Afghan army is a demoralised army
ISIS, in this region, is a two-faced monster, one group is being funded by RAW to launch terrorist attacks in Pakistan, to destabilise not only Pakistan but also CPEC. The other branch of ISIS comprises Afghanistan’s homegrown terrorists who are being funded by the US
Lt Gen (R) Amjad Shoaib, along with his experience in the ’65 and ’71 wars, has participated in various military and political events that became the focus of media and public debates.
General Amjad also had the honour of commanding Pakistan army’s operational formations in Kashmir and on western and eastern borders during some very eventful periods of our history.
At the General Headquarters he had the privilege of working as General Staff Officer Military Operations, Director Military Intelligence, Director General Military Doctrines, Master General of Ordnance and Adjutant General of Pakistan army.
In an exclusive talk with DNA, General Shoaib weighed in on recent fraught relationship of Pakistan with Afghanistan and Iran, role of India in destabilising the country through both overt and covert acts, and a way out for Pakistan from the geostrategic quagmire it currently finds itself in.
Question: In what context do you see the recent tension on Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan, how can two countries resolve their differences and weed out the irritants?
Gen Amjad Shoaib: Afghanistan should realise the fact that peace and stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan are interconnected as both the neighbouring, brotherly states are intertwined. It is not the policy of Pakistan government to destabilise Afghanistan. Terrorism knows no boundaries, if terrorists hit Afghanistan with such freedom they will also strike Pakistan. Pakistan is already stuck in the fight against terrorism, we would never like to open a new front as Pakistan’s military is already overstretched, we have hostile neighbours on our eastern borders, we would never like to do harm to our Afghan brothers’ home, we have fed, hosted and with whom we shared our bread and butter for 40 long years.
The last time we tried, an agreement was almost finalised, but it didn’t quite pan out. From seeing the future of the regional situation, one can tell that there will be more bloodshed. The Afghan backward areas will be the battlegrounds for US and allies and Russia and allies
Question: Do you see any possibility of a way out of the present quandary; both neighbours — Pakistan and Afghanistan — opting for a safer future and peace that is also sustainable?
AS: The way forward is that Afghanistan and Pakistan should go hand in hand on the path of development and peace, intelligence sharing and joint strategy against terrorists is the way forward. This would help stabilise both countries in the wake of the game changing CPEC. Pakistan is dead serious on peace and progress and successive military operations against terrorists and extremists have not only helped bring peace and stability to Pakistan but also helped remove terrorism from our country. Pakistan now not only wants peace in Afghanistan but it also wants to share its fight against terrorists with our Afghan brothers.
This would also help stabilise the region and once Afghanistan is peaceful, we can extend the nodes of CPEC into Afghanistan and also the mega energy corridor of TAPI can be materialized. However by blaming Pakistan Afghanistan would only lose.
Question: Multiple spectres in shape and guise of ISIS, RAW, KHAD and other intelligence, sectarian and ethnic groups seem to be hell bent on sabotaging Pakistan in general and CPEC in particular. How do you see Afghanistan’s role in it?
AS: The Afghan government has time and again failed in its fight against terrorism. Corruption and chaos have further deepened the crisis allowing the monsters to emerge one after the other, whether it is ISIS or other ethnic or sectarian elements, the conflict is deepening. Governance, meantime, has deteriorated. These factors have allowed international and regional players to use Afghan soil for their proxy wars.
We need to understand that if this region stabilises, India will become irrelevant. India is not interest in any civility as this is how they’ll keep playing their game. Indian strategy does not allow any peace with the Taliban, because that wway Delhi will lose substantial influence in the region.
ISIS, in this region, is a two-faced monster, one group is being funded by RAW to launch terrorist attacks in Pakistan, to destabilise not only Pakistan but also CPEC. The other branch of ISIS comprises Afghanistan’s homegrown terrorists who are being funded by the US. Russia and China want to isolate ISIS because they perceive it as a regional and global threat and that’s why they have been in touch with the Taliban. On the other hand the US is not sincere in stabilising Afghanistan, likewise Iran is playing a double game, it is providing economic and political support to the US backed regime in Kabul, while on the other hand Iran also wants to remove ISIS and for this cause Tehran is backing the Taliban.
Question: Do you think the Great Game of 19th and 20th century is again being played out in the hinterlands of Afghanistan, this time with more characters as all the world is keen to know how Afghanistan will unravel in the near future?
AS: I think Iran has also facilitated Russian links with the Taliban, the most recent link of Iran with Taliban emerged when Mulla Mansour Akhtar, after spending two months in Iran, was assassinated en route to Pakistan. Moreover, China and other regional players are also in touch with the Taliban to help remove ISIS from Afghanistan.
While the CIA is also in touch with low rank Taliban operators, Chinese and Russians are in touch with the top-tier Taliban leadership. ISI is also in touch with the Taliban because we have bigger stakes in the region. It is about time that all these regional and global players help stabilise Afghanistan, this is an irony while all the regional players are in touch with the Taliban, the Afghan government is adamant to talk to them. President Ashraf Ghani should engage the Taliban, otherwise this proxy war on Afghan soil would continue and this turmoil would lead towards further chaos triggering a mushroom growth of more hardcore terrorist groups like ISIS.
Question: Do you think that recently, also haphazardly assembled Afghan army is up to the scratch to fight off battle hardened Talibans and ISIS?
AS: The Afghan army is a demoralised army, it doesn’t have any history as it was created within last four or five years by the US. Their command structure is very weak as those people who’ve become generals gained their ranks within a couple of years. What can one expect from them? Also, there is the issue of the army being penetrated by the Taliban.
One very good example of that is the last attack in Mazar-i-Sharif Corps Headquarter in which around 140 soldiers were killed. This was primarily carried out with the help of insiders. That is why there is always a big question mark hovering over Afghan security.
The regional powers have come to a conclusion that US, India and Afghan local leadership are not serious to bring stability to Afghanistan. However, China, Russia and Iran have very serious apprehensions pertaining to ISIS and the threat it poses. They are now playing a very vital role, they are facilitating and even arming the taliban.
Now, all parties have realised that it the game of intelligence. Any intelligence agency you can name, RAW, ISI, CIA, Russian Intelligence Agency, Iranian Intelligence Agency; they all are in contact with some groups of the Taliban. As we know that Taliban comprise a number of groups, so they have established contacts in a way that nobody remains out of the picture.
Question: Has Pakistan extended an offer to Afghanistan for intelligence sharing and mutually-coordinated measures to enhance security of the region?
AS: On a number of occasions we’ve offered intelligence sharing cooperation to the Afghans. Yet for some reason they have always avoided the intelligence sharing mechanism. The last time we tried, an agreement was almost finalised, but it didn’t quite pan out. From seeing the future of the regional situation, one can tell that there will be more bloodshed. The Afghan backward areas will be the battlegrounds for US and allies and Russia and allies.
One can carefully assume that Russia will do exactly the opposite of what America plans to do and vise versa. Let us be clear that since the affiliation of ISIS lies with the Americans, they’ll use this militia against the Taliban. To avoid this situation, intelligence sharing between Afghanistan and Pakistan is of the utmost importance so that role of extra-regional powers can be minimised.
