By Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha
New Delhi, Aug 30: Pakistan's military establishment had offered the previous Afghan governments several proposals for their soldiers. The Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid many visits but "only six cadets came to Pakistan while thousands of soldiers and officers were trained in India", says the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Babar Iftikhar, addressing a press conference on Friday. The Pakistan army spokesperson was making a herculean effort to understand as to why the Afghan people and army hate Pakistan so much.
"India poisoned the minds of the Afghan leadership, its intelligence agencies, as well as the army, thus giving rise to negative statements against Pakistan." He tried to explain how much Pakistan has done for the country and its people yet they have always been blamed for the Afghanistan mess.
"Whatever has happened in Afghanistan, we need to understand the role of India. Whatever investments India made in Afghanistan; it was all done with the sole intention to harm Pakistan. They have no love lost for Afghan people or Afghanistan."
Previous Afghan governments, its armies, parliamentarians, media outlets and political commentators have been blaming the Pakistani army and its intelligence agencies for actively supporting and helping the Taliban and other militant outfits to capture the country by force creating an unprecedented human crisis.
But Pakistan's interior minister, Sheikh Rasheed, admitted that the families of Taliban members were living in Pakistan, and that the injured and dead fighters were brought to the country from Afghanistan.
Thousands of Afghans are now hoping to flee from their motherland. Some have succeeded and rest are waiting outside the Kabul airport, which has become the most dangerous place in the region. Many of them have been openly criticising Pakistan for their miseries. According to them, Pakistan's goal has been to keep Afghanistan debilitated, divided and needy to their resources so they can control the country against the supposed influence and involvement of their arch-rival, India. The best way to do that (according to Pakistan) is to support proxy terrorist forces in the region.
Now the euphoria is gone and realities are sinking in. Pakistan has not got any assurance from the Taliban about controlling Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan except for one general statement that Afghanistan's soil will not be used against any country, including India.
According to Pakistani analysts, another problem is around the corner. After the Taliban is settled in the saddle, it will raise the issue of the Pakistan and Afghanistan border - Durand Line. They feel that the Taliban will not do much to address Pakistan's strategic concerns. Like previous Afghan governments, it has refused to recognise the Durand Line as an international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The former first vice chancellor and now "acting" President Amrullah Saleh had made it clear to the Pakistani delegation that there won't be any compromise on the Durand line.
"No Afghan politician of national stature can overlook the issue of Durand Line. It will condemn him or her in life & after life. It is an issue which needs discussions & resolution. Expecting us to gift it for free is unrealistic. Peshawar used to be the winter capital of Afg," Saleh had tweeted.
Afghan Taliban's Pakistan "arm" TTP has also declared that they are fighting for a greater Afghanistan.
"Our fight is only in Pakistan and we are at war with the Pakistani forces. We are firmly hoping to take control of Pakistani border regions and make them independent," TTP supremo Noor Wali Mehsud said in a recent interview.