We’ve gotten a lot of requests to explain the “buffer zone” statement that our Executive Director, Syed Khalid Muhammad, mentioned in his podcast, linked in this post.

There are some Pakistani X handles advocating in favor of creating a buffer zone between Pakistan and Afghanistan. We fully believe those that are advocating for the creation of such an area are either misinformed, lack the proper knowledge or are conspiring to ceded Pakistani territory to terrorists.

First, the creation of a buffer zone, within the borders of Pakistan, is comprehensively ceding territory to the terrorists who are waging war against the State. That means that we have accepted the Pakistan Army and law enforcement agencies are unable to defend the State. Please don’t be fooled into believing that the TTP, ISKP or any other anti-State group will not immediately move into the area and attempt to occupy it.

The buffer zone being discussed are the merged districts of FATA.

FATA is already disenfranchised from the State due to the neglect that has been shown to them since 1947. The terrorists, prior to 2007, enjoyed safe haven within the population. When the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was launched post-Lal Masjid, the residents of the area stood with the terrorists for many reasons, most specifically:

– they were receiving financial benefit from the Arabs who were hiding among the population

– many of the Arabs had taken local women as wives, married their daughters and sons to locals, making their ties significantly stronger among the population

Whether the locals wanted to support the Pakistan Army or not, they were bound by the familial relationships that had been developed since the 1989 Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, which made it impossible for them to support the State who had turned their backs on them.

Second, those who are arguing in favor of a buffer zone are comprehensively disavowing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the Durand Line, and accepting that the massive effort carried out by the Pakistan Army to fence the entire border will be dismantled to allow the easy flow of FATA residents into and out of Afghanistan, where they have relatives. It will also mean that the terrorists will be easily able to mix with the population and move weapons and fighters into Pakistan. This creates a massive security issue for the residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the residents of the rest of Pakistan, respectively. You are handing the terrorists a strategic and tactical victory that they could never have dreamed of achieving.

Third, this would give a moral victory to the terrorists. When the last round of negotiations ended in late 2022, the TTP had clearly stated that they wanted control of FATA, the Malakand Division, Dir, Swat, Shangla, and Buner. By accepting, or advocating for, a buffer zone, you have given them victory on one of their key points. For those who have forgotten the Swat occupation from 2008-2010, please go back and watch the videos on YouTube and read the articles that detail the violence that was meted out to the citizens of the district, under the guise of the TTP’s interpretation of Sharia Law. Lastly, do you really believe once they have control of 50% of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa they will not take Mardan, Charsadda, Peshawar, Swabi and Nowshera districts?

Fourth, internationally, if Pakistan were to create a buffer zone, it would be a clear signal that Pakistan can be broken with continued violence and irregular warfare, which would mean India would start hammering on Punjab expecting the same result. The BLA would start hammering on Baluchistan also expecting the same result. You would be telling the international community that the Pakistan Army is unable to defend its own borders from terrorists, which would embolden foreign states to attack our country.

Fifth, we, as a nation, need to stop blaming one specific party for their support of the terrorist groups. Yes, we all remember that Imran Khan once offered to open offices for the TTP in Peshawar. Yes, we all remember that Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf agreed to peace talks with the TTP. But you should also remember that Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League did the same during their governments from 2007 onwards. All three parties saw their negotiations fail and an emboldened, strategically positioned TTP attack Pakistan after the talks failed.

Sixth, please stop take immature, uneducated, irrational positions that will affect the lives of people where you don’t live. As many know, our Executive Director gave up his life in Karachi and returned to Swat during the operation, took up arms and fought the TTP with an armed militia, alongside the Pakistan Army. He is still on the TTP HVT list. One day, we will ask him to share his battlefield experience against the TTP, so that you, as an outsider, can understand what happened to the people of Swat during the occupation.

Lastly, by creating a buffer zone, you will effectively collapse the tourist industry that has developed in the Northern Areas of Swat and Dir over the past 10 years, meaning billions of rupees of investment in hotels and restaurants will be lost. You will effectively disenfranchise most of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa population, turning them against the State of Pakistan. You will effectively tell the citizens of these districts that their lives do not matter to the State of Pakistan, making it easier for them to support and join the terrorist groups that will govern and punish them.

We chose to publish this analysis, even though lengthy, to X, as well as the CommandEleven website, because this needs to be understood and shared far and wide so that those who are advocating a buffer zone can be comprehensively countered.

The solution to the terrorism problem in Pakistan is multi-faceted, but it does not start from ceding Pakistani territory to terrorists. That is accepting defeat and giving the enemy a strategic and tactical victory they could never have achieved, while positioning them to be able to conquer more settled districts across Pakistan with the same strategy.

We, as a nation, as a government and as a military, need to start with countering the radicalization that is the basis for the creation of a terrorist. We need to devise a framework that includes drone strikes, airstrikes and targeted assassinations of the leadership and commanders of the TTP, ISKP, and BLA, as well as their financiers and facilitators.

We need to deal them our harshest punishment, even if it means bombing Kabul and Kandahar to deliver the message that we will no longer accept Afghanistan as a terrorist haven against Pakistan, or any other nation. There will be reprisals from the terrorists, but as we neutralize their support structures and safe havens, they will have no where to hide – then, we should force them to the negotiating table, disarm them and send them to prisons where they will never see the light of day again.

Pakistan can only be defended with strength, but we also need to understand that we must become 1000x more violent, more evil, more sadistic than our enemy to end their reign of terror against our country. When the enemy only understands violence, we must show them a level of violence that instills terror within them.

They must understand that Pakistan, and Pakistanis, will defend our country to our dying breath. We will not take a knee and accept defeat, because that would mean slavery to a force who has shown murder is not an option they reject.

You, as an individual, are welcome to disagree with our position. But you, as an individual, don’t have the on-ground intelligence that we receive on an hourly basis. You, as an individual, don’t have the battlefield experience of fighting these terrorists in your own villages and cities.

Strength and honor – Pakistan Paindabad