Disinformation against Afghan Taliban
ONE has to take the circulated impression with a pinch of salt that the people of Afghanistan had felt insecure under the Taliban who had been averse to female education.
This scribe is a first-hand witness to three accounts which prove otherwise. One; I happened to attend a meeting of a private conglomerate of 35 welfare organizations in Karachi engaged in raising funds for reconstruction of Afghanistan left devastated after the Russian invasion and American desertion of the country after Soviet withdrawal.
This voluntary assistance was being rendered at the call of Usama Bin Laden who had himself donated handsomely for speedy rehabilitation; having felt disillusioned by the US desertion in the crunch situation.
Fund-raising was mainly aimed at augmenting medical infrastructure across Afghanistan and specifically schools for girls in Kabul to start with.
I was initially taken aback when a participant during the donation drive in Karachi reported that Mullah Omar, the Emir, had declined the assistance offered earlier for the five female schools in Kabul, but was pleasantly surprised when the reporter went on to add that Mulla Omar’s Shura had made it conditional to commitment of funds for at least 35 schools across the country, as just in Kabul would be unfair to the rest.
My second experience was an account narrated in the audience of (late) Nasim Anwar Baig; a former Pakistani diplomat, at that time heading an informal Think Tank in Islamabad, by one of his ardent fans.
He was excited to inform the audience that he had just returned from a successful trip to Afghanistan managing audience with Mulla Omar for the producer of the ‘60 Minutes’ American network program, who went back completely transformed in his outlook of Afghan society and its security, and promised to report the truth.
It is another matter that when the program was aired, the Journalist instead manufactured a negative story out of the thousands of feet he was facilitated to film freely; so much for the inherent Western bias.
My third experience was an account narrated by late Gen Hameed Gul, the celebrated ISI Chief held in great esteem by the Afghans, who was guest of honour at one of the Afghan National Day parades alongside Mulla Omar who told him that the armed columns passing across were laden with live ammunition; such was the confidence of the leadership in its armed forces in particular and the public in general.
There are several other stories about how safe the Burqa-clad women in Afghanistan felt roaming the streets during the last Taliban rule.
But after over 40 years of protracted war of attrition during the valiant struggle against foreign occupation of their motherland, the Taliban (meaning the seekers of God’s righteous path) waged Jehad in the true sense both against the Soviet Union and the NATO might led by the US and came out victorious; armed with tribal-manufactured archaic munitions and those wrested from the enemy when withdrawing, but above all, with complete faith in the Almighty under its matchless umbrella of its mercies.
Importantly, despite having come out victorious, the Afghan Taliban are an emblem of humility and not bragging triumphantly, but are weary of the odds while having learnt a few lessons chastened by realities.
The Imperial game plan in the region was obviated by UN’s blindfolded rubber-stamp approval for action against Afghanistan with not a single Afghan involved in the mysterious hijacking of US aircrafts hitting the Twin Towers in Manhattan New York, and the US demand to hand over Usama Bin Laden to them who was at that time an Afghan guest, declaring him the mastermind of 9/11 despite his denial having anything to do with the self-manufactured twin-tower strike 21 years ago of which no official account has been released till date, says it all.
In Taliban’s reluctant willingness to hand over Usama to a third country despite being provided no proof against him, they ought to have sensed the trap and considered it a grave mistake to have destroyed the Bamyan Budha Statues carved into their hillsides over centuries; which provided an excuse to the West to frame them as rigid and intolerant people inviting worldwide reaction against them, which facilitated the Allied invasion of Afghanistan.
This time around, the Afghan Taliban despite having speedily established their writ across the country and giving their subjects a sense of security, ought to be doubly aware of the ploys and challenges; mainly economic but also of the artificial social change the imperial forces had sought to fashion through their stooges like Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani into the Afghan society.
Although this scribe has borne testimony to the Afghan Taliban’s willingness to provide broader openings for their female population, the US and the West setting pre-conditions for formal recognition of the Taliban Government instead of providing an enabling environment, and its proxy India campaigning against the Taliban, does not auger too well for the future.
It clearly indicates that the US withdrawal was merely meant to cut their losses in a fruitless campaign, as they find the ignominy of their defeat hard to digest; disgracefully freezing their rightful foreign reserves; only partially easing economic sanctions after the OIC moot and appeal.
A social tirade against Taliban over the media, has nonetheless been unleashed after largely evacuating those who served the occupation forces by the US to be used in their propaganda stints.
Examples are many but Yalda Hakim an Afghan TV anchor being used for anti-Taliban stories and a Women’s football team smuggled out of Afghanistan taking asylum in Portugal, which is being profusely propagated, besides unfounded stories of killings and executions of Allied supporters by the ruling Taliban, who appear to be committed to General Amnesty; their word of honour for all without discrimination.
The imperialist camp is also weary of the ascendancy which China and Russia were most likely to achieve in the region with their role as sympathetic peace-makers for regional peace.
But it will be a grave mistake if the Taliban were to continue dragging their feet on addressing concerns of its immediate regional neighbours, primarily over cross-border attacks by mercenary terrorist outfits by furnishing tangible guarantees to them after pointedly warning these mercenary outfits against any future mischief, or developing a joint strategy with the stakeholders to weed them out.
Pakistan’s stakes in regional peace are far greater than any other country; being one country with the longest common border with Afghanistan which has been in the vanguard appealing to world conscience to help the Afghan people against starvation, would additionally require resilient cooperation from the Afghan Government as a quid pro quo for also hosting 3 million Afghan refugees for over 42 years which by now have multiplied to over five million, to facilitate completion of the remaining stretch of border fencing in order to guard against smuggling and illegal trafficking which was cutting into legitimate official revenues on both sides, and provide iron-clad assurance to prevent cross-border terrorist attacks which were still being carried out into Pakistan by the TTP and the BLA sleepers from Afghanistan.
—The writer is a media professional, member of Pioneering team of PTV and a veteran ex Director Programmes.
