Muahmmad Jamil
SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Leading Republican lawmakers urged President Barack Obama on Wednesday to reconsider his plan to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan as the country was still in a state of war. In separate statements, the lawmakers said the murder of a US General in Afghanistan was a stark reminder of the need to keep American troops in the country for as long as it took to stabilize it.
On 27th May, President Barack Obama had revealed his long-awaited plan for Afghanistan, announcing that a residual force of 9,800 U.S. troops would remain there for one year following the end of combat operations in December 2014. The residual force based at various locationsaround Afghanistan in 2015 will include troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. But that plan seems to be in jeopardy. On Tuesday the 5th August 2014, an Afghan soldier opened fire on senior American officers at a military Training Academy in the outskirts of Kabul killing Major General Harold J. Greene, the highest-ranking member of the NATO-led coalition killed in the Afghanistan war.
The General along with senior American and Afghan officers was on a routine visit toAfghanistan’s premier military academy on the outskirts of Kabul when an Afghan soldier sprayed the officers with bullets killing the General and wounding at least 15 others. It means that even the highest-ranking, and best protected, officers in Afghanistan face dangers and threat to their lives. Soon after the shooting in Military Academy, an Afghan police officer opened fire on American soldiers visiting the governor of Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan, as revealed by the Afghan and coalition officials. The policeman was fatally shot; none of the Americans were wounded. In fact, Afghan soldiers and police wary of the protracted war and inhuman treatment meted out to Afghan soldiers by the US and NATO officers were the causes of, what they called, insider-attacks. Anyhow discipline and vetting of the recruits remains a major challenge.
The residual US troops to impart training to soldiers and officers will continue to face the threat not only from Taliban but also from Afghan soldiers and police because of the bad blood due to US soldiers’ hurling insults on Afghan soldiers. In January 2012, video of US soldiers urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters had caused outrage among Afghans. In February 2012, discovery of copies of the holy Qur’an found at a garbage dump at Bagram Air Base had sparked anti-American riots in Afghanistan. In March, an American Sergeant had slaughtered 16 innocent people including women, children and old men.
Earlier, there were a few incidents whereby coalition troops had bombed the wedding parties that killed scores of innocent Afghan people. Afghans were also angry over drone attacks and night-raids killing more of innocent people than the Taliban fighters. In 2010, at least 27 civilians were killed in what they called a mistaken NATO air strike on wedding party in Gujran District of Daykundi Province.
The bombing of wedding parties revealed much about the directionless and aimless war in Afghanistan. American and NATO commanders do not consider the above incidents as the reason for Afghan soldiers killing American and NATO soldiers. They claim having proof that Afghan soldiers involved in attacking Americans had Taliban connection, and it was a conspiracy to create bad blood between Afghan and American troops. They had made plans to vet the Afghan security apparatus, but it was impossible to check the credentials of over 350000 Afghan army and police personnel. As the incidents of killing of Americans by members of Afghan army increased in 2012, American trainers had expressed their aversion to continue training Afghan army and police. They had wishful thinking that since the bulk of the Afghan army comprised Tajik and Hazara soldiers, they would be safe. But they are the ones reportedly involved in attacking American soldiers.
The problem is that ‘basics’ of the US policy were wrong, as right from the beginning efforts were made to ensure that minority Northern Alliance ruled the majority Pashtuns, who were neglected at the time of raising the Afghan army and building other state institutions. In 2012, members of Afghan’s security forces and their civilian employees reportedly killed at least 40 coalition troops including 10 Americans in, what they called, ‘insider-attacks’. The Newsweek in September 2012 had carried a story captioned ‘Friends or foes in Afghanistan’ co-authored by Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau. They had interviewed among others an Afghan National Army officer who described the reasons why so many Afghan soldiers are turning their guns on the Americans. In an interview, Hasanzada a Major in Afghan army stated: “I too have been personally hurt by the way American forces behave towards my soldiers, our villagers, our religion and culture. Too many of them are racist, arrogant, and simply don’t respect us”. US troops had offended Afghans in many ways, but despicable acts by the occupiers in 2012 added fuel to the fire.
But Afghan government, the US and the NATO commanders have been accusing Pakistan of supporting the Taliban, which is travesty of the truth, as they are more to blame for their flawed strategy and failure to control the situation. They have been demanding of Pakistan to decimate the militants’ hideouts in North Waziristan, and now Pakistan has conducted operation against foreign and local militants and destroyed their infrastructure and network. But Afghanistan continues to ensconce Pakistani Taliban in Kunar and Nooristan. The other day, Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told reporters after inaugurating a seminar on Pak-China ties that Pakistan had asked Afghanistan to hand over Mullah Fazaullah so that he could be prosecuted for his involvement in acts of terrorism.”
Mullah Fazlullah has been in hiding in Afghanistan since he fled the military operation in Swat in 2009. He has continued to live in Afghanistan after becoming the head of the TTP last year. In demarches given to Afghan government over the most recent cross-border raids, the Pakistan government has reminded Kabul of the military operation in North Waziristan across the board, and expects of Afghan government to hand over Fazlullah to Pakistan government.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
