A very silent war

We may be able to combat a nuclear war, but the Taliban issue is our weakest spot, an Achilles’ heel for Pakistan.


Kunwar Khalid Yunus May 26, 2013
The writer served as member of the National Assembly for the MQM four times

The war on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has been going on for the last two to three years, or perhaps longer. Frequently, a landmine is detonated, firing occurs, or there is a suicide bombing on Nato forces in Kabul, Kandahar or Jalalabad, by the Taliban. Pat comes the reply within a few hours, in the very same coin, in Pakistan’s cities with attacks on our security apparatus. The sufferers are usually innocent Pakistanis. But for how long will this continue?

This is due to a taciturn confrontation between the state agencies of Pakistan and the proverbial powerful agencies of the West in Afghanistan. Don’t our decision-makers on national security think there is a great flaw? It must be rectified.

The Afghans have nothing to lose. They have suffered almost every brick of their country’s structure and seen it demolished in the two most destructive civil wars since 1979. Now, the tide is turning towards Pakistan and it will, very soon, become a tsunami. Yesterday, it was Pakistan that was winning in Afghanistan. It is no longer doing so, as now, we are on the receiving end.

On May 16, two American military vehicles in Kabul were rammed by a Taliban suicide bomber in a car packed with heavy explosives. Six American troops were killed on the spot. The response in Pakistan was expected and it was swift — within four to five hours. The target was a military convoy that was ambushed on Kohat Road, Peshawar. Several soldiers died and others were seriously injured. A second attack was directed at a police station in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa injuring several cops. These two incidents occurred within five to six hours of each other.

In a third attack, on May 17 — a Friday afternoon — two huge bombs exploded in two separate mosques, killing at least 20 persons.

The Hizb-e-Islami and its leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, are the main culprits behind the Kabul bombing. Their spokesman, Haroon Zarghon, owned the Kabul attack. Their anger came from the discovery that US forces plan to stay in substantial numbers in Afghanistan for an indefinite period of time.

Pakistan’s concerns are rich with sarcasm. For more than a decade, American, Western and Afghan leaders have accused Pakistan of sheltering Taliban commanders leading the war against US forces. Now, it is Pakistan that is the crankiest.

The situation on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is very grim. A substantial number of our troops have been deployed on our western borders after withdrawing them from the eastern border. And they continue to be withdrawn. But one thing is clear now. We have to take a decision about our internal policies about the Taliban and other jihadi outfits before the US withdrawal, set for 2014. Because, after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan is going to face hoards of Afghan Taliban — not only in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but also in the farthest, southernmost urban regions of the country — carrying out terrorist activities.

We may be able to combat a nuclear war, but the Taliban issue is our weakest spot — sort of the Achilles’ heel of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2013.

COMMENTS (24)

Rex Minor | 11 years ago | Reply

ET management, please allow my reply to GP65. GP65,

Your denials have no standing. Every 23 minutes rape in India is unparallel in human history not even in war conditions. It is indecent to quote percetages with humans, the body count and not the %ages are used for humans. They are not acceptable and Dr Manmohan Singh has been told in G8 meetings.. India stands behind saudi Arabia in women rights. You should be aware of this when you complain about women rights in other countries.

Sorry, but your writings and the attitude of the Indian Government with Pakistan leadership since partition of the land cleary indicates the presence of 'Angst' and therefore the lack of trust of your Government. This is not your fault nor is of the Indian Government but can only be attributed to historical reality when natives were mistreated at the hands of the ruling muslim conquerers and only selected were allowed in the fold of Islam; the rest in the service of the conquerers. Ths mistrust and scepticism will remain and impact the automatic function of the Brain neurons and result in irrational thinking and erronious decisions mostly based on high emotions. Your jumpiness and of others demonstrate this!!.

If you do not agree with it then be it; this is your prerogative but this is the only scientific explanation for the 'Trust' deficitl With regard to Hindu culture which has not impose any ethical or moral obligation for the school age children is real an you must be an exception if your parents taught you what 'Sins' are?

There is nothng personal but pure academic with a flavour of science, for the benefits of those who are interested in basics.

Rex Minor

gp65 | 11 years ago | Reply

ET : Rebuttal to a post drectled at me - pls. allow. @Rex Minor: Oh and one more thing. I am a child of independent India and have no angst from the Mughal rule. It is also not at all obvious to me based on any evidence available in public realm that the Taliban treat their mothers and sisters with unparalleled respect and dignity. In any case to state that one group gives unparalleled respect and dignity (implying others do not give as much respect or dignity) necessarily has to be a matter of observation not logic. Moreover a rapist may treat his own mother and sister with dignity but cannot be said to show respect for women per se. SO even if these people treated their own wives with unparalleled respect and dignity as you claim without providing any supporting facts, that would still not take away from the fact that they disempowered Afghan women during their 1996-2001 rule and given half a chance would do the same in Pakistan.Blowing up 1000 plus girls schools is just an example of their attitude.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ