Pak seeks to vacate
Afghanistan's UN seat
By M. Said Faizi
Summarized translation of Mr. Faizi's Dari-Persian article
published in our previous issue.
The battlefields were relatively quiet last week. But, the
eerie calm was not much consolation to the tens of thousands of
Takhar's internal refugees who face death, disease and untold
miseries day in and day out.
And why have the Pakistanis, and their Taliban henchmen, put a
halt to their offensive? Certainly not because they've realized
the barbarity of their actions. And not that they've taken a
moment for introspection -- to ask: why all this murder, carnage
and ruin? We cannot expect any such thing from our age-old enemy.
Today's fight is rooted in our battles with the Hindus of the
Punjab. It's an ancient war. For the Pakistanis, it's a war of
reprisal and revenge for the glorious victories of Sultan Mahmood
Ghaznawi and Ahmad Shah Durrani; the defeat of Ranjit Singh and
the British. And for Islamabad, it's a war to gain a sense of
national pride, to rid themselves of an inferiority complex that
has haunted Pakistan since it's inception -- an inferiority that
became intolerable upon Afghanistan's triumph over the world's
most powerful army. The Afghan mujahideen's downing of the Red
Army sent shockwaves throughout the Punjab as Pakistan feared,
more than ever, the power of her time-tested neighbor to the
north.
Several factors, to varying extents, have now taken priority
over or stymied ISI military operations, resulting in Pakistan's
current cessation of attacks: foremost, Pakistan's need to fully
and quickly exploit her tenuous hold on Taloqan in Islamabad's
diplomatic maneuverings vis-à-vis the upcoming reassessment of
Afghanistan's seat in the United Nations; damage control after the
Taliban's fruitless diplomatic expeditions to the United States
and France, the latter of which resulted in total humiliation;
failure of Pakistani propaganda, such as the exposure of false
reports in Pakistani media on the health of Ahmad Shah Masood; and
a nervous, neurotic preoccupation with the strengthening of
relations between Russia and India.
In addition, Pakistani efforts to push further into United
Front territory has failed. The ISI's subsequent resort to the
bombing of civilian areas, which has injured or martyred hundreds
of innocents, drew international criticism and further isolated
Islamabad. And Pakistan has learned not to disturb the norm, that
is, world silence over the Afghan tragedy.
The UN credentials committee is set to meet later this month.
While Afghanistan's UN seat will come up for consideration, its
will no doubt remain unchanged and elude Taliban control for the
following reasons:
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Occupation
of territory through warfare -- especially when it includes
ethnic cleansing and scorched earth policy -- is not a basis
for UN recognition. |
|
While
claiming to control over 90% of Afghanistan, Pakistan's
Taliban front men have not formed a central government,
national army, security or police force, legal institutions,
cultural bodies or economic structures. |
|
In
lieu of a national army, Afghanistan is home to Pakistan
Army regiments and Arab terrorist organizations. |
|
Lacking
a police force, Afghan cities are patrolled by religious
extremists, mainly Pakistanis, and controlled by Mulla Fazl
ur-Rahman of Pakistan's Jamiat ul-Ulema terrorist outfit. |
|
A
booming narcotics operation, which partially funds
Pakistan's Taliban war machine, is substituted for a lawful
and legitimate economic system. |
|
Poppy
cultivation dominates Afghan farmlands under Taliban
control. |
|
Human
rights are trampled and women's rights are nonexistent. |
These and countless other reasons make it impossible for the
Taliban to grasp UN or international recognition. Then why
Pakistan's frenzied diplomatic efforts for the fate of
Afghanistan's UN seat? Don't they realize the Taliban will not and
cannot occupy it or gain international recognition? Of course they
do. But, even so, Islamabad is sparing no effort in trying to
attain its real goal: suspending UN recognition of the government
of the Islamic State [eds: the political superstructure of the
Masood-led United Front national resistance force].
The nonoccupancy of Afghanistan's UN seat would cut off the
country from the international community. The nation would lose
her last, major forum in which to sound off -- to be heard and
recognized as a sovereign state. And since Pakistan made sure its
Taliban progeny was made utterly unacceptable to the world, only
the gateway toward Islamabad would lay open to Afghanistan. At
such a time, Afghanistan would cease to exist as an independent
political entity, consummating Pakistan's take-over plot -- and
thus would end the five thousand year old tale of Kabul and her
legendary provinces.
The world would not protest. The flow of oil and trade would
console some and make happy others.
Only the nation of Afghanistan itself can preserve her
sovereignty, liberate her hallowed lands and ensure her continued
existence. Fortunately, recent good news of the meeting of Afghan
mujahideen leaders, from all Afghan ethnic and religious sectors,
holds the promise of a reinvigorated and reenergized national
resistance force. We can only hope that the success of the meeting
will carry through to the battlefield so that we Afghans will once
again drive out the enemy to live in a free and independent
Afghanistan.
A respected Afghan journalist and seasoned political
analyst, Mr. Faizi is a veteran Omaid Weekly columnist. Mr. Faizi
also produces Radio Voice of
Afghanistan, a popular Afghan radio program broadcasting in
California and on the Internet.
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UF poised on Taloqan
London, Oct 15 (Omaid): In an interview with Omaid Weekly,
Ahmad Wali Masood, Afghanistan's chargé d’affaires in London,
commented on yesterday's liberation of key areas in northeastern
Afghanistan.
Adding to reports from international news agency dispatches,
Mr. Masood said Afghan government forces were aided by local
civilian populations in pushing out Pakistani-Taliban troops from
"Namak Ab, parts of Farkhar gorge, Khwajaghar district and
surrounding hilltops, the districts of Imam Sahib and Dasht-e
Archi, and also Sher Khan Bandar."
Mr. Masood said, "While exact numbers are not available,
at least 100 enemy troops were killed." He said the
Pakistani-Taliban were ill-prepared for the lightening offensive
by United Front national resistance forces, which accounted for no
fatalities on the Afghan side.
Responding to pundits who speculated that Pakistan and the
Taliban had learned from previous defeats and would this time hold
firm in northeastern Afghanistan, Mr. Masood said, "The
ferocity of the people's uprising was unprecedented. Moreover, the
UF's tactical retreat from Taloqan preserved its forces … And
the fall of Taloqan to Pakistan and the Taliban, while heavily
promoted as a great victory by Pakistani media and Taliban
propaganda, was in fact a loss to the enemy -- they suffered at
least two thousand casualties in the campaign."
Mr. Masood continued, "The enemy was confident that their
momentum would lead them to victory in Badakhshan. But, they soon
realized that the mujahideen and the people were putting up heavy
resistance, and so the specter of even greater losses gave pause
to the enemy.
"Just a few days ago, the enemy's military top-brass and
Pakistani advisors held an emergency meeting in Qandahar. It was
there decided to hold off on further operations. This and the
mujahideen's preparations for a counteroffensive was the main
reason for [Pakistani dictator Pervez] Musharraf's visit to
Peshawar this week, where he met with military advisors to discuss
Pakistan's next step in Afghanistan.
"The Peshawar meeting drew up plans for a heavy offensive
on Kabul in the next ten days to distract national resistance
forces from the northeast. But, thank God, government forces
launched its own attack, which has thus far proven successful.
Mr. Masood predicted that the upcoming liberation of Taloqan
would bring about the freeing of northern Afghanistan and the
whole nation. He said government forces are continually being
strengthened by Afghans from all parts of the country. Moreover,
the removal of Bashir Baghlani and others like him, who previously
mutinied against the national resistance force, leaves no
breathing room for the enemy.
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