Analysis, Side Feature, South Asia

Raheel-Nawaz Regime Strives to Force the Afghan Taliban to the Negotiating Table

On 12th May 2016, the influential US newspaper, The New York Times, published an editorial placing the blame of Afghanistan quagmire on Pakistan. It wrote that, “Nearly 15 years after 9/11, the war in Afghanistan is raging and Pakistan deserves much of the blame. It remains a duplicitous and dangerous partner for the United States and Afghanistan, despite $33 billion in American aid and repeated attempts to reset relations on a more constructive course”.

Comment:

Since the beginning of the American invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, traitors in the political and military leadership of Pakistan did everything to achieve American interests in Afghanistan. America lost the Afghan war on the battlefield as it has not been successful in crushing the Afghan resistance, despite the full support of successive Pakistani regimes. In the middle of 2014, the Raheel-Nawaz regime launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan, where the most formidable Afghan resistance force, the Haqqani Network, had a significant presence, in order to compel the Afghan resistance to sit with the puppet regime in Kabul and agree on a US proposed political solution for Afghanistan. Initially, the Pakistani regime was quite successful in bringing them onto the negotiation table but after the announcement of the death of Mullah Omer in 2015, the so-called Afghan “peace” process derailed, which is actually a process of surrender to the crusader forces, permitting their occupation through signing an agreement, though they are incapable of achieving that on the battlefield. However, the Raheel-Nawaz regime continued its efforts and the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China on the Afghan Peace and Reconciliation process, was formed. This group started its meetings to revive the American-backed Afghan “peace” process and held its last meeting in Kabul on 23 February 2016.

The next Quadrilateral Coordination Group was scheduled to be held in the last week of April 2016, but before that, on 12 April 2016 Afghan Taliban announced their spring offensive, called Operation Omari. Soon after this announcement, the Afghan Taliban undertook an attack on the headquarters of an elite military unit in central Kabul on 19th April 2016, in which dozens were killed and more than 300 injured. This was one of the group’s bloodiest ever attacks in the Afghan capital. After this attack the meeting of the QCG, planned for the last weekend of April 2016 in Islamabad, was postponed.

Soon after this, the US administration informed Pakistan that she has to arrange the finances for eight F-16s, which were earlier supposed to be financed by America. US State Department official, Elizabeth Trudeau, said that “Key members of Congress have been clear they’re not prepared to support US military aid to Pakistan absent some specific actions.” It was pointed out that the Obama administration also wanted Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network. However, the Raheel-Nawaz regime has not changed its course, despite this latest slap in the face. Despite exploiting the sacred blood of Pakistan’s armed forces and bearing billions of dollars of losses to the national economy for securing US interests in Afghanistan, when the US faced humiliation at the hands of Afghan resistance and its failure in Afghanistan become apparent, it has simply made Pakistan a scapegoat. Even now Raheel is on a visit to China in order to bring back the stalled American-backed “peace” process. If Raheel-Nawaz regime was loyal to our Deen, it would have taken heed from the saying of Allah سبحانه وتعالى:

وَلَنْ تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ ٱلْيَهُودُ وَلاَ ٱلنَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ

Never will the Jews nor the Christians be pleased with you till you follow their religion”

(Al-Baqara: 120)

Shahzad Shaikh

Deputy to the Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan