The issue is not of Durand Line but the idea of forming a Pashtonistan. After independence Pakistan has given them leverage and made certain concession to Pashtoons to move around the border freely. Now, we have people like Afrasiab Khattak and Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who support this idea and people should know better where their stakes lie
Brig Ishaq Ahmed (R) is Director Intelligence and International Security Studies at South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University. He possesses three decades of experience in intelligence, security, counter terrorism, interrogation, investigation, strategic and project management, human resource management, leadership and motivation, crisis management and diplomacy.
He has served as Director Intelligence and Deputy Director in Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and was responsible for security, intelligence, counter terrorism and intelligence management. Brigadier Ahmed has served as Commander of Intelligence Outfits managed information acquisition related to security and intelligence matters and incidents along western frontiers.
As a defense and security analyst, he has participated in TV programs concerning national security, counter terrorism, Afghanistan and bilateral relations. He has been contributing opinion and analytical articles in local print media about intelligence, security, terrorism and Afghanistan.
DNA sat with Brigadier Ishaq and tried to make sense of goings-on at home and how the unraveling of our next door neighbour, Afghanistan, can and will affect us and the world at large.
Question: With the Afghan border fencing finally underway, why do you feel Afghanistan is still unhappy? Doesn’t it help Kabul also since it will curtail unchecked movement from both sides?
Brig Ishaq Ahmed: See the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the term border fencing is that both sides, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are blaming each other for cross border terrorism and cross border transportation of material which can be used in terrorist activities.
Now, our take is that Pak-Afghan border is to be fenced, it is to be controlled like Pak-India border. The Afghan were initially resisting the fencing citing the long standing Pakistan-Afghanistan Durand Line issue. In my estimate, Afghanistan will remain unhappy as Afghanistan, India, US, in that order, are using proxies in Pakistan like TTP and fencing can and will root it out.
NDS, RAW, are currently active under the nose of CIA, all of them know that if they want to keep this proxy war going, they have to keep the border unchecked, unmonitored so that their movement remains open. Secondly, the cross border movement of smuggling involves items worth billions of dollars starting from eatables right up to luxurious cars. All of this is ongoing from both frequented and unfrequented routes. If we curtail it, it’ll hurt people and it’ll hurt them really bad. But that can be remedied by issuing cards and putting in place other mechanism. The fencing won’t be good at all for Afghans on various counts. But is a must for our own security and safety.
Q: Isn’t it time that the Durand Line controversy be, finally, put in its right place in the history books? Why do voices from Afghanistan and Pakistan’s pashtun belt keep invoking an old, old argument?
IA: Firstly we need to understand the issue of Durand Line. There is no word of its hundred year expiry, there is no word in the entire document that was chalked out back in 1893 at all. In 1993, the Afghans started raising hue and cry about it. Let me remind you that in the meantime it was rectified four times by the Afghan presidents at different intervals. Meaning that it was again signed and ratified by the Afghan government time and again.
The issue is not of Durand Line but the idea of forming a Pashtonistan. After independence Pakistan has given them leverage and made certain concession to Pashtoons to move around the border freely. Now, we have people like Afrasiab Khattak and Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who support this idea and people should know better where their stakes lie. I have no doubt that such people are being fed, being paid and are fighting war that is not ours.
Also, if they have apprehensions regarding the Durand Line where have they raised the issue? At United Nation, at other forums? No, never. They have never raised the issue. So, the Afghan case stands on no ground at all. No agreement. The Afghans just want to keep the issue boiling and that is all.
Q: Reports that the Trump administration might be about to turn up the heat on Pakistan, though unconfirmed, are being received quite warmly in Kabul. Why the continued trust deficit?
IA: We need to understand what these American are up to. The Afghanistan issue is not being resolved because they are not willing to talk to the Taliban. Taliban have concerns, they have reasons to fight, they are sons of the soil. If you want to finish the war and usher in peace, you must be willing to talk and negotiate.
Pakistan has made all out efforts many times, however when Pakistan tries to play a role in bringing peace to Afghanistan apprehensions are raised about it. From 2001 till 2017, in 16 years they have failed to bring peace to Afghanistan, which means they need to change their strategy. Look at the initiatives Russians and Chinese have taken in recent years, there is hope that the issue can be resolved regionally, then why do we have to reach out to the Americans? And is precisely the reason why Americans did not participate in it.
The new strategy has to be that they need to talk to Taliban. They have to give something, if they want to take something, it is give and take scenario. The US is all set to use its muscle again. They’ll be sending four thousand additional troops to Afghanistan, that means four thousand additional targets for Taliban. Things are going to get nasty once that happens.
This hyphenated Af-Pak has to change. Pakistan must be dealt alone while Afghanistan must be dealt separately. The world must support and acknowledge Pakistan’s demand of fencing the Afghan border as it will surely cool things down on both security and other fronts
Q: In case of an increased US military footprint in Afghanistan – as part of Trump’s strategy to wrap up the war, finally – shouldn’t Pakistan put in a word about clearing regions around Kunar and Nooristan as well?
IA: After 9/11, the stated objective of US’s war on terrorism is to eliminate the menace of terrorism in all its shapes and forms like Taliban and al Qaeda. Well, whether they’ve succeeded at that is one big question but slowly and gradually the way they have established their bases in Kandahar, Jalalabad and other places, the amount of construction and building material and the quantity of equipment just lying over there runs into trillions of dollars.
The truth is Americans are an energy-thirsty, mineral-thirsty state which is hell bent to keep the uni-polar order or world intact.
Oil, hegemony, trade, economy you combine all these and you’ll see why America wants to perpetuate the occupation of Afghanistan.
Q: Af-Pak has dragged on aimlessly for more than a decade and a half. It has outlived two US presidents, two Pakistani prime ministers and an Afghan president. How long do you see this war going on without end?
IA: Af-Pak is kind of a misnomer. The US has to look at Pakistan along with its own problems, we have a plethora of problems like radicalisation of youth, madras says reforms, security issues that we have controlled to a good extent, yet incidents happen.
At present, the Afghans, the Indians and Americans are blaming Pakistan for all that goes awry. In a recent statement by an Afghan official it was said that save the fish in the Indian Ocean, everybody in the world is criticising Pakistan for terrorism support. What they don’t understand is that this entire support is coming from India through Afghanistan.
This hyphenated Af-Pak has to change. Pakistan must be dealt alone while Afghanistan must be dealt separately. The world must support and acknowledge Pakistan’s demand of fencing the Afghan border as it will surely cool things down on both security and other fronts.
The basic reason why Afghanistan and Pakistan were hyphenated together was terrorism. Unfortunately, they have hyphenated Pakistan and Afghanistan as they thought we were training and sheltering Haqqani Network and Taliban. Pakistan turned its back on such organisations and had to pay a huge price for it as well. That U-turn caused us dearly and still does.
