By Afshain Afzal

 In an attack in Kabul on 18 January 2014 that focused international attention, 22 people, mostly foreigners, including three United Nations staff and head of International Monetary Fund in Afghanistan were killed while over two dozen injured. The attack was followed by another attack at Pakistani city of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province next day on 19 January 2014, which took the lives of at least 30 soldiers and causing injuries to over three dozens. In a statement recorded immediately after an attack, one of the Pakistani Army commanders deployed against Indian Infantry Division in the Northern Command, said, “Foreign enemies are testing the patience of our military”, Prime Minister of Pakistan has cancelled his visit to World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after the tragic incident. In a statement, he said, “Our nation is united against extremism and terrorism and the sacrifices rendered by our citizens and personnel of law enforcing agencies will not go in vain.”

 It is pertinent to mention here that the Government of Pakistan has opened a new chapter by initiating talks with Taliban for longer lasting peace in the region. A similar attempt was also made by France at Chantilly, which was partially successful. Enemies of Pakistan and Afghanistan wants that the situation in Afghanistan should continue to remain tense and fragile so that there is a justification of extension in the deployment of foreign troops led by US and allies, beyond the agreed deadline. The fact cannot be denied that US and allies have withdrawn bulk of their combatants over two years back, leaving only personnel engaged in development and security tasks. NATO countries have already thinned out their troops, announcing complete withdrawal of troops by April 2014. However, signing of Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) is being seen as permission for foreign intruders to extend their presence beyond 2014 deadline, which so far has even been rejected by US puppet President Hamid Karzai.

 If we recall, few days back, Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh issued an immature statement that India has avenged the murders of its soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistani army last year by inflicting casualties on the neighbouring Pak army. Ironically, he added that Indian Army did not want to escalate border clashes into the operational or strategic arena but would give a befitting response in any sector where Indian soldiers were fired on. If we carefully examine his statement, it was an allegation of ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops coupled with pronouncement of Indian threat of all out military attack. However, he dared not to use any such words against Pakistan due to many reasons including his past experience.

The recent statement of Indian Army Chief is in light with attempt for deletion of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and growing pressure from the international community on India to withdraw its troops from Indian held Jammu & Kashmir state so the relations between Pakistan and India are normalized. However, in a recent strategy, Indian Army has linked the situation in Jammu & Kashmir with the spill over from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops later this year. If this strategy works Indian Army would not only be allowed to retain its existing excessive strength but allow enjoy AFSPA. One wonders how presence of Indian troops in Jammu & Kashmir can be linked with Afghanistan. One wonders how presence of Indian troops in Jammu & Kashmir can be linked with Afghanistan.

As election front offices by the foreign experts are mushrooming up everywhere in Afghanistan, anti-Taliban propaganda is on its peak. RIC’s collated data is being directly fed at the Control Rooms to get a clearer picture of the forthcoming election position. This time Abdullah Abdullah is the favourite contestant as western players are working on makes and breaks with an aim to see him at the top. Western players are hopeful that Mr Abdullah would not only allow western forces to stay beyond 2014 deadline but will also allow to continue Bamiyan project to settle Buddhist population there. India and the Northern Alliance plus western players have agreed to the proposal. On the contrary, Iran has yet to commit parting way from Taliban.

Despite injecting money and resources for an anti-Pashtun collation, the rural areas are still out of the reach, where Taliban enjoys clear majority. In case Taliban decides to take part in the elections they would be the winners but it is not going to happen easily as they would be hunted again. Grounds have been prepared to win public opinion by self-engineered incidents of 18 and 19 January. The puppet President Hamid Karzai is still useful for western political scientists as two important issues revolves around him i.e. the signing of the BSA and the great sacrifice by Hamid Karzai and his nominee in near future, which would serve as the basis of new resolution on Afghanistan. The fact cannot be denied that the western combatant forces have already left Afghanistan and now aims to ensure continuous presence in Arabian Gulf for which it require legal treaty with Russia and Afghanistan. One wonders how long US and allies would continue committing genocide of Muslims and playing with the lives, property and civil liberties of general masses around the world.

afshainafzal@yahoo.com