On
April 14, 2022, Major General Babar Iftikhar held an important press
conference, the key phrase of which was that 'we have nothing to do with
politics' and that 'there are no negotiations with TTP but against them.
Vigorous action is being taken.' Yesterday Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif
Chaudhry has said in a press conference that 'Azm-e-Taqwat is not a military
operation but an anti-terrorist campaign, the aim of which is to end the nexus
of terrorists and criminals.' He also gave a meaningful hint that 'if our
judicial system does not bring the May 9 planners and facilitators to justice,
chaos will spread further in the country'. From April 14, 2022 to July 22,
2024, many challenges have passed on national security and people. The
situation on the Pak-Afghan border has completely changed. The above statements
of these officers holding the very sensitive position of spokesman in the
Pakistan Army are related to the basic features of our national policy. After
this, in the long history of Pak-Afghan relations, we have made many mistakes
of estimation and strategy. There is unanimous satisfaction in patriotic
circles that the national leadership wants to move in the right direction to
protect the country's interests.
46 years have passed since the war started in Afghanistan in April 1978.
Pakistan formally became a part of this conflict in December 1979. Russia's
alleged desire to reach warmer waters was merely a diplomatic posturing.
General Ziaul Haq wanted to continue his dictatorship with the help of the
Afghan war. America did not want to rub Soviet Union's nose in Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia wanted hegemony in the Middle East. America and Saudi Arabia were
adding fuel to the fire with weapons and wealth. Pakistan was directly
sacrificing political, civil, economic and diplomatic interests. Three million
Afghan refugees settled here. Religious extremism, gun and drug culture
paralyzed the society. In 1980, the number of religious madrasas increased from
a few hundred to 35,000. Democratic circles were declared traitors for opposing
the Afghan adventure in Malik Aziz. On April 14, 1988, the Geneva agreement was
reached and the Junejo government was dismissed. At this stage it was possible
for Pakistan to remain indifferent to Afghan affairs while respecting the
Durand Line international border, but illegitimate economic and political
interests came into play in this case.
The
six-year Afghan civil war eventually culminated in the emergence of the
Taliban. The Taliban regime was the worst example of deviance from
international law. This government has never recognized any legitimate demand
of Pakistan, but has remained an ideological and practical ally of the
religious extremists in Pakistan. When 9/11 happened in America, another
military dictatorship had appeared in Pakistan, which no one was ready to weed
at the international level. On Colin Powell's phone, Pervez Musharraf did not
immediately decide to accept all conditions because Musharraf was against
terrorism. Musharraf saw the guarantee of his power in the long Afghan war. In
the meantime, America invaded Iraq. The Afghan war went into the background and
the Tehreek-e-Taliban, which appeared in Pakistan, raised the doomsday. It
should be remembered that despite the so-called agreement, the killer of
Pakistan's military personnel, Nik Muhammad, was targeted by a drone attack in
June 2004. America attacked Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Imran Khan remained
a supporter of Pervez Musharraf until the elections of October 2002. Imran Khan
started to oppose Musharraf's Afghan policy after the dream of the prime
ministership was denied. Imran Khan was against sending army to tribal areas.
He
supported negotiations with the Taliban. They opposed the drone attacks in
which TTP leaders were killed one after the other. The good and the bad used to
repeat the fabricated hypothesis of the Taliban. NATO used to demand to stop
the supply. In the first decade of this century, Imran Khan was the political
face of the armed Taliban in Pakistan. It is no mere coincidence that in
December 2014, Imran Khan was among the three names proposed by the Taliban for
talks with the government of Pakistan. The TTP operatives who took refuge in
Afghanistan after Operation Zarb-e-Azb were sheltered by their patrons on both
sides of the border. In August 2021, when the Taliban occupied Kabul in
violation of the Doha Agreement, Imran Khan stood in the parliament and announced,
'Afghans have broken the chains of slavery'. On October 1, 2021, Imran Khan
revealed talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban. In fact, in the last days of his
government, Imran Khan allowed thousands of Taliban to return to Pakistan
without taking the parliament or the cabinet into confidenceand released dozens
of terrorists.
The
ceasefire agreement reached in June 2022 was unilaterally terminated by the
Taliban in November 2022. In January 2023, a hundred people were martyred in an
attack on a mosque in Peshawar, most of whom were police officers. In December
2023, 23 officers were martyred in an attack on police facilities in Dera
Ismail Khan. In 2023, a total of 700 terrorist attacks were carried out. The
Afghan Taliban refuse to cooperate with Pakistan, calling the attacks of
Tehreek-e-Taliban on Pakistan's army and civilians an internal matter of
Pakistan. In view of the political and economic situation of Pakistan, the open
alliance of the Afghan Taliban with the Pakistani Taliban is the worst threat
to the security of Pakistan. There are economic, cultural and political aspects
of this issue. In addition to military means, political, media and legal
measures are also needed against all forms of extremism. In this regard,
whatever steps the Pakistani government and national security agencies take,
including 'Azam-e-Staat', should be unconditionally supported by the nation.
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