Afghanistan Times
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Both, those sitting in the power corridor and sitting outside know it clearly that who is behind the visible and impending disaster. They also know that it has been the result of a disastrous regional foreign policy game, which has been engineered unfortunately by our very much immediate and Muslim neighbor. They way the fall of the Kunduz city to the Taliban was painted in a neighboring country’s media is not only perturbing but reminiscent of the 1980s and 90s. They eulogized the terrorist-Taliban as heroes. Whenever, there is trans-Indus River terror incident, Afghan media don’t eulogize the terrorists rather they condemn the terror acts that kill innocent people. But, unfortunately we don’t receive the same treatment we give them. The reason is obvious—the journalists and commentariats in the neighboring Pakistan feel pressure from the deep state, which is why sane and liberal voices are fading away and extremist voices are on the rise. It was quite visible from the coverage of Pakistani media to the fall of Kunduz city. The extreme of injustice is that their military establishment has expansionist designs and their media is jingoist. When the Kunduz fiasco was in offing, international and regional leaders were sitting at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to talk on how to address the global challenges including terrorism. The Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah addressed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and touched upon a number of issues. However his prime focus was the security of Afghanistan. He called on Pakistan to dismantle terror networks and keep its promises it has made with Afghanistan. Though, we feel that Pakistan has also been a victim of terrorism, but it wouldn’t be any exaggeration to term it a self-inflicted victimization because it is being bitten by those snakes that were reared and trained by Pakistan, itself. Moreover, even despite too many promises with Kabul on not differentiating between the good Taliban and the bad Taliban, Islamabad is still pursuing the Taliban selectively. No doubt Afghanistan has been exposed to a plethora of risks and challenges, and it is pursuing a regional approach where it seeks a proactive and positive role, and support of the neighboring states, but this approach remains fruitless until Pakistan brings some positive changes in its Afghan policy. This is hurting when we see their bloodstained children and their body parts strewn in suicide attacks. We feel as if our own children have been killed ruthlessly. But it is more hurting when our children are bloodstained and their body parts strewn in suicide attacks and they eulogize the butchers who are out to kill our future. We the Taliban are the very symbols of terrorism and they eulogize them as embodiment the true caliphate (the historical caliphate in Madina). For us these Taliban stand for Afghan bloodshed and for them they stand for a sacred cause. But their love and insanity for caliphate disappears when the Taliban attack Islamabad and seek imposition of Sharia. Then all of sudden they become Khwarijites. If we really want to get rid of the monster of terror, first we will have to form a shared opinion on terrorism, after that next step. Moreover, we need to form a joint media body that could introduce a unanimously approved set of media ethics where no nation feels is a victim of the ‘blame-the-victim-game’.
