Daily Times

Sir: As per the latest reports, Afghan troops are still engaged in fighting with the Taliban to take back the prize city — Kunduz. Even if the Taliban are thrown out of Kunduz, they have proved that they are very much on the ground. They have disproved the rumours of a split amongst their ranks. They are mentally and physically united to repeat the dark days of the 1990s. The US/NATO countries have spent over $ 50 billion on Afghanistan since 2001, got stationed thousands of war-trained soldiers and gathered world class intelligence agencies. Then why is all this happening? We need to blame only ourselves because it is we who differentiate between good and bad Taliban, it is we who engage in peace dialogue with so-called ‘good’ Taliban and then wonder why Kunduz has fallen. All the countries in the region need to be honest with themselves. We need to get rid of wishful thinking of supporting this or that ‘good’ terrorist group.

Terrorists do not believe in borders and boundaries; therefore if it is Kunduz today, tomorrow it could be Kabul, then it may be Peshawar or Quetta. Pakistan will achieve none of its Zarb-e-Azb Operation’s long-term goals until support for the Afghan Taliban is severed with no ifs or buts.

MASOOD KHAN

Jubail

Saudi Arabia