Taliban Returns Gift to Pakistan Via Balochistan

Backstabbing America by aiding the Taliban’s rise to power, Pakistan made money hand over fist but simultaneously dug its grave. Its neglect towards Balochistan and lack of foresight pertaining to its porous border with Afghanistan is paying dividends in blood.

While taking over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the Taliban had promised an upgraded version of their regime allowing freedom of speech and access to education for women, a legal system beyond the Islamic jurisprudence, and so on – collectively given the name ‘Taliban 2.0’. Once in power, and with the generous help of the American weaponry left behind valued at 7.12 billion US dollars, Afghanistan has returned to the Dark Ages, more lethal than before.

In 2021 Pakistan unofficially recognized the Taliban regime, and almost welcomed them; the then Prime Minister Imran Khan said Afghans have “broken the shackles of slavery.”

In less than two years, this camaraderie has turned sour. In criticism, Pak’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said, “Taliban is neglecting its duties as a neighboring and fraternal country”, and Pakistan’s “patience with Kabul is wearing thin.”

With the elections approaching, Pakistani leaders are busily shapeshifting into caring, initiative-driven personalities. 12 soldiers of the Pak Army were killed in Zhob and Sui last week, the highest single-day death toll for the military from terrorist attacks in a long time, but besides honoring the fallen with the title of ‘shaheed’ (martyrs), little has been done.

In a similar incident in February 2022, 10 military men were killed by terrorists in the Kech district. They succumbed to the automatic and heavy American weaponry of the terrorists. Pak Army is on the losing end with substantially less in their armory to defend themselves.

Caught in the crossfire between the Pak Army and the terrorists are the Baloch civilians, already suffering from discrimination and human rights violations by Pakistan. The Baloch pay with their deaths in such encounters as a woman did in Zhob while traveling in a bus that passed through the encounter site. The

Taliban and the extremist Islamic State group have a strong presence in Balochistan.

After the Taliban ended the ceasefire in November 2022, the insurgency has plagued Balochistan (majorly the northern Pakhtun belt), and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). With control over the Pakhtun-dominated area, the banned terrorist offshoot of the Taliban, the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP), also has access to the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the key to Pakistan’s supposed economic prosperity.

TTP has also made inroads in the Baloch-majority areas, playing on the Baloch sentiments against the brutalities of the Pak government, consolidating its position as the right arm of the Afghan Taliban in the region.

On the condition of anonymity, a police officer admitted to his fear of the terrorists. He said the fact that they can see at night (through their American night vision goggles) while Pak soldiers cannot make them easy targets. In the last two years, the emboldened TTP has released numerous videos featuring sniper attacks on Pakistani troops along Pak’s western border with Afghanistan. The troops looked like sitting ducks, naively trying to escape the advanced thermal night vision mounted on long-range rifles.

Such sadistic videos should not let Pakistan sleep at night, but Islamabad seems least bothered to admit their mistake and clean up the mess. Pakistan cannot cry foul after literally opening doors to the Taliban. Neither can it blame Baloch separatists for forming a nexus with TTP after absolutely ignoring the needs of the alienated Balochistan. The hand that fed extremism is bound to get bitten.

Recently, a government bureaucrat from Balochistan reportedly purchased an Austria-made Glock handgun for 1500 US Dollars from the Pakistani black market because he “felt extremely vulnerable” in the lawless terrorist climate of the province. He disgracefully admitted that Pakistan’s “security and governance are rapidly declining, so people are forced to fend for themselves.”

A bureaucrat buying an illegal weapon to feel safe shows the sorry state of affairs of Pakistan’s security. The pre-2014 episodes of TTP’s imposition of an extremist version of Islam, lawlessness, target killings, bomb attacks, extortions, and harassment are bound to return with much greater force.

A similar model of terrorism that has plagued KPK is coming to the fore in Balochistan. KPK’s Parachinar, which is in the crosshairs of “tribal, sectarian,

and terror competition” influenced by Afghanistan and Iran, is feared by the Pak government as the region has become a “powder keg with the influx of all shades of battle-hardened terrorists from Syria and Afghanistan.” It is predicted Balochistan will meet the same fate if the situation prevails. Not too long ago, in January 2023, the TTP sent a warning message, “We are coming”, while sitting in Margalla Hills. Has Islamabad forgotten?