the real “enemies of peace” happen to be the Kabul regime and India.

The next team of prosecutors must wear a mask, not necessarily to protect against the virus, but also against the shenanigans of Kabul’s Kurdoglu. Cowards (enemies of peace) don’t hide behind a mask, they hide behind their Kurdoglu.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2020.

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