The fall of Kabul to victorious Taliban on 15th August 2021 was long overdue and reminded many of 'Saigon moment' of the US unceremonious exit from Vietnam on 30th April 1975. However, as expected, Taliban made it a peaceful takeover avoiding bloodshed, giving safe exit to all people fleeing Afghanistan including puppet Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and his team of lustful advisors, Afghan spies, families and supporters of invaders, foreign diplomats including invaders’ foreign missions reminding of amnesty given by the Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH at the time of conquest of Makkah (in December 629 AD, 10–20 Ramadan, 8 AH). What a historic moment that registered victory of so called ragtag Taliban fighters who remained steadfast in the face of self-styled super power of the world along with more than 30 allied countries who had invaded their motherland for fabricated reasons and with multiple undeclared objectives and kept committing strategic blunders for 20 long years with arrogance of an imperial power intoxicated by high-tech weapons and equipment. This is of course the second great victory for the Taliban having defeated the former Soviet Union after fighting for more than 9 years (December 24, 1979 – February 15, 1989). But this time around, Taliban are showing more political maturity, magnanimity, better internal organisation and above all much enhanced stature and acceptability by regional and extra regional states like China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Qatar, CARS and many more; all committed to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan by ensuring that the spoilers of tranquility do not succeed in initiating a civil war in Afghanistan.
In the last two years, based on my first hand experience, I have written extensively about Afghanistan and US policies with strategic recommendations to all concerned; thankfully Government of Pakistan paid heed to it, whereas US and her allies and Afghan puppet government kept getting misled by their self created academic advisers, tunnel vision think tanks and foolhardy intelligence wizards as pointed out in “US wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam”, “Looming Scenario for Afghanistan Post Doha Peace Deal”, “Kabul Crumbling yet Again”, “Let’s Make it a Graceful Exit”, “Taliban’s Victory: yet another Strategic Worry for India”, and more recently in “Pentagon’s Foolish Friends”. Ironically many Western embedded writers in Pakistan and elsewhere still continue to churn out naïve narratives and misleading data that in the first place became the raison d'être for US’ greatest politico-military failure. Once bitten twice shy, Pakistan and other like minded countries need to be extremely careful in separating the wheat from the chaff as battles of false narrative will henceforth precede and multiply as a main tool of sowing the seeds of suspicions, discord and mischief.
While American President Joe Biden is being criticized by his unenviable predecessor Trump for the outcome in Afghanistan; however, if Biden could prevail upon his incompetent advisers who continued to embarrass him till last moment before 15th August by feeding him false and faulty assessments, his name would go down in American history as a wise person. It is also a time for introspection by the American administration to take stock of their consistent failure to correctly see the bigger picture, failed policies and strategies in the last 70 years as the international community including NATO allies see the US on a downward slope due unrelenting blunders. As regards prospects of resetting Pak-US relations, attention is drawn to my latest article “Pak-US Relations: How to Bridge the Widening Gap”. POTUS Biden will have to ensure that he is not led into initiating equally costly and destabilizing covert war in Afghanistan and elsewhere or get embroiled in yet another Cold War in the Asia-Pacific region. Indian media is nevertheless gone berserk with frenzied whimpers on the social media as all Indian ambitions and conspiracies in Afghanistan and Central Asia have been blunted successfully. Indian 20 years’ investment in Afghanistan to pose a multi-dimensional and two-front war against Pakistan stands quashed and his proxies are running out like scared rats. India stands exposed and embarrassed as a Bollywood heroine after face wash; with a badly exposed false image created in the region as a strategic partner of America that could step over Pakistan and deliver against China. Nevertheless, Pakistan will have to ensure that PTM and BLA/BRA approximately 15000 terrorists and saboteurs operating from Afghan soil as Indian trained and funded proxy (akin to Mukti Bahni of Agartala 1968-71 as a proxy in former East Pakistan) meet their natural end right there with no mercy for their political handlers inside Pakistan. A lot of emotional symbolism is being attached to the date of Taliban’ victory on 15th August; i.e. Indian Independence Day is observed as a black day in IIOJ&K and henceforth in Afghanistan too for their dirty role as spoilers of peace there.
