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“Nawaz escapes US pressure despite siding with the Taliban, but why Washington is deliberately allowing itself to be fooled by its client-state or because that policies of the two countries—America and Pakistan, for this region coincide, which is why Washington looks the other way”
AT Commentary-KABUL: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called on the US President Obama and discussed a range of issues, particularly the Afghan-led peace talks and elimination of the Taliban insurgents, believed to be supported by Islamabad. The meeting took place sharply after one week of Obama’s reversal on troop pullout plan as he announced on October 15 that 9,800 American troops will remain in Afghanistan through 2016 and residual force onward. Obama made it clear the residual American forces will remain in Afghanistan until there is peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Political affairs analysts in Kabul see the meeting of the two leaders of the two important nations, seriously, however, pinning high hopes on the outcome of the meet is like expecting a dead bee to give honey. Several rounds of such meeting have been held since 2001, when the Taliban were ousted. Afghans have seen the developments with pessimism and concluded that neither Islamabad nor Washington wants to fight terrorism honestly.
The insurgent groups are posing serious threats to regional security in general and Afghanistan in particular. The so-called belligerent forces against terrorism feel it in their very bones know yet at the same time they see their own interests in violence, which is why violence is showing no signs of ending. The goal is shared both by the Pakistani and American officials. The goal is to have an unstable Afghanistan and control its assets and have leverage over its decisions. A weaker government in Kabul will also benefit Pakistan and the US. The goals of the United States and Pakistan are different yet their strategy remains the same. Ex-President Hamid Karzai and a few lawmakers are cognizant of the dangers being posed by this policy of the US and Pakistan, which is why they have made headlines for their long tirades against the two countries. Karzai’s stern opposition to certain US strategies and acts made him unpopular in the US and at the same time in Pakistan. Even in the 2009 elections, the US wanted a National Unity Government in Afghanistan, but Karzai defied letting any such design of Washington to be implemented. However, the US didn’t throw away this design and finally succeeded in bringing about a National Unity Government in Afghanistan. But even the formation of a National Unity Government didn’t prove helpful in ending to the conflict even despite that President Ashraf Ghani attempted to pursue friendlier policy with Pakistan. He had to come under severe criticism at home for such a friendlier policy with Islamabad, yet despite that after a deadliest series of attacks that shook the capital city Kabul, Ghani had to revisit his policy towards Pakistan. To tame the bubbling fury widely held across the country against Pakistan, willy-nilly, he had to start hurling sentimental statements against Pakistan and said that Pakistan has launched an undeclared war against Afghanistan. To quell the anger of general public the statements worked out yet this is not the solution as Pakistan has been seen as the godfather of the Afghan Taliban as they have not only been enjoying safe havens there but at the same time its prime minister Nawaz Sharif told the United States that until Afghanistan ceases aerial attacks on the Taliban, Islamabad wouldn’t push the Taliban to the table of negotiations. It means the Taliban have found smarter spokesmen in the high ranks of the Pakistani civilian and military leaders. Nawaz’s statement is basically aimed at protecting the Taliban from the aerial raids. Instead of asking Kabul not to carry out aerial operations against the Taliban, he must have called on the Taliban to announce ceasefire. The Taliban’s supreme leaders are being appointed there, but very much smartly Pakistan tells the world that it has been a victim of terrorism. When it comes to the cozier but not very much secret ties between Islamabad and the Taliban, this is astonishing that how the US has been befooled by its own client state—Pakistan. If the United States really wants terrorism defeated, it must mount pressure on Pakistan to dismantle all terror networks. Bringing them to table of negotiations must not be the option rather elimination.
Instead of giving pro-Afghan government and anti-insurgency statements, it is action that matters therefore Obama and Nawaz should take practical steps in ending terrorism—a monster they jointly had engineered to defeat Communism.
