Re: Shame on you, Mr Khan
This is a great article, exposing the flaws in Mr. Khan’s theories
Khan, Taliban and the Crackpot Science | DAWN.COM
Is the Taliban fighting a ‘Holy War’ in Afghanistan for the freedom and rights of afghan people as claimed by khan?
Is War on Terror the root-cause for the menace Pakistan has faced in the last decade?
Even a cursory examination of history can tell us that the Taliban had nothing to do with Afghanistan and were the product of Pakistani JUI-run religious schools for Afghan refugees. Ahmed Rashid](Ahmed Rashid - Wikipedia), a world renowned expert on Taliban provides a great insight on their emergence in his book “Taliban” (published in 2000)](Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia - Wikipedia). He describes the significant role of Maulana Samiul Haq](Sami-ul-Haq - Wikipedia)and Colonel Imam](Amir Sultan Tarar - Wikipedia) in the emergence of Taliban. Haq is a Pakistani religious and political leader whose madrassaDar-ul-Uloom Haqqania](Darul Uloom Haqqania - Wikipedia) became a major training ground for the Taliban leadership. In February 1999 Haq gave an interview to Rashid in which it was revealed that he was directly managing Taliban leader Mullah Omar in forcefully implementing puritanical brand of Sharia. He was also the chief organizer for recruiting Pakistani students to fight for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance and whenever the Taliban required reinforcements, Haq, along with the ISI provided them](Pakistan: "The Taliban's Godfather"?) with theessential manpower](Crisis of Impunity - Pakistan's Support Of The Taliban).
The chart below shows the contribution of Pakistani and Al Qaeda militants in Afghan Taliban military force:
http://dawncompk.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/graph_anas_.jpg?w=670
Graph below gives an estimation of Pakistan’s (Central Board of Revenue): The Economic loss suffered by Pakistan due to Taliban’s illegal transit trade & nexus with Pakistani transport, trade and drug mafia:
http://dawncompk.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/graph_anas_2.jpg?w=670
In his book Fundamentalism Reborn?](Fundamentalism Reborn?: Afghanistan Under the Taliban: Maley, William: 9780814755860: Amazon.com: Books) Professor William Maley](https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/maley-wl) writes “Many Taliban carry Pakistani identity cards, as they spent years in refugee camps in Pakistan, and thousands voted in the 1997 elections in Balochistan for their favorite Pakistani party – the Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI)”.
Afghans under the Taliban rule suffered some of the worst oppression](http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA11/015/1995/en/6d874caa-eb2a-11dd-92ac-295bdf97101f/asa110151995en.html) in human history. It was a period of the Afghan Holocaust that witnessed ethnic cleansing campaigns, massacres,](BBC News | Despatches | UN report condemns Afghan atrocities) human trafficking,](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201892,00.html) mass starvation](http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=APAB&d_place=APAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F8B4F98500EA0F8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackv) and other forms of humanitarian crisis. According to a 55-page report](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-10-12/news/0110120312_1_taliban-fighters-massacres-in-recent-years-mullah-mohammed-omar) by the United Nations, the Taliban conducted 15 colossal massacres between 1996 and 2001](http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/taleban-should-be-prosecuted-war-crimes-afghanistan-2010-08-10) in order to consolidate their brutal rule in Afghanistan. Shias were branded as “apostates” and there were organised ethnic cleansing campaigns against the Hazara community](How the Taliban slaughtered thousands of people) where women were raped, and thousands of people were either killed or locked in containers and left to suffocate. Women experienced](Treatment of women by the Taliban - Wikipedia) a terrible form of repression](http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/reports/talibans-war-on-women-1998.html) where they were banned from education and employment, and were relegated to perpetually living behind the veil.
The savage Taliban, also termed as the “Holy Warriors” by Imran Khan, even closed down hospitals, and not only thwarted the efforts](UN News Release on forced displacement of people by Taliban) of aid agencies in providing relief to the Afghan people but also refused to cooperate with the UN led polio immunization campaigns for children.
Taliban phenomenon was not only confined to Afghanistan, even before 9/11 its tentacles had begun gradually spreading over and taking hold of Pakistan. This Talibanization of Pakistan](Pakistan and the Taliban) was predicted in the late nineties by Olivier Roy](Olivier Roy (political scientist) - Wikipedia), William Maley](http://www.assa.edu.au/fellows/profile.php?id=11126), and especially Ahmed Rashid, who documented in his book (Taliban) that by 1998, Pakistani Taliban groups were forcibly imposing their Sharia laws and consequent punishments in FATA as were implemented in Afghanistan. Similar incidents of Talibanization of Pakistan were also documented by senior journalist, Rahimullah Yousufzai in 1998](Origin of Pakistani Taliban | AA@Counter Terrorism, Imperialism, Extremism and Bigotry).
As we have seen above that Imran Khan’s “Holy Warriors” are actually savages and beasts who have not only caused mass devastation in Afghanistan but have also become the ideological foothold of Pakistani Taliban (TTP)](http://tribune.com.pk/story/324147/imran-khans-flawed-logic-on-the-war-on-terror/) that has been killing thousands of Pakistanis in recent years. These Taliban were never accepted](http://southasia.oneworld.net/news/afghan-women-fear-return-of-taliban-survey/?searchterm=#.UIheYG_A948) as legitimate rulers by the Afghan people](https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:MbsZ45PJFfsJ:news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_01_10_afghanpoll.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShI1mZudHLV8QuAQhVH0mTMjp-IRxXYsmnr3xV2vhLUYcuLsqmjVfTqHI3n5KtXHSgTMNBSWoaAMhZugfeB-KGBObG6GniMi5gngemqfCWS1o) and from their beginning were considered Pakistan’s proxies.
Imran also expressed great sympathy for these barbaric criminals in his recent book “Pakistan: A Personal History”](Amazon.co.uk). In chapters 8 (Pakistan Since 9/11) & 9 (The Tribal Areas: Civil War? My Solution), Khan provides a grossly misleading narrative that the Taliban were willing to handover Bin Laden after 9/11 and that the American invasion of Afghanistan was motivated by “Imperial Hubris”. However the book fails to mention that America was in negotiations with Taliban on the Bin Laden issue since 1996 and had pressurized them to hand over Bin Laden through a series of UN resolutions such as1076](United Nations Security Council Resolution 1076 - Wikipedia), 1193](United Nations Security Council Resolution 1193 - Wikipedia), 1214](United Nations Security Council Resolution 1214 - Wikipedia), 1267](United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 - Wikipedia), 1333](United Nations Security Council Resolution 1333 - Wikipedia) and 1363](United Nations Security Council Resolution 1363 - Wikipedia). Nevertheless the Taliban defied this pressure as it was never in their interest to hand over Bin Laden since his fighters had played a substantial role along with Pakistani assets](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340244/Afghanistan-resistance-leader-feared-dead-in-blast.html) in their victory against the Northern Alliance and it was their turn to return the favour to their guests.
Exploring Khan’s claim that Pakistan has been wrong in fighting the American “War on Terror” since it has only brought destruction and disgrace to the nation](Geo News: Latest News Breaking, Live Videos, World, Entertainment, Royal), this seems another bogus assertion of his, based on highly erroneous information.
Between the years 2001 to 2006, Pakistan’s annual GDP growth was at an average of a whopping 7 per cent as compare to the 3 per cent annual growth in 1999 to 2001. This was made possible, not because Musharraf was some Stalwart, a Warren Buffet, or an economic gold medalist like Manmohan Singh,instead the boom was predominantly facilitated by incentives](http://www.strategicforesight.com/sfgnews_133.htm) such as removal of all sanctions, debt rescheduling, waiving of export quota restrictions and greater market share that were offered to Pakistan for its participation in the “War on Terror”](Blogs & Commentary | The Express Tribune). Furthermore the relations with India improved significantly due to immense American pressure, due to which, Pakistan curtailed its support for Kashmiri insurgency.
Indeed after 9/11, Pakistan faced an enormous increase in violence which resulted in 40,000 civilian casualties](http://www.san-pips.com/index.php?action=reports&id=tml2) and an economic cost of around $70 billion](http://dawn.com/2011/06/20/war-on-terror-cost-pakistan-679-billion/) but an ample proportion of this staggering cost was also attributable to the Balochistan Conflict](Insurgency in Balochistan - Wikipedia) and ethnic violence in Karachi which had nothing to do with the War on Terror. In any case, the destruction wrecked by TTP was inevitable, even if Pakistan had not participated in the war on terror, as Pakistanis who were assisting the Afghan Taliban had started various movements even before 9/11 within FATA to implement the same rule which later evolved into the ruthless Pakistani Taliban (TTP). The chickens came home to roost for the country when it fought against terrorism and it paid a regrettable price for nurturing Islamic militants and sustaining them. In doing so, Pakistan lost 5,000 of its security forces](http://costsofwar.org/sites/default/files/HMCHART.pdf). A similar cost was paid by the US in the form of 9/11 attacks after it conveniently left Afghanistan in a dilapidated state which later on morphed into a breeding ground for al Qaeda.
By calling Pakistan’s ‘war on terror’ a mistake](Geo News: Latest News Breaking, Live Videos, World, Entertainment, Royal), elements such as Imran Khan are an affront to the soldiers (such as Major General Faisal Alvi](Ameer Faisal Alavi - Wikipedia)) who have bravely fought against Al Qaeda and laid down their lives. In fact, the correct approach is to slam the peace deals that Pakistan conducted with militants in FATA post 9/11 which were instrumental in giving militants the necessary breathing space](Peace deals signed by Pakistan with Terrorists in FATA | AA@Counter Terrorism, Imperialism, Extremism and Bigotry) that subsequently gave them the required strategic advantage.
One of the main architects of these deals was General Aurakzai](http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=ali_jan_orakzai_1), who not onlysupported the 1999 Musharraf coup](http://news.oneindia.in/2009/09/16/embarrassedmusharrafs-close-aides-shying-away.html) but was also condemned by the UN for his pro Taliban views](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2007\02\20\story_20-2-2007_pg7_26) and by thePakistani XI Corps Commanders for his inept military operations](Google Search). Aurakzai has been widely quoted by Imran Khan who is inspired by him in his defence of peace deals. However, it’s very naïve and illogical to blindly follow the narrative of a slippery character like Aurakzai who drew blame on the US for his own lack of competence in leading military operations.
Khan is an ardent promoter of these peace deals and continues to deceive the public by calling these the solution against terrorism and by linking it to the Northern Ireland peace process](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process). He fails to understand that this process was only made possible after the successful “Decommissioning”](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/northern_ireland/understanding/themes/decommissioning.stm)where the IRA had to surrender its weapons. One can never expect the Taliban and al Qaeda to adopt**“Decommissioning”**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decommissioning_in_Northern_Ireland) since their ideology and struggle is religiously motivated unlike the IRA conflict. Currently the US is also striving towards similar agreements with Taliban where the latter are required to abandon their weapons and accept Afghan Constitution.
To sum it up Khan’s views on Taliban and his policy of countering terrorism is based on myths and distorted facts which promotes the conspiracy theory culture. His views remain unchallenged by a majority of the Pakistani Youth and media because they themselves are ignorant of history and are mostly the product of the TV Boom of 2003](http://www.viewpointonline.net/media-boom-90-channels-106-fm-stations-in-10-years.html). He further misguides the public by terming the Pakistani Hazara sectarian cleansing as an international conspiracy](http://criticalppp.com/archives/227664) and refrains from highlighting the link between these ethnic killings and those carried out in Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban before 9/11.](http://www.viewpointonline.net/hazara-holocaust-and-the-deafening-pakistani-silence.html) The latest example of his propagandist attitude is the drama he orchestrated about hisflight from Toronto to New York during which he was questioned](http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-18486-Canadian-clarification-on-Imran-episode-sought). He made an issue that he was harassed and grilled due to his stance on drones only to be later confirmed by officials that the reason was that the donations he collected were illegal on the visa he was travelling](http://www.zemtv.com/2012/10/31/najam-sethi-analysis-on-why-imran-khan-off-loaded-from-plane-do-you-agree-with-him/).
In the end, Imran is a ‘Taliban Khan’](http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/14206/imran-khan-knowingly-or-unknowingly-taliban-khan/) not because he wants his people to be slaughtered in soccer stadiums, but because he strategically supports Taliban for two main reasons:
a) To remain in the good books of a faction of Military establishment that has always viewed Taliban as a proxy and is leading Pakistan into disaster.
b) To exploit and fuel Anti-Americanism, ** the best-selling product in Pakistan**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-American_sentiment_in_Pakistan) and which directly results in keeping a deafening silence on Taliban’s terrorism and instead blaming the ‘War on Terror’ for all the ills befalling Pakistan.
This strategy of Imran Khan can be further evidenced in the absurd claim he made of blaming the War on Terror for the murder of Salman Taseer](http://tribune.com.pk/story/188806/supporting-imran-khan/) while conveniently ignoring the murders of those](http://dawn.com/2012/09/19/timeline-accused-under-the-blasphemy-law/)such as Justice Arif Iqbal Bhatti](http://criticalppp.com/archives/36490), who have been killed like Salman long before 9/11, only because they defended blasphemy victims.
If Imran Khan really is as daring as he purports to be, he should openly confront and condemn the Taliban leadership by name](http://tribune.com.pk/story/451890/shame-on-you-mr-khan/), which he does not have the courage to do. He should learn a lesson from Malala](http://dawn.com/malala-yousafzai/) who defied the Taliban’s ban on education of women.