It seems that Pakistan is at cross road, past policies of finding strategic depth in Afghanistan has made Pakistan to pay the price. Changing dynamics are fast turning against us, be it US policy on war on terror or Indian encircling of Pakistan.
On the same issue I came across an interesting article published in today dawn, titled How Our Spymasters View the World, written by Irfan Hussain;
Writer argues that “IT is difficult to read an article about Afghanistan, the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the UK or the US without coming across a reference to Pakistan’s ubiquitous Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). In fact, the ISI has become our only instantly recognised brand name abroad”.Normally, spooks operate out of the glare of publicity. However, the ISI has become so intertwined with many of the region’s trouble spots that it is blamed for almost every terror attack, whether it is guilty or not.With this mindset, when they “Military” analyse threats to Pakistan, to the east they see a powerful India — a country that has locked horns rather successfully with our army four times.
To the west lies Iran, a neighbour with which we have no territorial disputes. To the north and north-west is Afghanistan, a troubled, turbulent country that our army has traditionally viewed as its backyard, especially after the Soviet incursion and Taliban rule. This is where our generals have looked in their search for an elusive ‘strategic depth’.To prevent this from happening, it is in the ISI’s interest to destabilise Afghanistan. In order to achieve this, the Taliban have to be covertly supported. However, as we have seen, this policy has caused serious problems with our home-grown extremists. Balancing the competing demands of a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, and peaceful extremists within Pakistan, is testing the capabilities of our intelligence agencies, and exposing the limits to their power.
More and more, Pakistan is being blamed for the losses being incurred by western forces in Afghanistan. With mounting casualties, the Americans are being drawn into our tribal areas to combat militants our forces are unwilling or unable to take on. Against their wishes and interests, Pakistan and the US are being sucked into a conflict that can benefit only the forces of extremism.
Writer rightly concludes that “It’s high time we took a close look at the dangers facing us; but to do so, we cannot look through military eyes any more.”
Think over, it is right time to make right choice for desired future…….
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