Mohammad Jamil
In an interview with The New York Times on Saturday, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai called President Ashraf Ghani a traitor for having allowed the American military to use most powerful conventional bomb in its arsenal on an Islamic State (IS) cave complex in Afghanistan. With what face, Karzai could talk that bunkum, as he himself was a complicit with the US in death and destruction wrought in Afghanistan for over a decade. During his two tenures as president, he was also complicit to foreign agencies’ vile activities against Pakistan, and he had allowed every inimical alien agency to set shop in Afghanistan to work against Pakistan. RAW is there; CIA is there; Mossad is there, not to mention Afghan intelligence apparatus colluding in every manner with them to destablilize Pakistan. They have been spawning, nurturing, funding and arming their proxies for militancy in our tribal region.
In the above interview, Karzai also said that there was no justification for the United States to drop the powerful bomb in Afghanistan. He accused the American military of using the presence of IS militants to turn his country into a laboratory for testing its weapons. However, at a news conference organized by the Nangarhar governor’s office on Friday, a group of elders from the Achin district, where the bomb was dropped, expressed support for the use of such force to eliminate the IS fighters. It has to be mentioned that Hamid Karzai had come to power with the help of the United States military, but because of the fear of becoming completely irrelevant, he vows to mobilize opposition against the American presence in his country. There is a perception that Hamid Karzai is perturbed over the deaths of 90 militants of the TTP and IS.
The TTP militants and those who joined the IS are Karzai’s ‘assets’ ensconced in Kunar and Nooristan having liaison with Indian RAW and Afghanistan’s NDS. Yet, Karzai always with a whip in his hand was after Pakistan, making it a whipping boy for his own foibles and lapses. When American invaders had descended on Afghanistan and occupied it after toppling the Taliban, they dug out Hamid Karzai from some obscure niche and perched him on the Kabul throne to be the page boy of their spy agency CIA, which the Bush administration had anointed its satrap to rule the conquered land. For years, Hamid Karzai kept lashing Pakistan at CIA’s bidding for every wrong in Afghanistan. The CIA, which picked on Pakistan’s military and its intelligence agency ISI for particular pillory and demonization, had found in Karzai an obliging valet to carry out this task obediently.
President Ashraf Ghani after assuming office had tried to mend fences with Pakistan. Hamid Karzai, who till recently held court and considerable sway in Kabul, was unhappy over the gestures of Dr. Ashraf Ghani, and said that the concessions by his successor made to Pakistan were not accceptable. Of course, certain elements are opposed to an improved relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially former president Hamid Karzai and his close aides, who are trying to create obstacles in normalization of relations with Pakistan. Hamid Karzai had strongly condemned the Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries about intelligence sharing and said it was against Afghan’s national interest. He had opposed Ghani’s decision to send army officers for training to Pakistan. It was in this backdrop that President Ashraf Ghani reportedly demanded tough action from Pakistan against Taliban militants in a letter seeking greater anti-terrorism cooperation.
Public insinuations by Hamid Karzai have caused a serious setback to bilateral relations between the two neighbours. On 6th June 2015, officials at the Presidential Palace in Kabul leaked contents of President Ashraf Ghani’s secret letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, demanding the “arrest of Taliban leaders in Pakistan”. In his letter, the Afghan president reportedly pushed Islamabad to extend its operation against the Haqqani Network and not allow the Afghan Taliban to treat their injured on Pakistani soil. He had asked Islamabad’s civilian and military leadership to condemn the Taliban’s annual spring offensive and reiterated Kabul’s longstanding demand of denying insurgents sanctuary on their side of the border. Pakistan has acted without any discrimination, and infrastructure and networks of militants of all hues and shades have been demolished. So the question of any insurgents’ sanctuary in Pakistan does not arise.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had categorically stated that enemies of Afghanistan were enemies of Pakistan, without any exception. As regards demand of arresting alleged members of the Taliban-allied Haqqani network, they can be arrested only if they exist on Pakistani soil. On the other hand, Mullah Fazlullah and his thugs have found safe haven in Kunar and Nooristan. Anyhow, Afghan leaders pinned very hopes that Pakistan could bring the Taliban on the negotiating table; but they were mistaken in thinking that Pakistan can force Taliban leaders to come to the negotiating table. China had also failed to convince the outfit to join the intra-Afghan dialogue. Many in the Taliban office in Qatar did not want Pakistan to be involved in the peace process at that stage. In fact, the Taliban were not happy that Pakistan had given transit route for supplies to the US and NATO forces.
Having that said, Hamid Karzai is misguiding President Ashraf Ghani that there can never be peace unless all foreign forces leave. He does not realize that Afghan forces are not ready to hold the fort. Even in Afghanistan’s north, which is considered relatively peaceful, the Taliban fighters are carrying out attacks with impunity. Anyhow, President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah can show magnanimity and bring the Taliban on board to avert civil war. If they don’t do it, the end result could be disintegration of Afghanistan, as more regional players will jump in the fray to secure their positions. It is, therefore, in the interest of all ethnic groups to find a common ground for power-sharing to make Afghanistan peaceful, stable and sovereign. Last but not the least, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah should try to come out of shadow of India, and remember that Pakistan has always stood with Afghanistan.
