Chickens Have Come Home to Roost

What is happening at the Durand Line or beyond the Durand Line in Pakistan and Afghanistan must not surprise those who have been watching the emergence of Taliban and their patronisation by Pakistan, its army and ISI over the decades now. Those who have kept the ear to the ground when the Cold War was brewing and affecting the regional dynamics in the Hindu Kush, Central Asia and ultimately the Indian sub-continent know well how the mercenaries were groomed in Afghanistan. The United States of America(USA) used Afghanistan as the launching pad for fighting the erstwhile USSR with Pakistani handling of these radicals that wrecked the progressive Afghan society and turned it into a regressive social system, with one group fighting the other for gaining control. Tribal rivalries were exploited to the worst. We know the tussle of the Afghan warlords like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Masood known as the lion of Panjshir valley. It did not end here. Radical fighters were assembled in the name of religion to act on the suicidal path of terrorism and inflict human damage across the borders. Dollars and petro dollars were invested by the warmongers to sustain this radical onslaught to pose threat to the world order. Pakistan diverted this human resource and the financial flow to create the terror infrastructure to grind its own axe by devising the Operation TOPAC under the tutelage of the radical army dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, who diverted the major chunk of modern automatic weapons and terrorists towards India in Jammu and Kashmir by using Afghan mujahideen to work for its strategic depth. The intention was simple to inflict thousand cuts on India in a non-conventional warfare as it has failed successively since 1947 to dislodge India in Jammu and Kashmir. It is pertinent to mention that Nobel Laureate and one of the greatest writers of Indian origin in English literature, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (Sir V.S.Naipaul) was the first thinker to decode the radicalism gaining ground in Afghanistan and sneaking into Pakistan and then posing a global threat in 1980’s when he was working on his travelogue based on the primary research titled “Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey.” Rest is history. Now the chickens have come home to roost in Pakistan. The same Taliban that Pakistan nurtured and used as the strategic depth against India in Jammu and Kashmir are posing a threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. It is well-known that Durand Line has been a constant cause of conflict as it is regarded as disputed by the two neighbours. December has been the month of hostilities between the two erstwhile allies. There have been deaths of the Pakistani security forces and the Afghan civilians. The armed groups of Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who Pakistan says are being patronised in Afghanistan are working against it. In a latest attack by TTP on 21st December nearly 16 Pakistani soldiers were killed. In response, Pakistan launched air strikes in the Pakistan province of Afghanistan. It shares borders with the South Waziristan district of Pakistan. Afghanistan is witnessing a strategic change after the reins of power were taken over by Taliban, who were previously involved in the radical insurgencies along with various mercenary forces at the behest of various international players and the active involvement of Pakistan that its soil has been used as the launching pad to fight the wars that are actually the alien wars having no use for its existence. It was also seen by the international community how Pakistan entered into conflict with Iran but eventually deescalated. Though there were strikes. Compared to Iran, Pakistan has higher strategic stakes in Afghanistan. Fingers are crossed as to what will unfold. One thing is clear that fiddling with terrorism begets destruction. It is important that Pakistan internalises that terrorism when used as an instrument of state policy leads to destruction and erodes international credibility. International community and especially India must keep a watchful eye on the events unfolding across the Durand Line on both sides.