Today, this is crystal clear. A recent sit-in at Islamabad has taken a hit because of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s words. The Mehsood and Wazir tribes had three demands which were very close acceptance, but ended up getting an agreement with the Government of Pakistan over only two of them. This happened only because of Ashraf Ghani’s words: “Afghans will get revenge” for the support of the Islamabad sit-in.
But this Afghani American puppet’s show for Pashtun nationals, and very smartly presenting Afghans, Pashtuns and Pakistani tribesmen as one single group was not without a specifics and reason. If I had spoken earlier, this might have jeopardized the tribesmen’s ongoing campaign in Islamabad, but it is over now. Government of Pakistan and tribesmen have reached a mutual understanding and the sit-in is done. However, it is my journalistic responsibility to present some facts.
Before going deeper into we have to know some details about President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani who is called by the West a “Philosopher King”. He was born in Afghanistan’s Logar Province on May 19, 1949, into the Ahmadzai Tribe. In 1969 he graduated from Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, in the US In 1973 he obtained his bachelor degree from American University in Beirut. In 1977 he did his masters at Columbia University in New York and completed a doctorate in 1983. During his study in Columbia University he met his wife Rula F. Saadah.
During the election campaign of 2014 she played a very important role getting Ashraf Ghani elected as President of Afghanistan. To honor her, Ghani thanked her and announced her Afghan name: Bi Bi Gul. Rula F. Saadah, or Bi Bi Gull or Rula Ghani belongs to an American-Lebanese Christian family. In 2015, Rula Ghani was named to the Time magazine 100 list of the world's most influential people. Her daughter Maryam Ghani is a Brooklyn based artist and her son, Tariq, is working with an American lobbying firm. Ashraf Ghani taught in several American universities such as the University of California, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University.
In 1991 he joined the World Bank and as we know very well that once you join World Bank you remain attached to it one way or the other even if you leave it and join other institutions. Your contacts and designations remain. This is the reason that when he returned to Afghanistan after 24 years, he was appointed as chief adviser to then president Hamid Karzai in 2002.
Everyone knows his journey after becoming Finance Minister of Afghanistan. I can say with certainty that he is no more than a pawn of Western powers, a puppet king who has the power to rule the whole nation but his American master America fails to inform him about progress and dealings with his opponents and allies.
As proof of this, take October 11, 2017, when a piece of news published in Pakistani newspapers revealed that talks at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA) had been suspended by Afghanistan unilaterally. Over this suspension a question was asked of the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, on October 16, 2017, in a TV interview. Surprisingly enough, he and his superiors were unaware of the matter, but he gave his word to a Pakistani journalist to address the suspension promptly. However, the talks remain suspended. Pakistan is still waiting for a reply from the US but the US is not answerable to anyone, it seems. So, Pakistanis and Afghans are still waiting, in suspension themselves. It’s as if the US is working underhandedly and secretly and making plans without even informing Afghan partners. It all smells of further American exploitation.
Boots have been on the ground for the last 17 years. The US has spent many billions of dollars in Afghanistan on its war. These expenses are in addition to than CIA expenditures on illegal Arms and the drug trade. Some 2,400 US soldiers have died, too, and many thousands more wounded, and very little if anything has been accomplished. These numbers are much higher according to claims of the Taliban, but in any case the Americans are losers in Afghanistan. And this is why America wants to leave, but still wants to control the drug trade emanating from the country. Readers may find these words annoying but I believe the real aim of the American presence was primarily to organize and control the international drug trade. If my honorable readers require some proof of this, I can provide it if requested.
The American Menace wants to do three things before leaving the country:
Firstly, the US wants to leave without shame. Americans are not eager to repeat the Vietnam War failures. The recent Chiefs of Defense Conference held in Kabul, ongoing military campaigns and back door diplomacy are steps towards this goal. Pakistan is a very important strategic partner in this matter. This is the reason why COAS of Pakistan, General Qamar Jawaid Bajwa, presented the idea of a “collaborative and persistent approach” to deal with regional security challenges, with the consultation of Iran, Turkey and other stake holders. But the real decision making occurs in the White House and Pentagon instead of in Kabul, and the conference finished without any declaration. It is my personal belief that Americans would not take General Bajwa’s notion of stability of the region through Afghanistan because the US targets are not what Bajwa and others seek to realize. In fact, they are opposite to it.
Secondly, Americans don’t want fighters to target their own soil but to keep serving US interests in the region. For that, the American Menace has decided to leave Afghanistan in the hands of three groups: ISIL, the Taliban, and the Afghan government. Americans will take care of Afghan government forces. The CIA will take care of ISIL and make sure that this militant group keeps on serving US interests in the region as they are serving elsewhere in Asia, and will leave the Taliban to find partners to support their cause and territories and in the region. This is the reason why Donald Trump has denounced talks with the Taliban. When Ashraf Ghani came into power, in his first speech, he announced that his main objective is to bring all fighting groups in Afghanistan to the table. The stance of the “philosopher king” is opposite that of the US currently. Things have changed and the US is trying to do anything, supporting various groups in various ways, to maintain overall hegemony in the region.
Those who know Afghanistan well know that large militant groups usually remained attached to smaller warlords to secure their positions on the ground as well as to avert greater losses in case of all-out war with their opponents in some particular area. This is to control the area without losing men or spending yet more money. Increasing the ISIS presence in the area is pointing towards more pain for all parties, because the Taliban would have to fight on two fronts against government backed forces and ISIL. This would also benefit the US by its sale of more weapons and further expansion of the drug trade.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the US wants to maintain its influence in the region. For this, Ghani has started exploiting the Pashtun nationalism. Pashtuns of Iran and Pakistan are close with the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. These wolves want to spur more bloodshed in the name of ethnicity and nationalism, as they have often done in the past. Pashtuns of Iran and Pakistan are fully aware of the situation, and it is my belief that they will not become puppets to the Americans.
Masood Chaudhary is a Pakistani senior journalist, writer, philanthropist with vast experience in investigative journalism. He is currently serving a news agency as CEO. He is also a member of the Pakistan Federation of Columnist, a member of Punjab Union of Journalist, and a member of Voice of Journalist Pakistan. He writes columns for Pakistani Urdu newspapers regularly under the title of Byan-o-Kalam.
MNA/TT
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