American War on terror and the Afghanistan dilemma

War on terror has cost United States a lot and has caused a damp in the budget of US, whether the war was a success or failure is another debate, but today the focus is the situation of Afghanistan. Furthermore, United States after finishing almost all the stronghold of Talibans wanted to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, but trouble keeps spawning it self again and again. The biggest issue is re-emergence of Taliban in the southern provinces and villages, while the inexperienced Afghans army is unable to suppress the increasing control of Talibans, at the same time the higher ups of Talibans movement have killed the chance of reconciliation with the Afghan government. Furthermore, Pakistan remained one of the strongest ally of US despite the friction between the two on the drone strikes carried out by US in the territory of Pakistan. Moreover, US consider these drone strikes necessary for this war, because they target the key leaders of Taliban movement that often take refuge in Pakistan amid the attack of US forces on their strong holds in Afghanistan. while Pakistan claims that these attacks not only harm the sovereignty of the nation, but also claim the lives of innocent. As a result of this mistrust in government is increasing in those areas and anti state elements have risen against Pakistan. Despite all this, Pakistan still stood with US in this war.

Recently a drone attack was carried out in Pakistan, which was successful in taking out its target, the leader of the Taliban movement Mullah Mansoor. Pakistani security authorities claim that security agencies were taken in confidence for the attack, while political authorities are avoiding the issue. On the other hand, India has also been a keen player in the rapprochement of Afghanistan, it has made huge sums of investment in Afghanistan and also contributed in the training of Afghani army among many other projects. Growing influence of India in Afghanistan is causing a tension for Pakistan, due to the strained relations of both countries. Plus, Pakistani claims of Indian involvement and aid to in anti-state elements of Pakistan. Right now, if US tilt toward India the friction between Pakistan and US will increase and Pakistan will shift toward Russia for diplomatic support, which would be devastating for the US. Third option would be Iran, but it would probably be the worst option for US to pursue. First, gaining support from Iran will mean going against the rampant opinion of people of US. Second, Iran is predominantly a Shia country while in Afghanistan the majority of population is Sunni, increasing the influence of Iran in Afghanistan could result in another ISIS or rebirth of Taliban as even more powerful Sunni organization. Third, this could also strain the relations of US and middle east especially Saudi Arabia, who's leadership has been very outspoken against Iran.

Above analysis shows that US right now is faced with this predicament, it may seem that taking one's side will have its benefits and obviously, and that probably would be the case, but it will be more beneficial for US to prefer Pakistan in this war for the following reasons. First, Pakistan has been the the biggest ally of US beginning from the cold war era till today, from the creation of mujaheddin to the provision of air bases, Pakistan has extended support whenever needed. Second, Pakistan was one of the countries to create and motivate mujaheddin to fight Soviets and after that Pakistan recognize Taliban government as official Afghan government to stop further bloodshed in the country, therefore there are elements in the country which support Taliban movement, who sees them as the Mujaheddin of today, with the stronger support of US, Pakistan can easily eradicate the element supporting Talibans in Pakistan. Third, without support of elements in Pakistan, Talibans will have no choice but to enter into negotiation with the government for Afghan people and Pakistan can spearhead the negotiation, it will be like killing two birds with one arrow, removing anti-US and pro-Taliban elements in Pakistan and stabilizing the Afghan government. Lastly, Afghan people have resentment for Pakistan for using the land of Afghanistan for Soviet war and supporting Taliban government, this act of reconciliation from Pakistan will create a positive image of the country in the minds of a common man in Afghanistan, which will result in good diplomtic relations between the two countries and stability will prevail.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Afghan Ex-President Hamid Karzai, And Pakistani Ex-Army Chief General Parvaiz Kiyani

For Future

Watching everyday news about Pakistan, one can see a very gloomy image of the country. Pakistan is moving towards the direction which could lead it to Stone Age or medieval era. Evidently one can easily observe people's misconception of freedom and logic, their resentment towards counter arguments, their defiance to new ideas and their short sightedness. All this is a result of a false ideology prevailing in our society which was concocted by few opportunists, who love to exploit the gullible minds. As a result we are knee-deep in this problem. This difficulty spawns from one of our major institutions, which is education. Our education, doesn't have the problem of budget or the unavailability of schools as commonly believed, instead the problem persist in the very deep, which is curriculum of our schools. I remember reading about an Afghan king, the great mighty warrior who fought valiantly in the battles and scored himself, through his high determination a gargantuan treasure chest for his kingdom. Plus, I learned that he was a mighty warrior, who not only protected Muslims from outside threats but also conquered new lands for his people to live in, while his subjects including the ones subdued in the battle worshiped him as an idol for his display of honesty, truthfulness, and justice amongst all Muslims and non-Muslims alike. As a kid I wouldn't dare doubt the integrity of this story, as it was something that relates to my faith. As a result of this the first idea that got engraved on the walls of my sub conscience was that, we had a history of warriors who risked and dedicated their lives in fighting wars.

Moreover, we are told to never question history as it may somehow weaken our ideology of Pakistan and or Islam. My rebellious nature forced me to discover other side of the picture, to read the history from something other than our school text books, and oh boy was I in for a surprise, turns out the so called heroic king did not protected Muslims. Instead he straight up slaughtered hundreds and thousands of them just for a small piece of land. The only reason he left his land was to pillage unprotected villages and steal from Hindu temple, while facing little to none resistance on the way. This king never bothered to earn his treasure and livelihood through peaceful or legal means, this person never inspired art or inculcated civilized culture or even spirits of Islam into the minds of his subjects. Yet he is portrayed as a Muslim hero and conquer and a great leader of this region. 

Additionally, our education system has deliberately modified the history, which has greatly impacted our thinking. People of this region only admire the history that portrays them as savages and warriors, or in their words conquerors and champions. Plus they use it as a reference to glorify their lineage. The petty wars are so deeply entangled in our culture and history that our culture, something that has to add colors to our life, teach us poetry, philosophy and art, is replaced by war rituals. As a result of this people admire the history that only portrays them as warriors and fighter but not intellectuals. We have very little in our curriculum dedicated to the scientists, artists and philosophers. If we ever were to study Friedrich Nietzsche a genius of his time, he would be studied as a Godless idiot who got famous for blabbing about useless and unholy stuff.

Additionally, we have zero focus on philosophy in our education system, there is no concept of reason and logic in the text books, no instrument to develop logic and understanding, consequently, this has taken away the ability to comprehend any complex idea, and therefore for every logical question there is an "Expert" to resolve it for the common man. Moreover, this disabled mentality is the greatest cause for the rise in extremism and militancy in the country. People believe theology is wisdom that cannot be understood by their feeble minds and by attempting to understand it, they may land themselves in peril or end up making an unforgivable blunder. As a result they give the job of thinking to these experts, who very willingly use them to their advantage in any way they please. None of the common folks ever think that these so called experts could also make blunders like them. No! these experts are believed to have poses God like perfectness in their understanding of religion and are believed as true guide for their life, with our manipulated war history it becomes very easy to peruse the follower of most peaceful religion on earth, to kill and murder and innocent human being.

In a nut shell, the problem lies not in the religion or infrastructure or corruption or budget or people, instead it lies in the very core of our education system. As long as the core problem is not fixed there will always be an opportunist and there will always be a herd of gullible people following him. The policy makers of this country need to put their minds together and come up with another solution to the threat to the ideology of Pakistan, instead of depriving Pakistanis the lesson of wisdom and accurate history. Allowing people to think reason and see both side of the picture will be the only way to solve this dilemma.