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By | Mohammad Sami Shahid
Generally it is perceived that it is Pakistan who’s fighting a “sub-conventional warfare" with Afghanistan and India but here we will just discuss our relationship with Afghanistan. Sub-conventional warfare includes militancy, insurgency, proxy war and terrorism employed as a means in an insurrectionist movement or undertaken independently. However, if we go into the past then we will realize that it was the pro-Soviet Afghan state which launched a sub-conventional warfare against Pakistan and that sub-conventional warfare was even given a name 'Azad Pashtunistan'. Now let’s go into further details; the previous Afghan intelligence service known as 'KHAAD' was a 'Pro-Soviet Intelligence Service' and it had very good relations with the Indian Intelligence service RAW as well.
Afghanistan was the first country which denied recognizing Pakistan in 1947, voted against the state of Pakistan in the United Nations and finally launched its sub-conventional war against Pakistan in 1960. In this article we will discuss what strategy these 3 states (Afghanistan, Soviet Union & India) had planned to break Pakistan and reach till the Gwadar port city of Pakistan, Balochistan. Now we can understand it that these 3 states were not planning to fight their sub-conventional war in just N.W.F.P ( North West Frontier Province ) which today is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but they had plans for doing the same in Balochistan as well. Generally world believes that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan but it is not the reality in fact it was the Afghan Government which allowed and welcomed the Soviet Troops in Afghanistan. Here we will not discuss about why the Soviet Union and India were supporting the proxy plan of Afghanistan but we will just discuss what their strategy was and what is today. The main purpose to invite the Soviet Troops in Afghanistan was to enhance the defense of Afghanistan in case Pakistan retaliates.
Now let’s understand the geography of Balochistan. Almost 60 % of Balochistan which is North Balochistan is dominated by Pashtun Population and rest 40 % South Balochistan is actually the Baloch Balochistan. The strategy of Afghanistan and Soviet Troops was to invade North West Pakistan which is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-FATA and invade Balochistan as well. Join North West with North Balochistan, make it a part of Afghanistan and make the Baloch dominated Balochistan a separate country so that both Afghanistan and Soviet Union can get access till the Gwadar port for trade. The Soviet Union, Afghanistan and India knew that it would be very difficult for the Pakistani Infantry and Special Forces to fight a two front war at that time as both Infantry and Special Forces were deployed on the eastern border with India.
The only option for Pakistan was to use its Air Force and the Soviet Air force was there to fight with the Pakistan Air Force. Now let us understand that Insurgency was also a part of their strategy and the history tells us that Militants used to come along with the Afghan National Army to occupy some areas of Pakistani Tribal Areas and even at that time Pakistan used its Air Force for retaliation. This is when Afghanistan understood that alone it cannot harm Pakistan and Afghanistan went so far in its enmity with Pakistan that it invited the Soviet Troops in Afghanistan. This is when everything turned against Afghanistan and thanks to the USA which became a strategic partner of Pakistan to counter all designs of Afghanistan and Soviet Union. Now let’s understand how everything turned against Afghanistan itself. The largest population of Afghanistan is the Pashtun population but the Pashtun population has never ruled Afghanistan and for that reason the living standard of Pashtun population was very low as they were less educated, less development in Pashtun dominated area and even unemployment. This was the reason how the CIA made Pashtuns its weapon against the Soviet Troops.
There was no war going on in Afghanistan but CIA used a few Pashtuns to attack the Soviet Troops and this is how the Soviets launched their first retaliation against the people of Afghanistan and CIA started its Hybrid Warfare in Afghanistan. Hybrid Warfare means to take advantage of some ongoing conflict. The Soviet retaliation made the 60% Pashtun population felt angry and this is how the Soviet-Afghan war started and there was no hand of Pakistan behind it as the ISI and CIA were just sharing intelligence and it was not a big deal for the CIA to operate inside Afghanistan as the Afghan National Army never defended Afghan borders with any neighboring country. When the Soviet-Afghan war started there were two different Governments created in Afghanistan as one was a Pansheeri dominated Government and the other was Pashtun dominated Government and the international community started taking the Pashtun Government as a legitimate one. The Pashtun Government launched a Jihad against the Soviet Troops and invited Fighters from all over the world to fight the Soviets in the name of Islam and this is when Arab militants came to Afghanistan.
Both Arab and Afghan militants fought against the Soviet Troops and 11 years later the Soviet Union decided to pull out its troops from Afghanistan but Soviets left their weapons behind. When Soviets left Afghanistan the Arab militants formed AL-Qaeda and Pashtun Militants formed Afghan Taliban as both groups wanted to form their Government in Afghanistan but somehow they failed to achieve their goal. After 9-11 when the USA invaded Afghanistan some 30 % terrorists moved to the Tribal Areas of Pakistan as the Pakistani Military was not deployed in Tribal Areas and there was no border. Almost 3 million Afghan refugees were already in Pakistan due to Soviet-Afghan war and due to no border between the Pakistan and Afghanistan almost 2 million Afghans came to Pakistan as refugees but in reality they are just illegal immigrants though it’s a harsh reality.
So the narrative that Afghanistan is trying to promote about Pakistan is absolutely false. What narrative Afghanistan is trying to promote? The narrative is that Pakistan is providing shelter to Anti-Afghan militants (Afghan Taliban & Haqqani Network). The reality is that Pakistan is providing shelter to 3 Million Afghan refugees since 30 years. Second reality is that Pakistan has been tolerating ill legal Afghan immigrants since 17 years and the worst reality is that Pakistan has been a victim of those 30% Arab, Afghan and Uzbek Terrorists which came to Pakistan from Afghanistan after US invasion of Afghanistan as the Pakistan military was never deployed at the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan never intentionally provided strategic depth to those terrorists in FATA in fact those Foreign Terrorists who invaded FATA were actually fighting against the Pakistani state after coming from Afghanistan.
Another harsh reality is that there is no one in Pakistan to explain this to the world and after the entire world has started believing the Afghan narrative which is nothing more than hypocrisy of Afghanistan. So what should Pakistan do now? Generally it does not matter if the world stand with you in your fight against terror or not because after all its you who has to stand with yourself to defend yourself. Starting a military operation in the entire FATA at the same time is a joke as you cannot make 5 Million people homeless. The strategy of Pakistani Military was to clear South Waziristan, secure South Waziristan’s border with Afghanistan and secure Balochistan. When the operation ended those militants infiltrated Mingora which is a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The next strategy of Pakistani Military was to start a military operation in Both Mingora and several agencies of FATA which include Mohmand, Aurakzai, Kurram, Bajaur and some parts of Khyber Agency. The military operation ended successfully but North Waziristan was still left.
In 2014 the Pakistani Military launched operation in North Waziristan and the operation ended in 2016 June. Balochistan was another headache but not that much and the paramilitary troops (Frontier corps Balochistan) started its military operation along with Operation Zarb e Azb to clean both FATA and Balochistan at the same time. The Karachi operation was also ongoing and somehow both the Karachi operation and Balochistan operation were a part of operation Zarb e Azb although Zarb e Azb started later. The ongoing counter terrorism operations are mainly SEARCH operation and Intelligence based operations as strong holds of terrorists have been eliminated. What Pakistan should try to make Afghanistan understand is that if Afghanistan wants Pakistan to arrest someone then Afghanistan must share intelligence with Pakistan because you cannot scream at the crowd without naming anyone and expect someone will take care of you. Now when we say that all these operations were successful it does not mean that terrorists have been eliminated.
Yes they have been eliminated but some of them fled to Afghanistan. One thing that Pakistan should do is try its best to make the world understand that the presence of Islamic State in Afghanistan is one reason of hypocrisy of Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s dual policy on terror! Afghanistan believes that anti-Pakistan terrorists won’t harm Afghanistan but this is not how it is. The Islamic State in Afghanistan consists of TTP militants, IMU militants and ETIM militants. Let us understand that TTP is anti Pakistan, IMU is anti-Russia and ETIM is anti- China and we must also know it that the Islamic State is present in just Northern Afghanistan. The US and Afghan Forces are taking action against all these groups because they have pledged their alliance with ISIS but they are not taking a decisive action against them because they want these groups to work against Pakistan but now as the Pakistani Military is there on the border those terrorist groups find it difficult to freely infiltrate inside Pakistan and eventually those groups launch terror assaults inside Afghanistan for e.g. the latest terror assault on the Military hospital in Kabul in which 50 people died.
So what Pakistan should do now? Pakistan should understand it that some of the legal Afghan refugees are spies, most of the illegal Afghan immigrants are terrorists and all this a security threat for Pakistan. Pakistan should deport all illegal Afghan immigrants, send back all Afghan refugees by the end of this year 2017, fence the border with Afghanistan where possible, reduce the legal crossing points at the border and do not let any Afghan enter Pakistan without original Visa, Passport and checking. Pakistan should not compromise on its security on the basis of religion as Terrorists killed our 150 children in Peshawar on the basis of religion and everyone knows where that terrorist attack was planned and from where the responsibility was claimed. Obviously Afghanistan! The most important step Pakistan should take is enhancing its relationship with Russia and it means Pakistan and Russia should make an agreement of Intelligence sharing. Remember that both Pakistan and Russia face threat from terrorists in Northern Afghanistan. Afghanistan and India also have a strategy to cut the coastal areas of Pakistan from Pakistan which means cut the sea from Pakistan but we will discuss about it in the next article
Author can be reached via e-mail : samishahid5@gmail.com
Exclusively written for Pakistan Defence.
Generally it is perceived that it is Pakistan who’s fighting a “sub-conventional warfare" with Afghanistan and India but here we will just discuss our relationship with Afghanistan. Sub-conventional warfare includes militancy, insurgency, proxy war and terrorism employed as a means in an insurrectionist movement or undertaken independently. However, if we go into the past then we will realize that it was the pro-Soviet Afghan state which launched a sub-conventional warfare against Pakistan and that sub-conventional warfare was even given a name 'Azad Pashtunistan'. Now let’s go into further details; the previous Afghan intelligence service known as 'KHAAD' was a 'Pro-Soviet Intelligence Service' and it had very good relations with the Indian Intelligence service RAW as well.
Afghanistan was the first country which denied recognizing Pakistan in 1947, voted against the state of Pakistan in the United Nations and finally launched its sub-conventional war against Pakistan in 1960. In this article we will discuss what strategy these 3 states (Afghanistan, Soviet Union & India) had planned to break Pakistan and reach till the Gwadar port city of Pakistan, Balochistan. Now we can understand it that these 3 states were not planning to fight their sub-conventional war in just N.W.F.P ( North West Frontier Province ) which today is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but they had plans for doing the same in Balochistan as well. Generally world believes that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan but it is not the reality in fact it was the Afghan Government which allowed and welcomed the Soviet Troops in Afghanistan. Here we will not discuss about why the Soviet Union and India were supporting the proxy plan of Afghanistan but we will just discuss what their strategy was and what is today. The main purpose to invite the Soviet Troops in Afghanistan was to enhance the defense of Afghanistan in case Pakistan retaliates.
Now let’s understand the geography of Balochistan. Almost 60 % of Balochistan which is North Balochistan is dominated by Pashtun Population and rest 40 % South Balochistan is actually the Baloch Balochistan. The strategy of Afghanistan and Soviet Troops was to invade North West Pakistan which is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-FATA and invade Balochistan as well. Join North West with North Balochistan, make it a part of Afghanistan and make the Baloch dominated Balochistan a separate country so that both Afghanistan and Soviet Union can get access till the Gwadar port for trade. The Soviet Union, Afghanistan and India knew that it would be very difficult for the Pakistani Infantry and Special Forces to fight a two front war at that time as both Infantry and Special Forces were deployed on the eastern border with India.
The only option for Pakistan was to use its Air Force and the Soviet Air force was there to fight with the Pakistan Air Force. Now let us understand that Insurgency was also a part of their strategy and the history tells us that Militants used to come along with the Afghan National Army to occupy some areas of Pakistani Tribal Areas and even at that time Pakistan used its Air Force for retaliation. This is when Afghanistan understood that alone it cannot harm Pakistan and Afghanistan went so far in its enmity with Pakistan that it invited the Soviet Troops in Afghanistan. This is when everything turned against Afghanistan and thanks to the USA which became a strategic partner of Pakistan to counter all designs of Afghanistan and Soviet Union. Now let’s understand how everything turned against Afghanistan itself. The largest population of Afghanistan is the Pashtun population but the Pashtun population has never ruled Afghanistan and for that reason the living standard of Pashtun population was very low as they were less educated, less development in Pashtun dominated area and even unemployment. This was the reason how the CIA made Pashtuns its weapon against the Soviet Troops.
There was no war going on in Afghanistan but CIA used a few Pashtuns to attack the Soviet Troops and this is how the Soviets launched their first retaliation against the people of Afghanistan and CIA started its Hybrid Warfare in Afghanistan. Hybrid Warfare means to take advantage of some ongoing conflict. The Soviet retaliation made the 60% Pashtun population felt angry and this is how the Soviet-Afghan war started and there was no hand of Pakistan behind it as the ISI and CIA were just sharing intelligence and it was not a big deal for the CIA to operate inside Afghanistan as the Afghan National Army never defended Afghan borders with any neighboring country. When the Soviet-Afghan war started there were two different Governments created in Afghanistan as one was a Pansheeri dominated Government and the other was Pashtun dominated Government and the international community started taking the Pashtun Government as a legitimate one. The Pashtun Government launched a Jihad against the Soviet Troops and invited Fighters from all over the world to fight the Soviets in the name of Islam and this is when Arab militants came to Afghanistan.
Both Arab and Afghan militants fought against the Soviet Troops and 11 years later the Soviet Union decided to pull out its troops from Afghanistan but Soviets left their weapons behind. When Soviets left Afghanistan the Arab militants formed AL-Qaeda and Pashtun Militants formed Afghan Taliban as both groups wanted to form their Government in Afghanistan but somehow they failed to achieve their goal. After 9-11 when the USA invaded Afghanistan some 30 % terrorists moved to the Tribal Areas of Pakistan as the Pakistani Military was not deployed in Tribal Areas and there was no border. Almost 3 million Afghan refugees were already in Pakistan due to Soviet-Afghan war and due to no border between the Pakistan and Afghanistan almost 2 million Afghans came to Pakistan as refugees but in reality they are just illegal immigrants though it’s a harsh reality.
So the narrative that Afghanistan is trying to promote about Pakistan is absolutely false. What narrative Afghanistan is trying to promote? The narrative is that Pakistan is providing shelter to Anti-Afghan militants (Afghan Taliban & Haqqani Network). The reality is that Pakistan is providing shelter to 3 Million Afghan refugees since 30 years. Second reality is that Pakistan has been tolerating ill legal Afghan immigrants since 17 years and the worst reality is that Pakistan has been a victim of those 30% Arab, Afghan and Uzbek Terrorists which came to Pakistan from Afghanistan after US invasion of Afghanistan as the Pakistan military was never deployed at the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan never intentionally provided strategic depth to those terrorists in FATA in fact those Foreign Terrorists who invaded FATA were actually fighting against the Pakistani state after coming from Afghanistan.
Another harsh reality is that there is no one in Pakistan to explain this to the world and after the entire world has started believing the Afghan narrative which is nothing more than hypocrisy of Afghanistan. So what should Pakistan do now? Generally it does not matter if the world stand with you in your fight against terror or not because after all its you who has to stand with yourself to defend yourself. Starting a military operation in the entire FATA at the same time is a joke as you cannot make 5 Million people homeless. The strategy of Pakistani Military was to clear South Waziristan, secure South Waziristan’s border with Afghanistan and secure Balochistan. When the operation ended those militants infiltrated Mingora which is a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The next strategy of Pakistani Military was to start a military operation in Both Mingora and several agencies of FATA which include Mohmand, Aurakzai, Kurram, Bajaur and some parts of Khyber Agency. The military operation ended successfully but North Waziristan was still left.
In 2014 the Pakistani Military launched operation in North Waziristan and the operation ended in 2016 June. Balochistan was another headache but not that much and the paramilitary troops (Frontier corps Balochistan) started its military operation along with Operation Zarb e Azb to clean both FATA and Balochistan at the same time. The Karachi operation was also ongoing and somehow both the Karachi operation and Balochistan operation were a part of operation Zarb e Azb although Zarb e Azb started later. The ongoing counter terrorism operations are mainly SEARCH operation and Intelligence based operations as strong holds of terrorists have been eliminated. What Pakistan should try to make Afghanistan understand is that if Afghanistan wants Pakistan to arrest someone then Afghanistan must share intelligence with Pakistan because you cannot scream at the crowd without naming anyone and expect someone will take care of you. Now when we say that all these operations were successful it does not mean that terrorists have been eliminated.
Yes they have been eliminated but some of them fled to Afghanistan. One thing that Pakistan should do is try its best to make the world understand that the presence of Islamic State in Afghanistan is one reason of hypocrisy of Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s dual policy on terror! Afghanistan believes that anti-Pakistan terrorists won’t harm Afghanistan but this is not how it is. The Islamic State in Afghanistan consists of TTP militants, IMU militants and ETIM militants. Let us understand that TTP is anti Pakistan, IMU is anti-Russia and ETIM is anti- China and we must also know it that the Islamic State is present in just Northern Afghanistan. The US and Afghan Forces are taking action against all these groups because they have pledged their alliance with ISIS but they are not taking a decisive action against them because they want these groups to work against Pakistan but now as the Pakistani Military is there on the border those terrorist groups find it difficult to freely infiltrate inside Pakistan and eventually those groups launch terror assaults inside Afghanistan for e.g. the latest terror assault on the Military hospital in Kabul in which 50 people died.
So what Pakistan should do now? Pakistan should understand it that some of the legal Afghan refugees are spies, most of the illegal Afghan immigrants are terrorists and all this a security threat for Pakistan. Pakistan should deport all illegal Afghan immigrants, send back all Afghan refugees by the end of this year 2017, fence the border with Afghanistan where possible, reduce the legal crossing points at the border and do not let any Afghan enter Pakistan without original Visa, Passport and checking. Pakistan should not compromise on its security on the basis of religion as Terrorists killed our 150 children in Peshawar on the basis of religion and everyone knows where that terrorist attack was planned and from where the responsibility was claimed. Obviously Afghanistan! The most important step Pakistan should take is enhancing its relationship with Russia and it means Pakistan and Russia should make an agreement of Intelligence sharing. Remember that both Pakistan and Russia face threat from terrorists in Northern Afghanistan. Afghanistan and India also have a strategy to cut the coastal areas of Pakistan from Pakistan which means cut the sea from Pakistan but we will discuss about it in the next article
Author can be reached via e-mail : samishahid5@gmail.com
Exclusively written for Pakistan Defence.
