Outdated paradigms
The press corps have always been selective in their outrage. Compare two incidents: the murder of Pakistani soldiers at the Salala checkpost in Bajaur and the killing, yesterday, of 15 soldiers that the Taliban had kidnapped since a month ago. The former incident dominated the airwaves, the press and got the military brass fuming at this gross violation of our sovereignty and the callous disregard for the lives of Pakistani soldiers. The other incident, however, isn’t going to get a fraction of that attention.
Long since accused of neglecting the devastation that the militants are causing to our civil law enforcement agencies and the civilians themselves, are our Clausewitzes to look away when it comes to their own comrades as well?
It appears so, what with rumours of peace talks between the militants and the “government” doing the rounds again. Just who is carrying out these talks? For what it is worth, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has denied the rumours and expressed concern. No word from the federal government either.
Talks between the US and the Taliban in Afghanistan, where the latter have agreed, for the first time, to drop the prohibitive precondition of the occupant forces withdrawing from the country, are set to take place after the Taliban set up a political office in Qatar. There is a sizeable school of thought here in the country that sees this as a vindication of their stand to not to get involved in the war on terror.
A flawed argument, the one above. Whereas the Americans can (need to) cut and run in Afghanistan, we cannot do the same. Our tribal areas are going to stay here as will the newer hotbeds of terror down south in Punjab. Not only will the militants create a fascist state-within-a-state, they will also want to expand their footprint. As far as the friendly Taliban regime in Afghanistan are concerned, let candid posterity not forget that the regime, with all its good relations with the Pakistani deep state, refused more than once to hand over certain sectarian militants back to Pakistan.
Strategic depth won’t even be a pyrrhic victory because the concept doesn’t even apply to modern, 21st century warfare and was, even in its heyday, extremely flimsy and counter-productive.
