I spoke to BBC's Omar Afridi to analyze the #Moscow peace process for #Afghanistan. #Peace is still elusive as #Taliban are winning on the battlefield. This is the longest and costliest war for the US.
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You can access the interview here:

www.bbc.com/urdu/bbc_urdu_radio/w172wbntngpy6hf

Published in Hudson Institute's South Asia Journal
http://www.southasiaathudson.org/blog/2018/4/12/from-a-moment-to-a-movement

This was a different kind of line, Pashtuns were standing in queue not to receive State alms, but to pitch in for a great cause - for a great movement - to bring peace back to their lands which has eluded them for nearly half a century. There was an octogenarian sobbing in search of his son since 2009, a hapless mother searching for her three sons, and a seven-year-old child searching for his elder brother. All of them were brought together by a sense of belonging, by a sense of loss, and they have all gathered in Peshawar, along with thousands of others, to let the Pakistani State know that enough is enough. This is the first time that the world has come to know about the magnitude of the enforced disappearances along the Durand Line.

His followers and supporters liken the 26-year old war victim to Che Guevara and Bacha Khan as he has provided a platform for the disenfranchised, downtrodden and marginalized communities and nations across Pakistan. Manzoor Pashteen is humble, soft-spoken and non-violent. He is not speaking for the Pashtuns across the Durand Line, but his comrades in Afghanistan are taking to the streets to show solidarity with their tribal brother. The elitist military establishment considers this unity as a direct threat to their monopoly on the War Machines in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
Major-General Asif Ghafoor, director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations (DGISPR), told reporters in Pakistan, "You have seen that it [the movement] found new angles. The movement began to get the most support from Afghanistan. Different voices started to flow in. I personally met Manzoor Pashteen. He is a wonderful young boy. He came here and then met with the prime minister as well”.

Manzoor Pashteen founded his movement in 2014 in South Waziristan and initially demanded clearing of thousands of landmines laid out by the Pakistan Army and the Taliban to fight each other. The fighting has now subsided, but the deadly mines are killing and maiming innocent civilians daily. Over time, the movement expanded to include the prosecution of Rao Anwar for the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, the formation of an inquiry into extrajudicial killings of Pashtuns in Karachi and elsewhere, an end to collective punishment and discrimination against locals in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), removal of landmines from South Waziristan, and recovery of missing persons. After Naqeebullah’s death, the movement was renamed Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM; Pashtun Protection Movement). The most recent demands include bringing former dictator Musharraf back to Pakistan to face justice.

The movement is led by Manzoor Pashteen, Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar and Said Alam Mehsud, who have been adversely affected by the three-decade old war in FATA. PTM held its largest gathering in Peshawar on April 08 and was largely attended by war victims. “We want the state to recognize us as equal citizens and grant us everything that goes with that,” Ali Wazir told RFE/RL’s Gandhara website. “It is an understatement to call it the Movement for the Protection of Pashtuns. It is a national uprising,” Said Alam Mehsud told the Peshawar gathering.

Very little has been done to address the Pashtun grievances. At the other end of the spectrum, the War Machines have been unleashed on the young leader. An organized media campaign is out there to discredit Pashteen by creating doubts about his intentions and his non-violent movement. Following the footsteps of the international media coverage of PTM, Pakistani mainstream media has finally taking note of the country-wide protests and they are speaking to Manzoor Pashteen. 

A conscious effort is being made to conflate the issues of FATA merger, and Durand Line with the larger Pashtun Movement which has now spread to Balochistan as well. Criminal cases have been registered against Pashteen and his fellow protesters to deter them from speaking up against the Army brutalities in Swat, Waziristan and Balochistan.

Radical Mullahs have pledged allegiance to ISIS and they roam free. More recently, Khadim Rizvi, an extremist Mullah, held a sit-in protest in the capital Islamabad and all the demands of the Islamist protesters were accepted, including the one where Mullahs will sit on curriculum boards. The few remaining progressive and liberal forces in the country were outraged and dismayed, but there is little they can do. Peaceful Pashtuns, on the other hand, have yet to see a redress to their grievances. Consequently, PTM has decided to hold another protest demonstration in the capital Islamabad as their demands have largely remained unresolved.

Under pressure from the military establishment, the traditional Pashtun nationalist political parties have started to distance themselves from the Pashteen Movement. In the current atmosphere, no one is ready to draw the ire of the powerful military bosses in Rawalpindi. 

Manzoor Pashteen told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network "My father, wife and mother expect every day to hear the news of my death or disappearance. They are worried for me and sometimes, angry at me." Pashteen wants a better future for Pashtuns in Pakistan "including his one-month-old daughter". "But I know deep down, beneath all the worry, they are proud of me because this is not about me, it is about making this country a better place for us to live in,” he further said. 
Meanwhile, Amnesty International urged Pakistan to resolve hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances. Its Human Rights Council met on March 19 and adopted the Universal Periodic Review outcome on Pakistan saying, “No one has ever been held accountable for an enforced disappearance in Pakistan”.

The Amnesty International Human Rights Council issued a scathing criticism of Pakistani authorities and noted, “The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has more than 700 pending cases from Pakistan, and Pakistan’s State Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has received reports of hundreds more, from across the country. Victims include bloggers, journalists, students, peace activists and other human rights defenders whose work promotes the same values as this Council and is crucial to a free and just society”.
Pakistan has a knack for killing its sane, bright and popular leaders; the list runs long from ZA Bhutto to his daughter Benazir Bhutto and from Bashir Bilour to Mashal Khan. The latest victim in the series was the young aspiring fashion model Naqeebullah Mehsud, whose death has sparked an outrage, the parallels of which have not been seen in recent history. Ironically, the country thrives on brain drain and rewards mediocrity. 

By the same token, Manzoor Pashteen may end up having the same fate. Putting him on a pedestal would be tantamount to presenting him as a trophy to a sniper , a Madrassa-trained suicide bomber or he may end up as another number on the growing list of the missing persons.

Manzoor Pashteen is a genuine voice for peace and his demands are constitutional; suppressing him and his movement would result in more chaos in the region. In principle, the US should lend support to him but that would irk the Pakistani establishment even further. Therefore  it is unlikely that the US will support him in the near future. US also has a policy to provide no support any internal groups in a country unless there is an internal conflict .This is yet another hurdle for US policy makers even if they are sympathetic to the Pashtun cause. The best-case scenario is that some members of Congress may speak out in support of Pashteen in their individual capacity just like they speak out for the Baloch cause. In any case, it is worth exploring for the US policy makers to weigh in on the Pashtun grievances.

Peace in Afghanistan is ultimately related to peace in FATA, the sooner Pakistani and US authorities realize this, the better. It is time for the world to hear what the Pashtuns are saying loud and clear.

Published in Small Wars Journal 
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/manzoor-pashteen-fata-and-war-machines

His followers and supporters liken the 26-year old war victim to Che Guevara and Bacha Khan as he has provided a platform for the disenfranchised, downtrodden and marginalized communities and nations across Pakistan. Manzoor Pashteen is humble, soft-spoken and non-violent. He is not speaking for the Pashtuns across the Durand Line, but his comrades in Afghanistan are coming on the streets to show solidarity with their tribal brother. The elitist military establishment considers this unity as a direct threat to their monopoly of the War Machines in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Manzoor Pashteen founded his movement in 2016 in South Waziristan and initially demanded clearing of thousands of landmines laid out by the Pakistan Army and the Taliban to fight each other. The fighting has now subsided, but the deadly mines are killing and maiming innocent civilians daily. Over time, the movement expanded to includethe prosecution of Rao Anwar for the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, the formation of an inquiry into extrajudicial killings of Pashtuns in Karachi and elsewhere, an end to collective punishment and discrimination against locals inFederally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), removal of landmines from South Waziristan, and recovery of missing persons.

Very little has been done to address the Pashtun grievances. After hiding for more than two months, Rao Anwar has finally been caught and brought before a court to face criminal charges that include killing Mehsud in an extra-judicial manner. In the past, lack of accountability has emboldened security officials to take the law into their hands and kill innocents without due process. Rao Anwar is expected to receive a slap on his wrist for killing more than 400 people.

At the other end of the spectrum, the War Machines have been unleashed on the young leader. An organized media campaign is out there to discredit Pashteen by creating doubts about his intentions and his non-violent Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM; Pashtun Protection Movement). Following the footsteps of the international media coverage of PTM, Pakistani mainstream media has finally taking note of the country-wide protests and they are speaking to Manzoor Pashteen.

While interviewing Pashteen, veteran journalists often forget that they are quizzing a young victim of Pakistan’s misplaced priorities in FATA on the complex issue of FATA merger with adjoining Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A conscious effort is being made to conflate the issues of FATA merger, and Durand Line with the larger Pashtun Movement which has now spread to Balochistan as well. Criminal cases have been registered against Pashteen and his fellow protesters to deter them from speaking up against the Army brutalities in Swat, Waziristan and Balochistan.

Radical Mullahs have pledged allegiance to ISIS and they roam free. More recently, Khadim Rizvi, an extremist Mullah, held a sit-in protest in the capital Islamabad and all the demands of the Islamist protesters were accepted, including the one where Mullahs will sit on curriculum boards. The few remaining progressive and liberal forces in the country were outraged and dismayed, but there is little they can do.

Under pressure from the military establishment, the traditional Pashtun nationalist political parties have started to distance themselves from the Pashteen Movement. In the current atmosphere, no one is ready to draw the ire of the powerful military bosses in Rawalpindi.

Manzoor Pashteen told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network "My father, wife and mother expect every day to hear the news of my death or disappearance. They are worried for me and sometimes, angry at me." Pashteen wants a better future for Pashtuns in Pakistan "including his one-month-old daughter". "But I know deep down, beneath all the worry, they are proud of me because this is not about me, it is about making this country a better place for us to live in,” he further said.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International urged Pakistan to resolve hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances. Its Human Rights Council met on March 19 and adopted the Universal Periodic Review outcome on Pakistan saying, “No one has ever been held accountable for an enforced disappearance in Pakistan”.

The Amnesty International Human Rights Council issued a scathing criticism of Pakistani authorities and noted, “The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has more than 700 pending cases from Pakistan, and Pakistan’s State Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has received reports of hundreds more, from across the country. Victims include bloggers, journalists, students, peace activists and other human rights defenders whose work promotes the same values as this Council and is crucial to a free and just society”.

Pakistan has a knack for killing its sane, bright and popular leaders; the list runs long from ZA Bhutto to his daughter Benazir Bhutto and from Bashir Bilour to Mashal Khan. The latest victim in the series was the young aspiring fashion model Naqeebullah Mehsud, whose death has sparked an outrage, the parallels of which have not been seen in recent history. Ironically, the country thrives on brain drain and rewards mediocrity.

By the same token, Manzoor Pashteen may end up having the same fate. Putting him on a pedestal would be tantamount to presenting him as a trophy to a sniper or a Madrassa-trained suicide bomber or may end up as another number on the growing list of the missing persons.

Manzoor Pashteen is a genuine voice for peace and his demands are constitutional; suppressing him and his movement would result in more chaos in the region. In principle, the US should lend support to him but that would irk the Pakistani establishment even further and therefore I don't see any support coming from the US in the near future. US also has an express policy not to support any internal groups in a country and that is another hurdle for US policy makers even if they are sympathetic to the Pashtun cause. The best-case scenario is that some Congress members may speak out in support of Pashteen in their individual capacity just like they speak out for the Baloch cause. In any case, it is worth exploring for the US policy makers to weigh in on the Pashtun grievances.

Peace in Afghanistan is ultimately related to peace in FATA, the sooner Pakistani and US authorities realize this, the better.

Published in Hudson Institute's South Asia at Hudson
http://www.southasiaathudson.org/blog/2018/2/12/pashtun-awakening-30-the-power-of-non-violence
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Pakistan's relationship with its tribesmen along the Afghan border can best be described as "transactional" and the events of the 70-year history of the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderland has just proved that.

It was 1948, a million people had been killed and 15 million displaced in the bloody partition riots. Pakistan was less than a year old when its charismatic leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah decided to take the State of Jammu & Kashmir by force. The regular army of the nascent state was disorganized and ill-equipped to engage in a full-scale war. The Pashtun tribes from the then North-West Frontier Province were called upon and they did not hesitate to oblige. The tribesmen readily formed militias to invade Kashmir. 

A sizable part of the Kashmir valley was "liberated" and a border was demarcated with India deep inside Kashmir. Thus, the so-called LoC (Line of Control) came into being and the rest is history for more than 45 million Pashtuns living in Pakistan. What they got in return was misery, death and alienation!
 
Since then, Pashtun population in Pakistan has seen few good days. Afghan President Dr. Najibullah was an ardent proponent of the Pashtunistan cause in the 1980s through the 1990s and the Pashtun population on either side of the Durand Line was once again mobilized. The saga ended when Soviet Union collapsed and Mujahideen brought down the Najib government in 1992. The chaotic Mujahideen era was followed by the brutalities of the Taliban regime. Pashtuns, once again, had to bear the brunt of the Taliban atrocities. 
Pakistan, along with Saudi Arabia and UAE, recognized the Taliban government in Kabul and offered its unconditional support. The Taliban regime only lasted from 1996-2001 when the US invasion put a swift end to it. However, Pakistan once again needed the support of its Pashtun population to keep Taliban as a proxy force. The Pakistani state has successfully co-opted its Pashtun population and since then, a demand for "Pashtunistan" has faded away into oblivion.
 
70 years later, Pashtuns were still looking for a common cause and a rallying cry when a tragedy struck. An aspiring young man by the name of Naqeebullah, a member of the Mehsud tribe from Waziristan, was killed in the port city of Karachi by a high-ranking police official on the suspicion of being a terrorist. The only problem was – he wasn't. Naqeeb wanted to become a fashion model and use his modeling to promote peace. But peace was not given a chance.
 
It turned out to be a fake encounter, a joint investigation team found out that Naqeeb Mehsud was innocent and the Sindh police killed him in an extrajudicial manner. The police chief, SSP Rao Anwar, has been on the run since then. Mr. Anwar is allegedly involved in 250 such illegal killings. Who is protecting Rao Anwar is yet to be determined but he has proved to be beyond the long arms of the state apparatus.
 
It appears that Pashtun tribes have had enough of it and the atrocities committed by the state of Pakistan have proven to be a tipping point. At a time when protest is redefining democracy, Pashtuns have mobilized themselves and held a peaceful sit-in protest for 10 days in the capital Islamabad. Pashtuns have finally found a voice!
 
The Pashtun protest was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan; it was peaceful, organized and seemingly emanated from a grassroots basis. ANP, a Pashtun nationalist party remained at the forefront of the protest and Pashtuns from all over the country participated in it. 
Bushra Gohar, ANP Central Vice President, termed it a “historic step forward” for Pashtuns “The Pashtun Long March has shown the oppressed Pashtuns the way forward and not to accept the oppression as their fate or way of life. It also showed to the world the Pashtun educated youth are not willing to accept the injustices and humiliation. The peaceful resistance has broken the fears of many and people are coming out to openly condemn the injustices and demand the right to life & dignity as equal citizens.” 

She further said, “I see it as a continuation of the non-violent resistance against the British by Fakhre Afghan Bacha Khan and his followers, the Khudai Khidmatgars. The peaceful resistance has broken the myth that Pashtuns are violent or support terrorism. The Pashtun youth have led the leaders, thus forcing the political leaders of all ideologies to stand with them through the peaceful protest and are negotiating for acceptance of their just demands in the corridors of power for a peaceful & prosperous future.” 

The protesters remained calm and their demands were constitutional, modest and genuine – arrest Rao Anwar and his team and present them before a court of law, recover all missing persons from the tribal areas, stop harassing and killing the tribesmen and clear the deadly landmines from Waziristan. The protesters also hoped that the government would address the larger issues of streamlining the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and giving people basic rights at par with the rest of the country.
“The Pashtun protesters have adopted an inclusive, dynamic & transparent process for the negotiations. They are not willing to let anyone of any stature hijack or control the decisions. It also showed the worrying disconnect between the political leadership & the youth. Pashtun Long March has achieved key milestones; history has been made and can no longer be ignored.” said Bushra Gohar who has been attending the protest since it started on Feb 1. The protest conditionally ended on Feb 10, after a written assurance from the Prime Minister’s office clearly stating that all their demands would be met. The protest organizers vowed to re-convene if their demands were not met within 30 days.  

The protesting Pashtuns were mostly young and belonged to the Generation War. They have first-hand experienced large-scale internal displacements, unlawful abductions and detentions, ethnic profiling and stereotyping and humiliation at the hands of both terrorists and the Pakistani forces. They have lost dear ones to more than a dozen military operations and terrorist violence in the past two decades. The apathy of the Pakistani state is manifest in the fact that their sit-in protest has attracted very little media attention inside Pakistan which is otherwise robust in covering even smaller protests. The voices of resentment and marginalization are loud and clear, and the participants of the protest seem determined to have their voices heard. Whether this protest proves be an eye-opener for the Pakistani elite is yet to be seen.

Pakistan's civilian and military leadership has treated the FATA as a strategic playground and failed to address the genuine demands and accede basic human rights to its five million inhabitants. For the past two decades, FATA has been used to mount attacks against Afghanistan in order to achieve the policy of "Strategic Depth," to make Kabul subservient to Islamabad.
The Pakistani state has a transactional relationship with the Pashtun tribes straddling along the borderland between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The tribesmen have only been engaged when they are needed to fight Pakistan’s wars, but the Pashtun demands has always fallen on deaf ears, until now. Young Pashtuns see this as an opportunity for a meaningful engagement with the rulers who have so far treated them the way British treated their sub-continental subjects. The initial success of the protest indicate that non-violence is the way to go. It appears like Pashtuns are going back to their roots – the roots of non-violence demonstrated by the great leader of the sub-continent, Bacha Khan also known as the Frontier Gandhi.
Pashtuns have long-standing structural and systemic issues which cannot be resolved overnight or through one sit-in protest in Islamabad. However, this is an encouraging sign that millennials cannot be taken for granted. Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US, Hamdullah Mohib, tweeted on Feb 8 “Pashtun Long March in Pakistan is consequential for the entire world. It could be the beginning of the end of terrorism in the region. Moderate voices, speaking and mobilizing in masses against the use of extremism for domestic and foreign policy, should be supported and echoed.” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani went a step ahead and tweeted “After the tragedies of Kabul, I had remarked that Afghans and the people of this region should align against terrorism. I consider the Pashtun Long March a response to those remarks and a wake-up call against fundamentalism.”
Whether this will translate into an organized movement that will force the Pakistani state to revisit its long-held position on India-centric policies and strategic depth is yet to be seen, but who knows? One day this protest may be remembered as a precursor to ending terrorism from south and central Asia.

Published in Hudson Institute's South Asia at Hudson
http://www.southasiaathudson.org/blog/dealing-with-the-taliban

There is no military solution to the Afghan conflict must be the mantra in Washington. The Trump administration is mulling sending 3,000-5,000 more troops to train and assist the Afghan forces, but we have already witnessed more than 100,000 US and NATO troops being unable to end the guerrilla conflict in Afghanistan. After 16 years of non-stop fighting, the US policy regarding the war in Afghanistan must focus on the political dimension rather than solely the military dimension.
In recent history, peace accords have been signed off on three continents over long standing political and territorial disputes. The ‘Good Friday Agreement of 1998’ was inked between Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom and put an end to decades of unrest in the British Isles. The National Peace Accord of 1991 paved the way for the 1994 general elections in South Africa that resulted in National Unity government headed by Nelson Mandela. The National Reconciliation Process ended the decades long strife of the South African people for self-determination and an end to Apartheid. This process once again proved that a resolution by non-violent means is still possible. More recently, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers separatist insurgency in May 2009, bringing an end to a 26-year old civil war. However, the 16-year long war in Afghanistan has eluded all educated guesses about putting an end to a protracted insurgency.
The 2016 US presidential debates were mostly focused on personal insults at the expense of largely ignoring the international hot spots of Afghanistan, the Levant and the Middle East. Afghanistan, where US troops are engaged in the longest war in American history, was not mentioned even once in the entire campaign season, nor did it even make it into President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech. Similarly, Pakistan, which holds the master key to resolving the Afghan war, was hardly mentioned. The stakes still remain high, as shown by the Trump administration’s mulling over a troop increase and the dropping of the MOAB on ISIS fighters in the eastern part of the country. There seems to be no end in sight.
Pakistan’s double role, as a US ally on the War on Terror while simultaneously abetting Taliban that kill US troops, has been highlighted on numerous forums, but US policy and lawmakers are not very confident as to how to deal with Pakistan. Recently, the Hudson Institute put together a comprehensive list of 10 policy proposals to deal with Pakistan, which can rightly be described as a mixed bag of carrots and sticks. The authors, however, stopped short of declaring Pakistan a State Sponsor of Terrorism, though they did propose to avoid viewing and portraying Pakistan as an American ally.
Pakistani officials claim that if the US and 45-countries strong NATO Coalition have failed to defeat the Taliban in 16 years, then how can our thinly-stretched army be expected to dismantle Taliban strongholds in Pakistan? At a cursory glance this looks like a legitimate position, but the truth is far from it.
The fact is that US and NATO allies have comprehensively defeated the Taliban inside Afghanistan, but this is a war in which fresh foot soldiers are supplied continuously from across the border. With two exceptions, the US has not targeted Taliban leadership entrenched in Pakistan, more specifically in Quetta, the Tribal belt and Karachi. The Taliban enjoys sanctuaries in Pakistan with some level of support from Pakistani officials. This is evidenced by the fact that funerals of Taliban fighters killed in Afghanistan are heavily attended by terror sympathizers in Dir, the hometown of Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Sirajul Haq. Pakistani conservative leaders have always legitimized the war in Afghanistan as Jihad, which is considered a duty in Islam.
The question on everyone’s mind is how to go after the Taliban leadership in Pakistan, especially the Haqqani Network, from a tactical standpoint and what can be done on the diplomatic front to dissuade Pakistan from nurturing extremist militants. There is a broad consensus among US policy makers and analysts but the devil lies in the details. There is a growing concern in Washington and patience is running out. If the proposed mini-surge is not accompanied by coercive measures taken against Pakistan, then it is probably aimed at buying more time for the Trump administration to admit defeat in Afghanistan.
No matter which approach is adopted, it is now abundantly clear that a cocktail of coercive actions need to be in place to force Pakistan abandon its use of terror as a tool of foreign policy, as the carrots have not yielded any positive outcomes. The other piece of the puzzle to resolve the Afghan quagmire lies inside Afghanistan itself.
Afghanistan, despite massive aid from the US and international community, is a hotbed of corruption and failed governance. Eight hundred million dollars down the road, the Afghan National Defense and Security forces are nowhere near the level to secure their own country. The recent attacks in Mazar-e-Sharif, Kabul and Balkh exposed the chronic weaknesses of the Afghan forces. In almost all these attacks, the Taliban have received insider help. If 16 years of donor assistance didn’t prepare the Afghan forces, it is unclear what an additional 5,000 troops will achieve.
The National Unity Government of Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah is anything but “Unity”. Vice President Rashid Dostum is in exile in his own country and had only recently visited Kabul. Amid torture and rape allegations, Dostum is reportedly flying to Turkey, which has been dubbed as another long exile for him. This will result in more uncertainty in Kabul, where shadow of former President Hamid Karzai has long been lurking.
In all this murkiness, China may come as an unwilling interlocutor. The Taliban have held several rounds of peace talks in China. The Trump administration has the option to take China aboard in helping resolve the Afghan imbroglio, as it is a key Pakistan supporter and holds reasonable stakes in the Afghan economic development through regional alliances.
Resurgence of an affiliate of the Islamic State has added another dimension to an already very complex situation. It is imperative for the Trump administration to come up with a comprehensive Afghan policy as soon as possible, as abandoning the country at this point is tantamount to handing it back to the Taliban.  Ultimately, the US cannot afford it, especially with the Islamic State on the run from the Levant and looking for new abodes. The mayhem in Kabul today that killed and injured hundreds underscores the need for dealing with the Taliban and other terrorists at the earliest.

Friday July 08 witnessed a rare glimpse of unity when people came together to pay their homage to the passing of one of its best – Abdul Sattar Edhi – in a country bitterly divided along sectarian, ethnic, political, and social lines. The charity giant died in Karachi after a prolonged illness.

Born in a small village of Bantva near Joona Garh in the Indian state of Gujrat in 1928, Edhi moved to Pakistan in 1947. He lost his mother when he was 19 and it changed the course of his life –  he couldn’t finish his high school.

It all started when Edhi decided to help out the the victims of a flu outbreak in Karachi in 1957. The small dispensary went on to become Pakistan’s most impressive social enterprise to date. Edhi Foundation manages a sprawling, countrywide charity network of more than 1,500 ambulances, 2 choppers, 350 medical centers, a huge volunteer force, a graveyards and an adoption service for abandoned children.

Continue reading it here:

http://www.alternativeperspectives.org/edhi-the-passing-of-a-humanist/

Today my son graduated from a local middle school in Montgomery County in the State of Maryland and will attend the nearby high school after the summer vacations. Montgomery County public schools are considered to be one of the best in United States as they excel in students’ learning outcomes, infrastructure and quality of instruction. In this article, I will explain the nature of the US education system and make an attempt to draw a comparison with other systems.
The US education system follows a pattern similar to many systems around the world. Early childhood education (pre-kindergarten) is followed by five years of primary school which is called elementary school in the US. The next stage is three years of middle school, and four years of secondary school called high school, and then postsecondary (tertiary) education. Primary to high school education is completed in 12 years and is known as K through 12 or K-12.

Continue reading it here:

http://www.alternativeperspectives.org/a-comparison-that-never-was/

Though Pakistan is currently consumed with fallout from the Panama Leaks, yet another storm is also brewing in the shadows. With a population hovering around 210 million, Pakistan is the 5th (and not 6th) largest country in the world trailing behind China, India, United States and Indonesia. Pakistan is the smallest in size as compared to the other four most populous nations of the world. There are no reliable figures or precise numbers related to Pakistan’s population in the past 18 years. The Council of Common Interests on Feb 28, under the chairmanship of PM Sharif, postponed the population census indefinitely citing “commitments of security forces and ongoing operations”. Despite demands from opposition politicians, the constitutionally mandated population census has been deferred once again. Interestingly, the Council decided in its last meeting in March 2015 that census will be held in March this year.

Continue reading it here:

http://www.alternativeperspectives.org/no-consensus-on-pakistani-census-2/

Attacking Non-Violence
Dr. Asim Yousafzai
 
The message is loud and clear on Bacha Khan’s death anniversary. Kabul and Peshawar bled on the same day when his followers were getting ready to commemorate the 28th death anniversary of non-violence preacher Bacha Khan, also known as the Frontier Gandhi. At the twilight of 15-year presence of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, violence continues unabated on both sides of the Durand Line.
 
Taliban terrorists precisely timed it to target a University named after Bacha Khan, the anti-colonial leader who preached non-violence all his life. Born as Abdul Ghaffar Khan, he rose to eminence in British India with his philosophy of non-violence and his followers revered him as Bacha Khan, the king of hearts without a kingdom. Awami National Party (ANP) named a University after him in his hometown of Charsadda in 2012. Like most other seats of higher learning established by ANP in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Bacha Khan University was a prime target for the terrorists. As usual the slain were declared as “heroes”, “brave” and “resilient”, though they went there to impart and receive education. The blood-soaked scene was heart-wrenching and was the second major attack after the Army Public School (APS) massacre of December 2014 which claimed the lives of 145 innocent school children.
 
In a video statement, Taliban leader Umar Mansour has vowed to continue attacks on all educational institutes “which come from Britain and America”. Taliban wanted to demonstrate that violence is the only way they will achieve their objectives, nullifying the wishes of those leaders who have always advocated negotiating with them and offering them olive branches. Dozens were killed and injured in this incident by four Taliban terrorists who were later gunned down by security forces. The victims included Syed Hamid Hussain, a professor of chemistry who had a doctorate degree from U.K. He fought bravely with his licensed pistol and saved the lives of many students.
 
Taliban also wanted to give the message that they are as powerful and resilient as they have ever been. Operation Zarbe Azb has merely dislocated them and pushed them into Afghanistan where they are busy in their winter offensive against the fragile national unity government in Kabul. Pakistan has two very long borders; one each with India and Afghanistan and both of them are now heavily guarded by the Army. If these attacks are orchestrated from foreign soils, then terrorists are operating freely across these borders, and the Army has failed in its mission. The Pakistan government’s tall claims of “breaking the terrorists’ backbone” has once again fallen flat.
 
Pakistan’s counter terrorism strategy, formulated after the APS attack, has contributed little to the slight decrease in violence in 2015 while it has everything to do with internal Taliban rifts and splintering after the news of the death of its supreme leader Mullah Omar. The Pakistani State’s violent reaction after the 2014 school massacre has achieved little so far. Under the National Action Plan (NAP), Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and it failed to achieve its perceived objective of deterring the terrorists. You cannot deter a suicide bomber with death penalty; it is not only counter-intuitive, but counter-productive as well. In fact, it acted as a recruitment tool for the terrorists who used it effectively to stir anti-state sentiments.
 
The Bacha Khan University attack has led to an increase in the anti-India sentiment as Pakistani media quickly turned the general population’s attention towards a RAW involvement in the attacks, of course without any evidence. As it has turned out in the past, all major attacks inside Pakistan were carried out by Pakistani citizens who were all killed on the spot.  If the fragile peace overtures between India and Pakistan were shaken by the Pathankot attack, the Bacha Khan University attack has collapsed the negotiation structure altogether. The Pathankot attack was carried out Jaishe Muhammad, a supposedly banned Pakistani organization which operates with impunity all over the country. Consequently, the University attack has given the powerful military another chance to strengthen their position at home and ask for more Coalition Support Funds.
 
Pakistan has not only failed to tackle terror in all its manifestations, but it also resisted any indigenous efforts to initiate a long term solution to the problem. The non-violence lessons introduced by the ANP provincial government in the curriculum have been replaced by Jihad-inciting essays which leave little difference between secular and madrassa education in the country. The process of Islamization, vigorously initiated by Gen Zia ul Haq in the 1980s, has finally reached its zenith when a young boy from Punjab cuts his own hand off because he mistakenly raised his hand to disprove of the Prophet of Islam.
 
In the absence of counter-narratives to violence, terrorists will strike at will. There is sufficient capacity to tackle the terrorist groups in the country, however, there is insufficient will to neutralize all terrorists. The ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Taliban nomenclature is still in vogue. The country is bleeding profusely from home-grown terrorists and it is getting too late to put an end to them.
 
The blame game continues; while a Taliban faction has accepted the responsibility of the University attack, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Chief Minister has stressed on India and Afghanistan to stop terrorism in Pakistan. India and Afghanistan have consistently asked Pakistan to stop the flow of terrorists being facilitated from the Pakistani side. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told CNN “Terrorists in Afghanistan come from China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and the Middle East”. It is beyond comprehension as to why would India and Afghanistan support an attack on a University named after Bacha Khan, who is more revered by Afghans and Indians than in his own country.
 
More recently, the implementation and effectiveness of NAP is now openly being questioned. The State of Pakistan is making it easier for all shades of terrorists, including the deadly Daesh, to cement their adobes in the country. President Obama was spot on when he said in his State of the Union address that Middle East and South Asia will remain unstable for decades to come. Let’s see if this changes anytime soon.
 
The author is a Washington DC based geopolitical analyst and author of the book Afghanistan - From Cold War to Gold War. He can be followed @asimusafzai           

  


                   
Recent articles published in the US media are giving the impression that Islamic State, with a global Jihadi appeal, is struggling hard to get a foothold in Pakistan but the authors of these articles are either downplaying the tell tale signs or the articles lack the necessary framework in which emerging terror organizations flourish.
 
As the Taliban lose steam as a result of the death of their supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and splintering and internal fighting, stage is set for a new group to take over. A cursory look at the metamorphosis of Jihadi organizations in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past two decades indicate that they are getting deadlier, sophisticated and high tech savvy with every passing year; from Mujahideen groups willing to negotiate to Taliban willing to blow up and finally to Islamic State willing to behead innocent people. This is a worrying development not only for the South Asian region but for the entire world as well.
 
More recently, the expansion of the Islamic State into eastern Afghanistan has led U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter to undertake a surprise visit to the Jalalabad Base in Nangarhar province where some 600 US troops are stationed. Mr. Carter warned of the Islamic State threat amid worsening security situation in Afghanistan creating more fears for the stability of the national unity government in Kabul. Khorasan Group, the Islamic State’s branch for South and Central Asia, opened its first radio station in Nangarhar province which is clearly audible in the tribal regions of Pakistan and its presence in Afghanistan will have a spill over effect in Pakistan across the porous Durand Line.
 
There are certain unmistaken sings that suggest the emergence of and a strong footprint of the Islamic State in Sunni-majority Pakistan. With a population of 200 million, nine percent of Pakistanis support the Islamic State but more troublesome is the fact that 62 percent don’t know the answer to this question, reports a PEW research survey.
 
Presently, Deobandi terror groups are giving way to Salafi/Takfiri terror groups inspired from the Islamic State. Taliban splinter groups announcing their support for Islamic State and pledging allegiance to its so-called “Caliph” Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and more importantly, Pakistani terror organizations such as  JuD and LeT, waging a Jihad in Kashmir, are completely aligned with the same ideology that Islamic State is propagating in Iraq and Syria.
                                                              
Arif Jamal, author of a book on LeT recently told me “The Islamic State and the JuD and LeT are two sides of the Salafism coin. They are actually natural allies. They are closely cooperating in Nuristan, Kunar and Nagarhar and other places in Afghanistan. JuD leaders’ anti-Islamic State statements are meant to take us away from the ground reality”.
 
In the capital Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Aziz, the famous cleric of Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) uprising, has publicly denounced the constitution of Pakistan and openly supports the attackers on Pakistan’s security forces. However, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has refused to issue orders to arrest him. Jamal said, “We now know that the then ISI Chief General Kayani unleashed the Red Mosque Brigade to destabilize the regime of General Musharraf in 2007. The rise of the Red Mosque Brigade and Lawyers’ Movement simultaneously were not mere co-incidences. I would say that the rise of the Red Mosque and Lawyers’ Movement and the murder of Benazir Bhutto later were closely interconnected.”
 
Though wall chalking and pamphlets in support of the Islamic State in various cities in Pakistan have been showing up since 2014, two recent incidents in Karachi indicate more support for the group. The Vice Chancellor of a private university is being held on charges on material support to the Islamic State, and a group of 20 influential women were arrested by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Karachi are now said to be the financiers for the group. The accused were behind the Safoora carnage in which 46 Shias were ruthlessly massacred on a bus in May 2015. Reports have started to pour in from all major urban centers of the country about active recruitment for the group. The latest revelation came out on Dec 27 that CTD has busted an Islamic State cell in Sialkot and according to investigators, the eight operatives arrested from the cell have vowed to “overthrow democracy and introduce Khilafat in Pakistan through armed struggle”.
 
Pakistan has about 20 percent Shia population and some 500 Shias have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight against the Islamic State. A recent car bombing in the Shia-majority Para Chinar city of the tribal region of Kurram killed 25 and injured dozens. Those who have recently joined the fight in Syria are now actively using social media to lure others in to joining the Islamic State.
 
The Pakistani terror group ASWJ accepted the responsibility and put the blame on Shias traveling to Syria and Iraq. The ASWJ purportedly had an electoral alliance in Punjab with the ruling Muslim League of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
 
The Pakistani officials have consistently refuted the presence of Islamic State operatives in the country and Nisar as recently as May this year categorically denied their presence. On October 3, Army Chief Raheel Sharif said in an address to The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London “even a shadow of IS will not be allowed”.
 
The Pakistani state is in denial for three main reasons - first the military establishment does not want to give the impression that their Zarb-e-Azb operation in the tribal regions of Pakistan is anything short of complete victory over terrorists. In essence, most of these terrorists have been pushed to the Afghan territories where they are strengthening the Afghan Taliban ranks. Secondly, they want to assure the United States that Islamic State is not a threat to either Pakistan or the United States and the funding should continue to flow to Pakistan and its armed forces. Thirdly, the National Action Plan, initiated after the horrific school massacre in Peshawar in December 2014, is sluggish on many fronts and has not yielded the desired results, especially curbing funding sources to the seminaries.
                                              
Pakistan continues to ignore the threat posed by its more than 30,000 religious seminaries and Pakistan’s Interior Minister declared it on the Parliament floor that “these seminaries are partners of the government and not our target”. He added “why should we target them if they had not committed any terrorism.” All attempts to regulate these seminaries have failed due to religious backlash or political opposition.
                                                                                                   
The recent case of radicalization of the San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik is just the tip of the iceberg. Founded by an ultra conservative Farhat Hashmi, the school system where Malik was radicalized is known for radical conservative teachings and has worldwide presence. Arif Jamal told me, “al-Huda school system is closely allied and linked with a Pakistan-based Salafist jihadist group Tehreekul Mujahideen which is waging jihad in Kashmir. Tehreekul Mujahideen is the armed wing of Jamiat Ahle Hadith of Pakistan, which is hugely funded by Saudi Arabia.”
 
As Henry Kissinger famously said “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full”. Can the world deal with the Islamic State in a nuclear armed Pakistan? Let’s not forget that Pakistan is manufacturing tactical nuclear weapons by the tons and they can not only be used by the State but also actively sought after by the non-state actors as well.