Mohammad Jamil
Afghanistan remains in throes of violence; and the Afghan forces and police raised by the NATO have failed to even protect Kabul. Not that more than 130000 NATO forces and more than 150 Afghan forces could decimate or even stop the Taliban’s attacks. In April 2016, three militants from Taliban had blown themselves up in Kabul, killing sixty people and injuring more than three hundred people who were maimed and/or wounded. Last month, the ISIS claimed the responsibility for suicide attacks on members of Hazara, a Shiite minority group in which around 100 people were killed and more than 260 wounded people. Two ISIS fighters had detonated their suicide belts among the protesters, according to ISIS’ media wing, Amaq. A third attacker was killed by security forces before detonating his bomb, according to an Afghan security official speaking on condition of anonymity.
Despite such threats, tension between two Unity Government partners – President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive is all time high. During a meeting last Thursday, Abdullah Abdullah hit out at Ashraf Ghani’s weak leadership saying he had no option but to make public his differences with the president. He stressed that all pledges in the Unity Government agreements such as convening Loya Jirga, amending the constitution to create a post of prime minister and introduce electoral reforms have not been honored. He added: “President Ashraf Ghani has not consulted him on policy matters.” At this point in time, when the Taliban groups are uniting, and ISIS is gaining foothold in Afghanistan, the riftt between the Unity Government partners is a bad omen, as militant groups would be emboldened by the weakness of the government. The Mullah Dadullah Front of the Taliban has recently rejoined Islamic Emirate.
Meanwhile, Taliban guerrillas had seized Khan Abad district controlled by the Afghan government in northern Kunduz province, cutting off access to two key highways leading to the provincial capital that militants overran for a short period last year. This is a great setback to the Afghan government. Anyhow, Afghan government claims to have taken control of the district. Anyhow, Pakistan is being accused of supporting the Taliban. Former afghan president Hamid Karzai during his recent visit to Delhi appreciated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the human rights situation in Balochistan saying that India had every right to respond to Pakistan’s provocations. “Pakistani authorities have spoken freely on Afghanistan and India, but the PM of India has now spoken about Balochistan. “However I don’t think India intends to go to any proxy wars in the region,” he added.
President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday stressed the point that national unity should have a strong leadership, saying Afghanistan was no longer a country led by arbitrary actions and democracy also did not mean ‘everything is mine’. The president expressed these views while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Afghan youth parliament in Kabul. His remarks about patience in leadership comes three days after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah criticized President Ghani leadership and said he was obliged to express his differences with Ghani publicly. However, addressing the youth parliament, the president did not mention Abdullah’s statements, but said: “Democracy does not mean everything should turn around in the interest of a particular person, this country is not someone’s personal asset, but it is the country of lions.” Anyhow, the Taliban and the ISIS would be the beneficiaries of the conflict between the Unity Government partners.
It has to be mentioned that US and Nato forces – the best fighting machine in the world – could not eliminate or subdue the Taliban during twelve years, how Afghan army and police could win the war? And how can they expect from Pakistan to fight their war when India is given overriding consideration over Pakistan? Afghanistan does not feel qualms that India’s Consulates in Afghanistan have RAW agents under the guise of diplomats who are behind terror acts in Pakistan. One can imagine the devious role of India in creating problems for Pakistan that former US defence Secretary Chuck Hagel who was the only Republican in the Obama’s cabinet had to say: “India for sometime has always used Afghanistan as a second front, and India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan on that side of the border – and you can carry that into many dimensions.”
