Mohammad Jamil
There is something sinister being played around Pakistan. If one carefully analyses the statements issued by former US national security advisor Zhigniew Brezynski and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger visualizing a situation beyond Pakistan’s existence, read along with US Generals’ conjectures, it is not difficult to understand the US intentions and designs. However, India is not behind in these sinister moves. A news item captioned ‘Pak Army Disastrous Obsession with India’ was published in New Delhi- based RAW front Organization titled “A Publication of Bureau of Political Research and analysis” on 23rd November 2017. The author stated: “Pakistan Army’s hatred and antagonism towards India is beyond doubt, and India is portrayed as an existential threat to Pakistan. The civilian governments in Pakistan have tried to improve relations with India but their efforts were frustrated by the Generals. A judicial coup in Pakistan was orchestrated backed by Army.”
The RAW publication is the master mind of the false propaganda and subversive themes against Pakistan Army on one pretext or the other. The main emphasis is to malign the image of Pakistan and highlight Pak Army’s differences with political government in Pakistan. The RAW publication in a bid to get its viewpoint massive support abroad, manipulated at international forums by incorporating views of think tanks to further paint gloomy picture of Pakistan. After US President Donald Trump announced its new strategy for Afghanistan, US-India-Afghanistan nexus has stepped its efforts to defame Pakistan and its institutions through orchestrated propaganda joined by other countries like France. US Vice President Mike Pence has visited Afghanistan the other day and outlined Trump’s strategy in Afghanistan during a surprise trip to Bagram Air Base.
Addressing the hundreds of troops at the base, Pence said: “Trump has put Pakistan on notice and that the country has much to lose if it continues to harbor terrorists. And has much to gain from partnering with the United States.” These were the exact words Trump had uttered while announcing a new strategy for Afghanistan in August 2017. US officials and military commanders have often been accusing Pakistan of its unwillingness to act against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network. The reason is that they could not win the war despite deploying the best war machine in Afghanistan for 16 years. The question is when more than 130,000 troops from 51 NATO and partner nations that conducted security operations and helped build up the Afghan security forces could not defeat the Taliban, how a few thousands of additional troops to already 8400 US forces could defeat the Taliban?
The fact of the matter is that the security situation in Afghanistan is worrisome. Amid persistent problems within the Afghan security forces, Afghanistan’s political system remains dysfunctional. Moreover recently, few articles were publish in French media on the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan and held Pakistani intelligence agencies responsible for their creation out of former Pakistani Taliban and jihadist from Central Asia. It added that Daesh fighters are entrenched in Nangarhar region bordering Pakistan from where they can easily cross over into Pakistan where they get supply of arms and other support. Pakistan has also been blamed for sidelining those Taliban who were willing to negotiate peace with Kabul. Another article “One Last Chance for Pakistan” written by “Micheal Krepon” was posted on pod-cast namely “Arms Control Wonk”. The article is an attempt to point figures towards Pakistan Military establishment projecting as a sole reason for problems faced by US and its allies in the region.
Daniel S. Markey (professor of international relations at John Hopkin university-USA) in his recent article has pointed out that “civilian rulers in Pakistan have to negotiate a working relationship with Army Generals. Army Chief has developed extensive commercial, financial interest and economic enterprises with thousands of employees.” Ashley J. Tellis (an expert on South East Asia and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International peace – USA) has said that Pakistan’s hostile and irrational behavior is identified by its Army’s ambition to preserve its dominance in domestic policies. He believes that peace talks between Pakistan and India are counter-productive, as the latter is sponsoring trans-border terrorism. Efforts of detractors of Pakistan have failed in the past; however Pakistan should not lower its guard and be prepared to meet threats from India or elsewhere.
