Denial and Shifting Blames: The Biggest Enemy

Pakistan, situated in strategic location of South Asia has always been victim of some international conspiracies
on one account or the other. The conspirators at one hand cannot assimilate Pakistan’s achievements for
fostering internal stability and on the other pollute the international perception against her by portraying her in
bad light through baseless allegations and unfounded accusations. One such area of tarnishing Pakistan is
Afghanistan. Afghanistan, a war ridden country has mostly been unstable due to internal rifts of war lords or
external interventions. The long years of war and political instability have devoid Afghanistan of ability to
discriminate between friends and foes. It all is not the fault of Afghanistan only, the conspirators and insinuators
both from within as well as the outside are too strong to be countered by the political sanity prevailing in the
country.
Pakistan is mindful of the fact that a stable Afghanistan means a stable Pakistan. Pakistan has and will continue
making concerted efforts in abetting Afghanistan to restore an atmosphere of stability and peace while
anchoring on the mooring of strong diplomacy and national growth. After a long time, a cosmos of wise and
sincere national leadership has emerged in Afghanistan with Mr Ashraf Ghani coming to power. His pledge to
restore stability in the country is commendable. Present Afghan Government has a strong resolve to ensure
peace and harmony in the region.
The uphill task of restoring stability and peace in Afghanistan can not be entrusted to any single country,
especially Pakistan which herself is the adverse victim of terrorism. A safe, peaceful and stable Afghanistan is
rather the joint responsibility of international community, especially, the super powers and mostly Afghanistan
itself. Despite all efforts, sincerity and resolve to help restore peace in Afghanistan, Afghan Government and
US often ask Pakistan to do more. This is regrettable as well as ridiculous. If a long ISAF and NATO led
operation in Afghanistan employing massive resources could not restore peace in Afghanistan, how a small
country like Pakistan, thickly engrossed in eradicating menace of terrorism from its soil can be expected to
safeguard streets of its neighbour. This blame game engineered by international spoilers to tarnish image of
Pakistan is highly condemnable.
Pakistan is presently on the culmination phase of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. This indiscriminate operation is
against all type of terrorists without any room for good or bad Taliban. The said operation has successfully
achieved most of its objectives. Its achievements in eradicating terrorism are frequently applauded by
international community including Afghanistan. The success of Operation Zarb-Azb is indebted to hundreds of
life sacrifices by our valiant Armed Forces and the LEAs. The operation is in direct support to Afghan efforts in
ensuring a peaceful and terror free Afghanistan. The operation was launched after taking Afghan Government
into confidence. Pakistan also predicted fleeing of miscreants as a result of said operation in Afghanistan for
which Afghan Government was asked to take requisite measures to seal off the border or at least make the
influx difficult. Unfortunately, Afghan Government did not institute any effective measures and instead some
factions of Afghanistan gave shelter to these migrants. This not only proved to be an impediment to Operation
Zarb-e-Azb but also provided a safe haven to fleeing terrorists for supporting their activities in Pakistan. Tragic
incidents of Army Public School, Charsada University and many more are result of the same. The success of
operation Zarb-e-Azb does not suit to those who want Afghanistan and Pakistan to remain in shambles and
unstable.
Afghanistan has been a land of war lords who never submitted to any rule and always preferred to remain
involved in fighting. Their fighting passion ranged from mutual tribal skirmishes to massive rebel operations
against Afghan Government and her allies including Pakistan. These terrorist groups organized themselves
under Al-Qaeeda and TTA. Gradually, exploiting the fertile environment for fostering terrorist outfits, Daesh
also started strengthening its roots in Afghanistan. Though this international maniac and deadly terrorist group
could not blend herself with TTA due to multiple reasons, yet it managed to recruit those who splintered from
TTA or Al-Qaeeda.
For a long time, Afghan Government had been denying presence of Daesh and is still not ready to fully accept
this ground reality. Almost all International experts on terrorism have been warning Afghanistan about growing
monster of Daesh and asking the country to take remedial steps. Reasons for failure to act seem plausible, it
takes courage, resources and resolve in addition to face annoyance and displeasure of game spoilers sitting in
Afghanistan to wage proxy wars. Since the beginning of last year, increasing reports about fighters operating
inside Afghanistan under the black banner of Daesh started emerging. First, there were rumors alleging that
foreign fighters, supposedly linked to Daesh, appeared in Afghanistan, specifically in the Western province of
Farah, bordering Iran, and the Southern provinces of Helmand and Zabul, bordering Pakistan. Those rumors
were followed by sightings of black-dressed warriors. Initially, Afghan officials were reluctant to state that
those fighters were affiliated with Daesh and referred to them simply as terrorists. Later, they started stating that
the black-clad fighters were mere splinter groups of Taliban who have just changed their names and do not pose
danger of joining and strengthening Islamic State in Afghanistan.
Sooner, Afghan media started reports on expansion of Daesh in Afghanistan. It did not take long until the first
pictures were published and broadcast alongside the scarce actual news. Arguably the most iconic was a short
film of black-hooded men riding on horses through a forest under the fluttering black banner of the caliphate
that was played repeatedly in the Afghan news. Later, Afghan officials also started publicly acknowledging
presence of Daesh in the country.
It is interesting to note that Taliban and Daesh are two different entities and there is remote likely hood of
Taliban fleeing from Operation Zarb-Azb joining Daesh in Afghanistan as is perceived or at least narrated by
Afghan Officials. Similarly, switching allegiance from TTA/TTP to Daesh also seems less probable. Despite
presence of strong fractures within TTA, their loyalty to the ideology of Mullah Omar, their original leader
remains unquestioned. On the contrary, they regard the proclaimed Caliph of Daesh, with suspicion and do not
submit to him.
Both Afghanistan as well as the international community instead of blaming and asking Pakistan to do more
should identify and unearth the actual destabilizes of peace in Afghanistan. The grand design to derail peace
process in Afghanistan must be thwarted by all stake holders jointly and indiscriminately. Blaming Pakistan or
asking her to ‘Do more’ will be a sheer injustice to Pakistan whose sacrifices are countless. Afghanistan should
also distinguish between her friends and the foes; else flames of terrorism will continue burning both Pakistan
as well as Afghanistan. Afghan Government should not shy away from accepting their failures in combating
Daesh and refrain from blaming Pakistan especially on the behest of great game spoilers.