Indo-Afghan
Nexus against Pakistan
By Sajjad Shaukat (JR88SS4)
The
fourth round of Afghanistan and India’s security dialogue was held in Kabul on November
25, 2018, at the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS), brought
together former high-ranking security officials and diplomats from Afghanistan
and India.
Speakers
at the meeting discussed issues around security and the future relationships
between Kabul and New Delhi. They spoke about insurgency and Afghanistan-India
ties. The former national security advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta said: “Pakistan
is using insurgency as a tool against Afghanistan and India”. The other speaker
B. K. Sharma, head of Center for Strategic Studies of India said: “Afghans
treat India as a key strategic partner in its transformational decade”.
In
the recent months, Afghanistan has witnessed scenes of civil war era. In this
regard, on September 9, this year, hundreds of armed men drove in a convoy of
dozens of vehicles fired thousand of bullets throughout Kabul, the capital of
the country. The day was connected to 17 death anniversary of the former war
lord Ahmed Shah Massoud-the anti-Soviet, anti-Taliban and the northern leaders,
who was killed by Al Qaeda in 2001. Massoud is revered by his fellow Tajiks as
the hero and leader of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban, but he is
regarded by other Afghan groups as a war criminal involved in mass murder of
opponents. At least 7 people were killed when a motorcycle born suicide bomber
targeted the convoy whereas more than 20 people had been injured as result of
aerial firing by the demonstrators. The Islamic State group (Also known as
ISIS, ISIL and Daesh) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The
deadliest single episode was the destruction by Taliban militant of an army
base in Baghlan Province, with at least 22 and as many as 40 security force
members killed. On September 10, 2018, a suicide bomber detonated explosives
amid a crowd of protesters outside a police station near the Pakistan border in
the district of Nangarhar province, killing about 68 people.
In
the beginning of September this year, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis made
an unexpected trip to Afghanistan as the US tries to make headway in the
country after 17 years of war. Mattis touched down in the country amid a bloody
month in the prolonged conflict.
According
to a statement from the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, Resolute Support, “One
US service member was killed and another was wounded on September 3 in an
apparent insider attack…one carried out by a member of the Afghan security
forces…in eastern Afghanistan…Ghani [Ashraf Ghani, [President of Afghanistan]
said that preventing these green-on-blue attacks was a top national priority.”
Days
later, 20 people, including two journalists were killed in Kabul in twin bomb
attacks on a wrestling club, and ISIS claimed responsibility for that
attack.
Meanwhile,
during the election-campaign and the day of the parliamentary elections which
held on October 20, 2018, violence intensified in Afghanistan. More than four
million Afghans ignored Taliban and ISIS threats and cast their ballots in the
elections.
Foreign
media and that of Afghanistan reported, “Afghanistan’s first parliamentary
election since 2010 has been hit by violence and chaos, with several attacks
killing at least 36 people…A suicide attack at a polling station outside
Kabul killed at least 15 people, with several others dying in scores of
bombings, rocket attacks and incidents of violence across the country.
Over 170 people have reportedly been killed or wounded as voters went to
around 21,000 polling stations. Technical issues and terror attacks forced the
closure of some of the stations, while voting hours were
extended in some areas. At least 18 people were killed and 67 injured in
blasts close to polling stations in several areas of Kabul…The provinces of
Ghazni and Kandahar…the scent of violent attacks…postponed polling for a
week.”
More
than a month after the polls Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission
(IEC) has yet to announce complete election results. Out of 33 Afghan
provinces, the IEC has announced results for only 13—Election authorities are
yet to announce results for bigger provinces, including Kabul. It is
undermining the credibility of the IEC.
A recent
UN report disclosed that the number of Afghan civilians killed in the first six
months of this year has reached a record high.
Earlier
in September 2018, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named veteran diplomat
Zalmay Khalilzad as a newly-named State Department special envoy to
Afghanistan. Khalilzad, Pompeo said, would be “full time focused on developing
the opportunities to get the Afghans and the Taliban to come to
reconciliation.” He has starting his efforts to convince the Taliban to have
direct talks with the US.
However,
Afghan high officials revived the old blame game against Pakistan by accusing
the security agencies of Pakistan regarding the recent terror attacks in
Afghanistan, including the Ghazni attack.
Indian
media also availed the opportunity and manipulated the Taliban-ISIS terror
assaults against Pakistan. In this respect, Indian business newspaper, The
Economic Times allegedly wrote on August 23, 2018: “India-funded projects and programmes in Afghanistan face increased risk
as Afghan officials have alleged that the recent attack launched by the Taliban
in Ghazni involved presence of Pakistan Army and Pakistan’s intelligence agency
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in aid of the terrorist group.”
In
fact, prior to Pompeo’s visit to Islamabad, both India and Afghanistan wanted
to spoil positive development between Pakistan and the United States.
Nevertheless,
regarding Ghazni terror attack, the spokesman of the Foreign Office (FO) of
Pakistan, Dr Muhammad Faisal said: “We have not received any evidence to back
up these spurious accusations and reject these baseless allegations made by
Afghan officials and others.”
Afterwards,
at least 50 people were killed in a suicide attack on a religious gathering in
Kabul on November 20, 2018. However, the Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
stated: “we strongly condemn attacks on
civilians and sessions of ulema”. This attack came as those Taliban who are
fighting a war of liberation against the occupied NATO forces intensified
pressure on Afghan security forces, even as the international community ramps
up efforts to convince the group to engage in peace talks. US envoy Zalmay
Khalilzad expressed hopes in Kabul that a peace deal to end the war could be
struck before the Afghan presidential election, scheduled for April 2019. Peace
talks can only lead to peace in war-torn Afghanistan, the country has been
suffering since last 17 years on one pretext or the other and resultantly whole
region is suffering.
It is
notable that on November 2, 2018, Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the “father of
the Taliban,” was stabbed to death by the unidentified terrorists at his home
in Pakistan’s city of Rawalpindi. His son
Maulana Hamidul Haq told the media that his father was receiving threats from
the Afghan government.
In October 2018, a high-profile delegation from
Afghanistan sought help of Maulana Haq to put an end to the old deadly conflict
in Afghanistan. In the recent past, Haq
who was in close contact with the Afghan Taliban, urged that US should announce timeline for troop withdrawal from
Afghanistan. He has called on China to play a larger role in
negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban to end the Afghan
war. He had stated that Beijing’s stake in regional peace were larger than that
of America.
As the US President Donald Trump tentatively renewed
direct talks with the Taliban in a bid to end America’s longest war, martyrdom
of Maulana Samiul Haq show double game of America with Pakistan.
Particularly,
Indian secret agency RAW and Afghanistan’s intelligence agency National
Directorate of Security (NDS) which do not want peace in Afghanistan were
behind the assassination of Samiulal Haq.
As regards the case of cross-border terrorism in
South Asia, when any terror attack occurs in Afghanistan, America, India
and puppet rulers of Afghanistan shift the blame game towards Pakistan. The US
has also accused Iran and Russia of assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Especially, the main purpose of Washington is not only to pacify their people
and justify the unending war in Afghanistan, but also to fulfill the collective
secret strategic designs of the US, Israel and India against Russia, China,
Pakistan and Iran.
It is
of particular attention that in his first interview to the NBC News on October
31, 2018, indicating NATO defeat in Afghanistan, the US General Austin
Miller-NATO’s new, head of Resolute Support in
Afghanistan admitted by saying: “This is not going to be won
militarily…This is going to a political solution…My assessment is…if you
realize you can’t win militarily at some point…So you do not necessarily wait
us out, but I think now is the time to start working through the political
piece of this conflict.”
Nonetheless,
once again, on October 24, 2018, Islamabad has dismissed the Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani’s declaring “baseless and unfounded” allegations regarding Kandhar
attack which killed top provincial leadership including Police Chief General
Raziq. Pakistan has asked Afghanistan to share the evidence or intelligence, if
any about Pakistan’s involvement, but Afghan government failed.
Security
situation in Afghanistan is well beyond the control of Afghan security forces
and the National Unity Government of that country. For all its failure, New
Delhi and Kabul has been blaming Pakistan in accordance with their collective
agenda.
As a
matter of fact, since the occupation of Afghanistan by the US-led NATO forces,
the country has become center of CIA, RAW and Mossad which are in connivance to
obtain the covert designs of the their countries and some Western countries
against Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran. Under the cover of fighting
terrorism, these foreign agencies which are also in collaboration with the NDS, support the militants of ISIS and
Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including their linked
outfits which have been conducting terror-assaults in Afghanistan and Pakistan
as part of the secret strategy of the US-led countries. Besides, these
terrorist groups are weakening Tibetan regions of China and Iranian
Sistan-Baluchistan through subversive activities.
Especially,
India and Afghan government which want to prolong the stay of NATO forces in
Afghanistan are playing double game against America. New Delhi knows that after
the withdrawal of the NATO forces, Taliban will eliminate the secret network of
India and the NDS in that lawless country. Hence, these intelligence agencies
are particularly using the terrorists of TTP and ISIS in wakening Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
Regarding
Indian activities in Afghanistan the then NATO commander, Gen. McChrystal had
pointed out: “Indian political and economic influence is increasing in
Afghanistan…is likely to exacerbate regional tensions.”
Similarly, while taking note of Indian role in
Afghanistan, US Republican Senator John McCain had reminded the Obama administration
that encouraging India to take a more active role in Afghanistan, while
simultaneously criticising Pakistan could be a recipe for disaster.
It is
also of particular attention that armed forces of Pakistan have successfully
broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists by the successful military
operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad which have also been extended to other
parts of the country, including Balochistan province. And Pakistan’s primarily
intelligence agency, ISI has broken the network of these terrorist groups by
capturing several militants, while thwarting a number of terror attempts. But, in the recent past and during the
election-campaign of 2019, blasts in Balochistan and other regions of the
country showed that the US-led India, Afghanistan and Israel have again started
acts of sabotage especially to weaken Pakistan and to damage the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is part of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR)
initiative or BRI. Washington and New Delhi has already opposed this project.
Notably,
Russia hosted a meeting in Moscow on November 9, this year to end the war in
Afghanistan. Delegates from a body appointed by the Western-backed government
in Kabul and a group representing the Taliban as well as officials from a dozen
nations, including China, Iran and Pakistan participated in the talks.
Indian-Afghan governments’ participation in the Moscow conference was on
non-official-low level, as they did not want Russian peaceful approach in
connection with Afghanistan.
It is noteworthy that foiled terror attack on the
Chinese consulate in Karachi on November 23, this year was part of the same
scheme. In another terror-related incident, on the same day, at least 35
people were killed and 50 wounded in a blast in
Kalaya area of lower Orakzai district in Hangu (Pakistan).
It is
mentionable that a separatist group of the Balochistan province, the
Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the failed terror
attempt on the Chinese consulate in Karachi through a tweet.
Meanwhile,
Pakistan’s media and reliable sources revealed that in a major development
pertaining to attack on Chinese consulate in Karachi, Pakistan’s Law
Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) on November 24, 2018 learned that attack was funded
by India’s notorious RAW and Afghanistan’s NDS. Earlier, LEAs arrested three
alleged facilitators in connection with assault on Chinese Consulate in
Karachi.
Sources
privy to LEAs disclosed that local facilitators had assisted the BLA’s
terrorists in carrying out the appalling attack. The attack was “planned by
banned BLA commander Aslam alias Achhu who is currently under treatment at Max
Hospital in New Delhi, after being injured in an operation by Pakistani
security forces near Sibi…Achhu had several times travelled to India from
Afghanistan on fake passport. His sister was arrested while crossing border
last year.”
Undoubtedly, it shows the connections of the Indian RAW with NDS in
relation to the foiled attempt at the Chinese consulate of Karachi.
India’s main objective
is to undermine Pakistan’s legitimate economic and security interests in
Afghanistan. India is attempting to poison Afghan people against Pakistan by
carrying out negative propaganda and actions to destroy Pakistan’s age old socio-economic
and trade related links with Afghanistan and to impede Pakistan's trade with
Central Asia. India blames Pakistan for terrorist events occurring in
Afghanistan to build a case that the freedom struggle in Jammu and Kashmir is
also being backed by Pakistan. New Delhi’s objective in doing so is to denude
the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the political and moral support of
Pakistan. India is also using Afghan soil to destabilize Balochistan to slow
down the growth of the CPEC and pulling Afghanistan away from joining the CPEC.
We can conclude
that Indo-Afghan nexus is not only destabilizing
Pakistan and Afghanistan, but is also jeopardizing the regional stability and
peace for which Russia and China, including Pakistan are making collective efforts.
Sajjad Shaukat
writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic
Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International
Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
