Afghanistan is advancing towards the stone ages with the unending conflict with no gain. The Afghan Taliban are picking up more strength and the march towards Kabul has started. A recently returned western diplomat from Kabul called on me who informed me that Kabul is under the grip of panic and rumors.
According to him, Kabul is likely to be vacated by diplomats and other foreigners out of fear. This is very alarming and the world needs to halt further bloodshed of innocent Afghans. This could be stopped by the urgent initiative of world powers particularly the USA. I hope my views below may give some outline for immediate peace in Afghanistan. I am drawing the special attention of President Joe Biden who will consider my heartfelt points jolted below for his consideration of the non-ending killings of innocent Afghans in the unwarranted conflict.
Mr President, it is unfortunate that world powers including the US are having divergent views on agreeing to a one-point agenda which is nothing but “peace”, with no other option except peace. Your decision to withdraw the army is great but it will create a civil war if you withdraw troops without a pragmatic exit strategy to stop the civil war. This is a very important point for your consideration.
If the world powers do not converge
on one point of bringing peace to Afghanistan, then I see the Taliban marching
towards Kabul and every passing day becomes dangerous for the
anti-Taliban/non-Taliban government and the Afghan society. The killing of
innocent Afghans has started and if it continues there will be mass migrations
of Afghan refugees to the neighbouring countries and we will witness another
brand of the ‘Zaliman; creating trouble on a large level in the world.
It was very disappointing when I
heard from the president of Afghanistan while giving an interview that “his
death is only one bullet away”. This statement coming from the sitting
president of Afghanistan, attacks on schools, attacks on the Afghan Army via
Herat and the killing of 100 of soldiers and the blood of innocent Afghans and
the pain of injured children are unable to attract the attention of the leaders
of the world powers.
I will explain why I used the term
‘hired-Taliban’ and how an engineered justification was planned to justify
drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan and these operations are on record
with many other facts which were misrepresented. I owe it to the nation to
disclose some hidden and shocking aspects /factors behind some such incidents
which you all will see in my coming book. I only remind the world powers to not
allow the unaccountable killings of poor Afghans and let them not become
victims to world politics.
The American Army is still in
Afghanistan and the innocent people are still being butchered from both sides
to play a power game at the cost of the lives of innocent Afghans. I have seen
fears in the eyes of young poor children who will be victims of the
post-withdrawal scenario. Rich Afghans/diplomats will fly away but the common
man once again will be the victim of the Taliban.
Pakistan must move with other
friendly countries and bring a resolution for the deployment of UN peacekeeping
forces in Afghanistan apart from an Islamic Force—if it exists or will ever
come into being as per my proposal—to be based in Saudi Arabia.
Let the Taliban and the present
Afghan government be forced to sit at the table to work out a peace transition
and formation of the government as per the wish of the people of Afghanistan.
I know what is being thought in the
capitals of the world power at the moment and world power frictions must come
to end to bring peace in war-torn Afghanistan.
I propose that let the Pentagon
under President Joe Biden take the initiative to take solid steps for peace in
Afghanistan and let us set objectives to determine the unrest and killing of
innocent people as enemies of humanity and avoid another round of killings in
Afghanistan by engaging China, Russia, the UK, the UAE, Pakistan, and Iran for
the sake of the tired Afghans from this useless war of 30 years.
My country has made tremendous sacrifices for peace in Afghanistan and I am myself witness to this non-ending war. Since the US invasion of Afghanistan, more than 60,000 Pakistani civilians, security forces personnel, and women and children have been killed across the country apart from huge devastation to its economy and basic infrastructure. Pakistani economy suffered a total loss of $126.79 billion due to the war on terror from 2001 to 2018. According to a Brown University study in 2019, the US had spent around $978bn since 9/11, and US forces have suffered more than 2,300 deaths and around 20,660 soldiers injured in action. President Ghani said in 2019 that more than 45,000 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed since he became president five years earlier. And, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), nearly 111,000 Afghan civilians have been killed or injured since it began systematically recording civilian casualties in 2009.
Pakistan has brought both the
government and the Taliban on the table and it worked well and it is time for
the US and the world to play a vital role in the restoration of peace in
Afghanistan. So far, the world has failed as every effort for peace was signed
with a longer timeline giving the latitude of time to anti-peace groups.
President Joe Biden, you are the right president with the right tone, and you have the ability to bring real peace to Afghanistan. The present army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, is fully determined to bring peace to Afghanistan. I am sure you would manage to bring peace with a proper strategy in collaboration with Pakistan. The region is looking towards you to use your influence to give peaceful Afghanistan to the world not with built but through your statesman skills.
Mr. President! Convert this tragedy
of Afghanistan into happiness and enable the Afghan future generation to live
their lives their way and not under the fears of roaring guns. Let reality take
over perception and let us admit that the Afghan war was a useless exercise
that created more terrorism than peace. Admitting a national mistake will make
you look taller among world leaders.
The world wants peace in
Afghanistan President Joe Biden, and you have the opportunity to win the hearts
and minds of the Afghans in particular and the world in general by bringing
peace there. I am sure you are not going to repeat firing the mother of the
bombs on Afghanistan as the former US President Donald Trump did. Afghan has
become a punching bag for many stakeholders and we hope it will end soon.
A highly rational and objective
analysis would conclude that the US and its allies including former PM Tony
Blair and many others would be regretting the launching of this so-called war
on terror in Afghanistan. Let us rectify our mistakes in our lifetime as we
seniors will not be there in the world to narrate the hidden secrets and
realities to the historian.
It is time to converge the world
powers to one-point agenda of peace and this proposal may come in UN by
yourself and let a delegation of Afghan Taliban be invited to White House as
has previously be done by President Reagan when delegates were regarded high as
they were to be used against USSR as per the war plan. These are the same
Taliban and now fighting against the USA and the Afghan government. There is no
harm to invite them to the White House in the presence of President Ashraf
Ghani who also owes to the USA having been educated in the USA on American
scholarship. Let this trilateral meeting take place in the White House to
resolve the Afghan issue once for all, and trust me Mr. President, your
initiative to bring both the parties to the table in the White House will bring
long-lasting peace in Afghanistan. This would be an honourable exit for the USA
and everyone who remained associated with this war.
President Joe Biden is only one
call away from all the above-mentioned leaders of the world power and your one
call to every one of them will convince and converge on one page to stand with
you to restore peace. I am sure the presidents of China and Russia will not say
no to you and Pakistan is already working hard to get peace restored in
Afghanistan in this peace process. Mr. President, please consider creating this
forum of world powers for the sake of peace for the future generations of
Afghanistan.
The Article was published in The Nation on June 1, 2021, Link to original article: https://nation.com.pk/01-Jun-2021/afghan-peace
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