Focusing on Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, this theater represents a primary tri-threat landscape. Analysis targets nuclear escalation ladders, the command-and-control of regional proxy networks, cross-border kinetic friction, and the tactical utilization of 5th Generation Warfare (5GW).
Ali Özkök interviewed Syed Khalid Muhammad, CommandEleven Executive Director, for Russia Today on the Taliban in Afghanistan and the failures of the Ashraf Ghani government to contain them.
So, we have an account of a foreign ‘contractor,’ unfortunately we have silence on our side. Who this silence serves, I don’t know, but it appears that the military is getting part of the blame.
While there have been constant attempts by New Delhi and Kabul to undermine these successes by continuing to wage terrorism in Pakistan from Afghan soil while employing their assets in media for systematic disinformation, anyone who wants to witness these successes with their own eyes can visit Pakistan and do so.
For decades, Pakistanis have been told that Afghanistan is a “brotherly Islamic country” with cultural and people-to-people ties with Pakistan. For decades, Pakistan has also consistently faced long and short waves of terrorism and crimes, a good proportion of which have been traced to Afghanistan.
Some people are of the opinion that India and Pakistan could have better relations, and that it is Pakistan who causes acrimony, with the Establishment specifically to blame. They qualify their argument by accusing the Establishment of creating an artificial situation so as to justify a huge defense budget, pay and allowances and perks.
Following the 9/11 incident in 2001, US and its allied forces invaded Afghanistan in a bid to eliminate Al-Qaida and Taliban, their safe-heavens and free the country from their “oppression.” Apart from providing billons of aids for reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, the United States have spent $70 billion thus far to build 350,000 strong Afghan National Army and Police to fight against terrorism and provide better security to the people.
In Afghanistan, Pakistan has been scapegoated for a while – tactical failures and strategic reverses are conveniently justified by blaming it on Pakistan. It is fashionable for our own intellectuals to join in the chorus and blame the infamous Establishment. At times, I feel that Pakistan would be a better place to live in and things would be so much more stable and peaceful if this establishment was taken out of the equation.
Amid ruckus and mayhem in Afghanistan, top US officials, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, have given a good account of what is the offing for the country. The day president Ghani offered an olive branch to the Taliban, James Mattis rejected the very idea.
There seems to be an endeavor to prove that we can do without Kashmir and it should not be central to our relations with India. People have quoted from history, that it was we who invaded in 1948, sending in tribesmen into Kashmir and that India was justified in sending troops at the request of the Maharaja and Hyderabad was offered in exchange etc.
Last Wednesday’s massive terrorist attack in Kabul’s diplomatic sector happened, Afghanistan went into a panicked state. The panic was more from having their completely failed security apparatus exposed in such a gruesome fashion than responding to the attack itself.
The international community has a moral obligation to speak up but will not; morality is not a factor in the affairs of the world. Pakistan needs to present a narrative to the world but it is too incompetent to do it and displays criminal indifference to the matter.
Relations between China and India have been souring over the past year since New Delhi agreed to an unprecedented military-strategic partnership last summer with Washington through LEMOA. The US long planned to use India as its “Lead from Behind” proxy in countering China, hoping to set the two Asian Great Powers against one in the ultimate divide-and-rule strategy of the 21st century.
Have been away for a while, was watching matters with concern and disappointment as Pakistan stumbles through one crisis to another. But then am I qualified to say anything at all in the first place? A retired officer of the armed forces, it appears may have no right to criticize, suggest or recommend anything within this sacred democracy.
The Indian Defense Minister Arun Jatley visited the frontlines on the currently active Line of Control (LoC). After meeting field commanders and troops deployed on the Forward Defended Localities (FDLs), he expressed his satisfaction over the morale of the troops and called upon them to maintain heightened vigil.
When DawnLeaks happened, the State handled the crisis as best as it could. No one says that it is to everyone’s satisfaction, nevertheless it was resolved with the best of intent. Our DG-ISPR was the messenger and unkind remarks about him are either out of ignorance or malice.
Kashmir is a nuclear flashpoint and is the main reason why Pakistan and India remain antagonistic towards each other. In the recent days, after an intense disinformation campaign on Indian media about mutilation of Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops at LOC, the tensions are rising again.
Why does a media tycoon, his empire under criticism for playing second fiddle to a political stunt generated by the sitting government, need a tweet from the US Consulate in Karachi to prove his innocence?
