CHALLENGED by the upsurge in terror attacks last week, in which more than 22 Pakistan Army personnel were martyred, with a Lieutenant Colonel amongst them, an attack on a Pakistan Air Force Training Base, in which three (disused aircraft) and a fuel browser were destroyed and numerous other assaults, Pakistan has demanded that the Taliban government extradite fugitive militants who are sheltering in Afghanistan and plotting terrorist attacks against it. The government has asserted that Pakistan had experienced “a 60% increase in terror incidents and a 500% rise in suicide bombings” since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul two years ago, killing nearly 2,300 Pakistanis.
In 2023 alone, 15 Afghan nationals were identified amongst the suicide bombers, while 64 Afghans were killed in clashes with Pakistani security forces. Unsurprisingly, the banned outfit, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an Afghan Taliban ally, operating from Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Possibly, the sharp spike in the ferocity of the terror attacks has led the Pakistan Government to deport all undocumented foreigners, including 1.7 million Afghans, to their countries of origin. Some detractors cite possible intelligence failure in thwarting the attacks. Factually, the Afghan refugees, escaping war and victimization, had either taken asylum in Pakistan or were transiting through Pakistan, waiting for safe passage to Canada, Europe or the USA. There were several intelligence reports that the “aliens” were linked to those “fuelling terrorism and instability in Pakistan.”
The influx of asylum seekers commenced in 1979 after the invasion of Afghanistan by the (former) Soviet Union. It petered down in 1989 after the retreat of the Red Army in 1989 and some Afghans did return home. However, tribal wars for supremacy created mayhem and chaos, deterring the return of the displaced Afghans. The upsurge of the Taliban in 1994 and their ultimate success in gaining control of Kabul led to a second exodus of fugitives crossing into Pakistan to escape the tyranny of the radical regime. The Taliban imposed their political and judicial interpretation of Islam—on parts of Afghanistan under their control—issuing edicts forbidding women from working outside the home, attending school or leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative and taking punitive action against those who failed to comply with strict Sharia laws.
The highly unpopular Taliban were recognized as the de facto rulers of Afghanistan by only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while the rest of the world chastised them for their rigidity and extremism. Sadly, in a bid to provide “strategic depth” to Pakistan—revealed by Document 17 from Washington DC’s DIA confidential report titled ‘Pakistan Involvement in Afghanistan,’ dated 7 November 1996—“ Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden against the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum, two former enemies, who created the United Front (Northern Alliance) against the Taliban. Islamabad’s myopic move made ordinary Afghans bitter, swaying public opinion against Pakistan despite more than five million Afghans having been provided shelter by Islamabad for decades.
9/11 brought about yet another influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan as the US-led NATO forces toppled the Taliban regime, targeting Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda, which had wreaked havoc in the US and elsewhere. Pakistan allied itself with the US-led NATO’s war on terror but when the allied forces turned their attention to Taliban and Al-Qaeda who had had found safe haven in areas bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan—a new monster the TTP was unleashed—brutally targeting Pakistani defence forces, civilian population, including schools, hospitals and other public places. Pakistani security forces managed to quell the insurgency after a sacrifice of nearly 100, 000 precious lives but events took another turn. When the US and other NATO forces finally withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, President Ghani fled to Tajikistan, and the US-backed Afghan Government collapsed. On 7 September 2021, Taliban announced an interim government which remains unrecognized internationally.
It was expected that the Taliban would cooperate with Pakistan because of its previous support, but alas it was only a pipe dream. Despite persistently sharing details and a list of wanted militant leaders with Afghan authorities through high-level multiple official engagements, Kabul hasn’t delivered on its counterterrorism pledges. Contrarily, Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has rejected Pakistan’s claims, stating that his government is not responsible for maintaining peace in Pakistan, nor is it behind the insecurity in the neighbouring country. He has decried the crackdown on Afghan migrants in Pakistan as “inhumane.”
Some home truths must be shared with the readers here. This scribe came across a historical document—Notification by the Political Department of the Commissioner in Sindh—published in The Sind Official Gazette Extraordinary dated August 16, 1920. It informs that “A letter has been received by the Political Agent, Khyber, from the Afghan Frontier Officer at Dakka, stating that his Majesty the Amir of Afghanistan has ordered the absolute postponement of the Emigration movement. No Muhajir in the meanwhile will be allowed admittance into Afghanistan. All intending Muhajirs will therefore be turned back at the Afghan frontier. If in spite of this notice persons are encouraged or assisted to go on Hijrat the responsibility for the inevitable disappointment and hardship will be on those who have given the encouragement and assistance.”
Its background is that in 1920, with the onset of the Khilafat Movement, the Ulema of India issued a fatwa declaring India as Dar-ul-Harb (a place of war), recommending emigration. Contrast this reprehensible attitude of the Afghan Amir with Pakistan’s magnanimity in hosting millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, some for more than four decades. In September 1947 Afghanistan was the only country which voted against Pakistan’s entry into the United Nations. Durand Line issue and reams of greater Afghanistan claiming the entire Pashtun belt constrain Pakistan to ask the Taliban to choose between bilateral ties or supporting militants.
—The writer is a Retired Group Captain of PAF, who has written several books on China.
Email: sultanm.hali@gmail.com
views expressed are writer’s own.
