Prime Minister Imran Khan is in Uzbekistan to join the Central and South Asia Conference. As always, Prime Minister Imran had been the centre of attention for the international media.
While attending the two-day conference, government officials from Pakistan completely ignored the Indian minister and officials.
A video has gone viral on Social Media in which a woman can be seen manhandling and abusing a policeman on Faisal Avenue, Islamabad. The officer told the woman that she is using fake plate numbers on her vehicle and hasn’t removed them despite being warned a few days earlier, and that she didn’t stop the car. The officer then can be seen removing the fake license plates from the car. The woman comes out of the car and starts abusing and assaulting the police officer.
An FIR has been registered against the woman in Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station as per reports. The police also said that they were investigating how did the video become viral on Social Media
Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh is in hot waters after he falsely accused the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Army of threatening Afghan aircraft as far as 10 kilometres from Spin Boldak to leave or face missiles.
After the tweet by the Vice President, netizens demanded evidence of Pakistan’s involvement. However, no concrete evidence is provided by the Afghan government till now.
However, Pakistan Foreign Office has denied all the allegations made by Afghan Vice President. The FO statement said that Pakistan has acknowledged the Afghan government’s right to undertake actions on its sovereign territory. In spite of very close border operations normally not acceded to by internationally accepted norms/standards/procedures, Pakistan only took necessary measures within its territory to safeguard our own troops and population.
The false accusations by Afghan Vice President came after Afghan Government lost Spin Boldak which is a strategic border crossing with Pakistan. Rather than accepting their incompetence, they falsely accused Pakistan.
Dr. Cornel West, an intellectual-political activist, was a Professor at the Harvard School of Divinity who shared his resignation letter on Twitter. He claimed that Harvard is decaying, as his ideology about Palestine caused him trouble in university.
West, in his letter, shared his views about the current state of Harvard. He alleged that he was denied tenure because of his support towards the Palestinian cause. He was warned before finally resigning this year.
West said that his critical handling when talking about Israel is the reason why he was denied tenure. He also called Harvard’s hostility towards Palestine as disgusting. He further added that the university’s cold response to his mother’s demise was also because of his views which did not coincide with the administration’s. Calling the Palestinian issue is “Taboo” in Harvard, he taunted the institute. “Let us bear witness against this spiritual rot!”, these are his words condemning the scenario.
A petition is being circulated that condemns the university’s denial of tenure to Dr West by his supporters. He had been a professor of the practice of public philosophy in the divinity school at Harvard. His resignation has undoubtedly stormed the nations and awakened the sleeping ones. As an intellectual has left a world-known institute supporting a global conflict, going against his near ones but not his ideology, one must say.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi warned India not to play any negative role in Afghanistan and urged the international community to stop it from any illegal activity. India had been a threat to regional peace in the last years.
Foreign Minister also added that Pakistan has lost 70,000 of its people and had remained economically unstable due to her efforts in War On Terror, now they will not welcome Afghan refugees as they are hosting approximately 3 million for decades. He clearly said that in the name of Afghan refugees some anti-Pakistan elements can enter the country and destabilize it.
India is providing Afghan Government artillery shells, for this purpose same planes were used that were used to take Indian Officials back from Kandahar. India’s Foreign Ministry chief spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that this personnel were got back temporarily and he said that we are trying to communicate with the Nationalists that are out of the influence of Iran and Pakistan, but there is no progress in this regard.
Pakistan’s clear message to Afghanistan is that we are strong proponents of Afghan peace and for this purpose, we want a proper dialogue that will ensure stability in the region. Any element outside claiming anything else than this from Pakistan or playing a blame game is just Anti Pakistan. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that we wholeheartedly want that Afghan refugees reach their homes safely.
Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed Uzbekistan-Pakistan Business Forum on Central and South Asia 2021: Regional Connectivity Challenges and Opportunities, held in Uzbekistan’s Capital on Thursday 15th July 2021. He said Pakistan’s connectivity with Uzbekistan will promote trade and bilateral relations. Pakistan has great potential to connect Central Asia with the world and would be a trade hub.
“I want to assure the business community of Uzbekistan that this relationship is just the beginning of the journey of development and prosperity,” he said. Prime Minister also mentioned Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan Railway project will be an important development in this regard.
He also highlighted that a prevailing condition in Afghanistan was demanding to involve conflicted country into some developmental projects to boost its economic situation as well as rising living standards of its people. He hoped that with the proper involvement of neighbouring states, definitely situation in Afghanistan will get better.
Foreign Minister Pakistan and various other Ministers were also present there. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that there was great appreciation for bilateral relations from both sides and they signed worth $453 million and hoped to further investment for bilateral trade.
Information Minister Fawad Hussain also mentioned some objectives. He said “We want an effective transportation infrastructure so that the goods loaded from Pakistan’s Karachi and Gwadar seaports could reach Uzbekistan’s Tashkent,” he said in a video message from the Uzbek capital. He appreciated Uzbekistan’s Government for such a warm welcome and said this agreement will “open up new vistas of economic opportunities between Pakistan and Uzbekistan, and the rest of Central Asia.
After the withdrawal of troops by US in September the whole dynamics of the Afghan peace process are likely to be changed. It is expected that the Afghan government will undergo huge stress because of its conflicting ties with the Taliban. The Taliban forces have been making significant inroads against the Afghan government in the recent past and it has led to the situation of continuous carnage in Afghanistan. The Afghan government forces are currently engaged in an intense fight up with the Taliban in the northern city of Kunduz and in the outskirts of Mazar-i Sharif as well which could prove devastating for the Afghan government. On this current situation the American President Joe Biden has a clear stance that this senseless violence in the country must stop.
This decision of troops withdrawal by US without a cease-fire or a framework for the political agreement between the Taliban and the government can come out with grave consequences for the Afghan state. It can prove to be a bad news for the political situation of Afghanistan and also a setback for the peace talks. It appears that as US and NATO troops withdraw the Taliban would be even more emboldened having more territory from the US backed Afghan government. It is assumed that the withdrawal of US from Afghanistan will ignite civil war in the country and end up with the Taliban taking over.
The Taliban commanders are enthusiastic and are looking to seize full control of the country and re-establishing their vision of an Islamic state as soon as the US exit from the region. As the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban continue to flutter,then the violence is expected to rage across the country. It has been speculated that as soon as the US leaves Afghanistan the government forces are not going to last too long. The Taliban’s military gains makes it evident that they are going to launch an all-out assault on Afghanistan’s cities once the US and their international allies leave the country. The Taliban’s are confident of success once US troops fully withdraw from the country ahead of the September deadline set by the US president Joe Biden. According to the earlier assessments it was thought that the Afghan government would survive for at least two years post the US exit with a timeline now of between six months and a year. However, the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani thinks that the key to a political dialogue is that the Taliban accept that the future political system of Afghanistan is based only on elections and nothing else.
The observers warn that a fall in international aid following the US exit will compound the already ominous economic conditions in Afghanistan, where poverty and unemployment are soaring. After the exit of US from Afghanistan it is expected that the country would face daunting challenges and the consequences would be far greater in sustaining recent development gains in the face of mounting political uncertainties, declining international grant support, and continued insecurity as its economy is been hooked with billions of military spending and international aid. About 80 percent of the Afghanistan’s government budget is been funded by the foreign donors. However, for the economic stability of Afghanistan a ray of hope has arose as at the Geneva conference held in November 2020, the donors renewed their commitment to aid support to Afghanistan for 2021-2024. The World Bank Group engagement pursues a programmatic approach to support the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF II) that was presented by the Government of Afghanistan at the Geneva conference.
Afghanistan also has a lot of billions of dollars of untouched economic resources such as iron, nickel and coal that it can use to gain financial and economic stability but it would again require a heavy foreign investment in order to utilize it effectively. The other opportunity for Afghanistan would be that if its peace negotiations with the Taliban and other insurgents go well then it is hoped that its other sectors especially the mining sector would help a lot in terms of gaining the economic stability as it is considered to be the backbone of Afghanistan’s post war economy. The extensive interest shown by China in investing in the coal sector of Afghanistan is another great economic opportunity. This possibility of investment of worth 300 million dollars would be of great benefit for Afghanistan in terms of gaining economic sustainability after the US exit. The investments made by Pakistan and Iran in the mining sector of Afghanistan in some provinces having a better security situation is also a big deal for economy of Afghanistan..
In the subsequent civil war, the significant separation point would be between the Pashtun overwhelmed Taliban and the purported Northern Alliance made basically out of Tajiks, who talk a variation of Persian, in the west and north, Uzbeks in the north, and Hazara’s, who are Shia and accordingly have connections to Iran, in focal Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance, a free gathering of political powers instead of a durable association, address around 60% of the population, whereas Pashtuns, customarily the country’s predominant ethnic gathering, address around 40%. A major fault line exists between the Taliban and the Northern alliance leaders as the Taliban are ready to exploit America’s exit from the region.
While the vast majority of the Taliban and other terrorist groups, based right now in Afghanistan, yet devoted to assaulting Western and Islamic governments and regular folks outside of Afghanistan would be encouraged. This incorporates the Islamic State branch in Afghanistan and the leftovers of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As indicated by an UN Security Council report, relations between the Taliban, particularly its Haqqani organization, and al-Qaeda “stay close, in view of fellowship, a past filled with shared battle, philosophical compassion, and between marriage.” But after the US exit the relations between the northern alliance and the Taliban would be deteriorated. It has also been assumed that Pakistan and India would back the Northern Alliance against the Taliban after the exit of US from the region.
Author: Hashim Kamal
Student of Bachelor’s in International Relations at National Defence University Islamabad having profound interest in regional, ethnic and global conflicts, terrorism etc.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pakistan Frontier.
Karachi: Former President Mamnoon Hussain is no more between us. Confirmed by his son Arsalan Mamnoon, former President took his last breath in Karachi.
Born in 1940 December 23, Mamnoon Hussain was 80 years old, he was suffering from cancer and he was getting treatment from a private hospital in Karachi.
From 2013 to 2018, Mamnoon Hussain served as 12th President of Pakistan. He also served as Governor Sindh from June 1999 till the removal of Nawaz Sharif’s government because of General Musharraf’s coup.
Pakistan has been accused of cyber attacking top secret infrastructure in India using China-based data operators, target being Indian power sector and organisations. In simple words, sensitive data has been hacked that can be used against India.
While giving interviews to Indian media channels, the Vice President of Product Security at Lumen Technologies-Black Lotus Labs, Michael Benjamin said that we have got certain indicators that individuals behind this are located in Pakistan and their focus was to target Indian power sector and Government entity.
Another serious claim is that data operators of Zong, which is the most widely used network in Pakistan (China-based) was used to accomplish the task which shows the tilt of China towards Pakistan in such possible activities.
Remote Access Trojan (RAT), these attackers were installed as predicted by USA firm to perform the act. This is the most recent one but not the first cyber attack of such kind.
UK will work with Taliban should they come to power, British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said in an interview on Tuesday. He further stated, “Whatever the government of the day is, provided it adheres to certain international norms, the UK government will engage with it.”, reported Reuters.
With the Afghan Taliban capturing more territories day by day, there are ample chances that they will form a government in Afghanistan. According to the Afghan Taliban, 85% of Afghanistan is under their control. With this foresight, Britain has started to consider working and cooperating with the Afghan Taliban should they enter the government in Afghanistan. Ben Wallace also appealed for the Taliban and Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, to work together to bring stability to the country after decades of conflagration.
The Afghan Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with powerful hands from 1996 to 2001, has been fighting for 20 years to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul. They now might be closer to this aim for theirs than ever before. With the withdrawal of American and other international forces, the Afghan Taliban have been acting very swiftly in taking control over major cities and regions.
The Afghan armed forces have completely failed to provide resistance to the Afghan Taliban due to which now there is no stopping for them. With each passing day, the Afghan Taliban are expanding and as well as maintaining their control over areas.
