Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Political Mistrusts

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Political Mistrusts

There is a sense of fear and dissatisfaction in the air. Our bleeding nation is attacked heavily by the Taliban insurgents – who made severe inroads into the country in recent months. The current political turmoil and high graph of civilian casualties have embittered the life of the public. There seems no room for democracy. The men’s fundamental rights are violated to a large extent.

With the disclosure of Mullah Omar’s death and appointment of Taliban’s new leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, a split emerged among the Taliban officials. Omar’s family, including his brother Mullah Abdul Manan and his son Mullah Yaqub, refused to pledge allegiance to Mansoor – saying the process to select him was rushed and biased and deeming him an inappropriate successor. However, Mansoor indicated that peace process was the “enemy propaganda” and waged deadly attacks in Afghanistan, despite the militants’ internal conflict, to earn the trust of dissatisfied elements and boost the morale of the Taliban’s ragtag militia.

The series of attacks, mainly in capital Kabul, led to tension between Afghan-Pak officials. The Afghan political figures, who glossed over Pakistan’s involvement in terrorist acts for a long time, doubted on the cooperation of Islamabad and articulated that the terrorist attacks are arranged from across the border. Following a heavy attack in Kabul, which led to the deaths of dozens and injuries of hundreds, President Ashraf Ghani said that Shah Shaheed bombing in Kabul was unacceptable and that it was a game changer for the country. “Pakistan still remains the venue and ground for gatherings from which mercenaries send us a message of war,” Ghani declared. He further stated that at the time Pakistan President Nawaz Sharif said the enemies of Afghanistan are the enemies of Pakistan, “now the time has come for him to prove it.”

Addressing a press conference on late Monday, the First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum also reiterated that the Taliban’s attacks are systemized from across the border. Surviving the suicide bombers’ plot, he had suicide vests and pistols showed on local TVs which were made in Pakistan and urged the international community to pressurize it not to support the militants against the Afghan nation. He further read it a flagrant violation of human rights – since Afghans’ rights to life and liberty are violated through terrorist acts.

On the other hand, Pakistan has frequently refused to be embroiled in Afghanistan’s turmoil and ostensibly nudged the Taliban officials to sit on the table of negotiation. Pakistani officials have constantly condemned the terrorist attacks that targeted Afghan people stressing that Afghanistan and Pakistan have common enemies. They stressed on resuming peace talks after the Omar’s death too.

Recently, Pakistan has denied the sanctuary of Haqqani network in its territory claiming that this network was undermined by Pakistani soldiers. However, the Pentagon reportedly said terrorist safe havens in that country undermined the stability of Afghanistan. “We have expressed our deep concern to the government of Pakistan about terrorist sanctuaries inside its border that continues to undermine Afghanistan stability and US and coalition forces in Afghanistan,” the Pentagon spokesman is quoted as saying. Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters at an off-camera news conference the US had urged Pakistan to redouble its commitment on counter-terrorism cooperation with Afghanistan against all groups that posed a threat to long-term security of both nations.

It is believed that the blaming game going on between Kabul and Islamabad will be proved counterproductive. Ghani has rightly pointed out that “now the time has come … to prove it.” The political rhetoric released by Pakistani officials has to be put into action. The seminaries should be emptied from the armed men and the sanctuaries of the terrorist networks must be ruined. Both the countries have to bury the differences in such a sensitive situation and develop mutual interests. There is no doubt that Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the same boat – wrestling with terrorism for many years. The tension between the two countries will pave the way for IS group – which is a potential threat for both. It is hoped that the relation will be normalized between Kabul and Islamabad in near future.

Security is the very urgent need of Afghan nation and government is responsible to secure peace for the citizens. Constitutionally, the government will have to “strengthen national unity, safeguard independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country; establish an order based on the peoples’ will and democracy; form a civil society void of oppression, atrocity, discrimination as well as violence, based on rule of law, social justice, protecting integrity and human rights, and attaining peoples’ freedoms and fundamental rights; strengthen political, social, economic as well as defense institutions; attain a prosperous life and sound living environment for all inhabitants of this land….”

Seemingly, insecurity and civilian casualties are a matter of concern for the government. As a result, reports say that President Ashraf Ghani has issued fresh combat orders to government officials, particularly the security forces, in an effort to curb civilian casualties in the ongoing war. During a special meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) on Friday, he asked Afghan defense and security institutions to work jointly with the United Nations (UN) in Kabul and probe the civilian death toll in the country. Prayerfully, the new military mechanism for battling the militants will help to decrease the civilian casualties.

 

 

Hujjattullah Zia is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com

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