Daily Times

Even after coming out of a two-decades-long war, Afghanistan is still a quagmire. Largely trapped by its political leadership in collaboration with India and world powers, it is, indeed, a sorry sight, especially when looking at its people.

This is the second time in the last four decades that the contest for global positioning is in full swing. A definite indication of just how important this region is in the global context.

The country has been a dilemma for the world for decades. It is a land of people that have a unique culture, great resilience and a huge appetite for fight and survival against oppressors. Afghanistan’s geo-strategic location makes it vulnerable while its rugged terrain provides it with an advantageous edge against the aggressors. A country with such a diversity of geographical, political, cultural heritage can not be a simple phenomenon to deal with. It is a landlocked country, which is totally devoid of industry, modern infrastructure, routine political manoeuvres and regular armed forces. Due to prolonged war, two generations of the country have grown up without education. They only know one skill: “fighting.” Only three million Afghans who have settled in Pakistan in the last forty years have had access to education and normalcy in their lives.

Even before the US attack in 2001, Afghanistan faced serious challenges of governance, provision of basic facilities to the people and in developing effective and legitimate institutions, due to infighting among rival factions. Before the withdrawal of the US forces in August 2021, the country was no different than what it was 20 years ago when the US attacked it in response to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the twin towers. The US left it as it was two decades ago, rather made it worst and unmanageable.

Asian News International (ANI) is the flagship propaganda tool of Indian Chronicles.

At the time of the withdrawal of the US forces, Afghanistan was heavily dependent on international financial aid. Since the departure of the US forces, the country is yet again in quandary. Another human crisis is in the offing due to lack of necessities like food, medicines, clean drinking war. Winter has almost set in most parts of Afghanistan, which will make the life of a common Afghani more difficult.

Pakistan was, Pakistan is and Pakistan will be the most affected country due to unstable Afghanistan. Since the withdrawal, the intensity of cross-border fire on Pakistani border posts and IED attacks have increased manifold; leaving behind dozens of casualties.

Afghanistan has been a battleground for proxy wars for the last two decades. The government in Kabul was structurally flawed and had divided executive powers under influence of both the US and India and never had any influence outside Kabul. The Taliban were dominating most of the area in the country throughout the war. However, the northern alliance was dominating the Panjsher valley in the northern part of Afghanistan, joining Tajikistan.

After Pakistan launched its operations in tribal areas, Pakistani Taliban (TTP) leadership fled to Afghanistan and made sanctuaries in Kunar and Paktia provinces across the border. These groups were undertaken by RAW and NDS and since then, Pakistan has been subject to extreme terrorism. Pakistan has been consistently facing cross border attacks from Afghanistan with a deaf ear from NATO and Afghan forces since 2008. According to a UN report issued in February 2021, by 2016 Pakistan had cleared its areas of terrorists and estimated that those who flew from Pakistan exceed more than 6000 and have taken refuge or shown their allegiance with various groups inside Afghanistan particularly the Islamic State of Khurasan Province (ISKP).

The ISKP took responsibility for the 19 September 2021 attack in Kabul. Reports suggest that an Indian holding an important position in Daesh in Afghanistan had led to the terrorist attacks. A report published by the Times of India on 19 September 2021 revealed Abdur Rehman Al Logari as the mastermind behind the attack in which 170 persons, including 13 US Marines, were killed. He was arrested by Indian law enforcement agencies in 2016, following a tip-off. Time of India quoted an ISKP member in its magazine “Voice of Hind,” that Al Logari had been living in India for quite some time, maybe a year or so, before September 2021 Bombing. He was arrested in 2016 and then transported to Afghanistan. A US official has already committed in a press conference in Washington that before the fall of Kabul, as many as 500-600 ISKP terrorists escaped from Afghan prison.

It is estimated that two dozens among those who escaped from jail were Indian. These twenty or more Indians were occupying important positions in the ISKP hierarchy.

On 18 April 2021, the Atlantic council reported the involvement of an Indian from Kerala Abu-Khalid Al Hindi ( real name Muhammad Muhsin) in an attack in Kabul on a Gurdwara killing 50 Sikhs and security personnel. It has been revealed in the same report that between 2016 and 2018, almost 100 Indians travelled to Afghanistan to join the rank and file of Daesh in the Khurasan area. The Indian state of Kerala is housing training camps from where young educated students are joining the ISKP, which has been actively involved in the massacre of Afghan citizens and US soldiers.

India is engaged in a hybrid war against Pakistan on three fronts-spreading fake news against Pakistan and promoting terrorism in Afghanistan and inside Pakistan by all available assets as well as creating a rift between Pakistan and US intelligence agencies and promoting Pakistan as a supporter of terrorist outfits through propaganda.

In the last two years, Indian propaganda policies against Pakistan and Afghanistan have been exposed several times by foreign office and military spokesman’s office. Pakistan even handed over a dossier, involving India in terrorist activities inside Pakistan, to UNSG last year.

Asian News International (ANI) is the flagship propaganda tool of Indian Chronicles. The biggest cyber scam of India was exposed by EUDisInfo Lab in Brussels in 2020. All other media tools engaged in propaganda get their feed from ANI. A close study of news uploaded on the ANI reveals that news agency was violating all journalistic norms for construction of their news. News agency would cut paste the content of news from anywhere and give it a dateline of own choice including various cities of Pakistan like Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, London etc and issue it through its platform. Mostly those news were focused to discredit Pakistan, linking terrorism with Pakistan, disrepute its army, glorify PTM, discredit CPEC and create mistrust among the US and Pakistan on various issues in Afghanistan.

Indians have been supporting the safe havens for terrorists through their bases in Tajikistan. The northern alliance was supported by Indian RAW through their Farkhor airbase in Tajikistan. India also uses Ayani base in Tajikistan to support the northern alliance.

An Indian network has also been involved in the smuggling of currency and drugs in Afghanistan.

A Frace24 Tv report revealed another fake story by India that the Pakistan Air force is targeting the northern alliance. It is an Indian air force base in Tajikistan that is carrying out attacks on the Taliban.

The writer is a Phd in International Relations from QAU and can be reached at atiquesheikh2000@gmail.com.