ISLAMABAD – Executive editor of Daily Pakistan, and political analyst Usman Shami, questioned the Afghan government’s growing closeness with India, saying Kabul needs to reconsider ties amid India’s continued supression of Muslims at home.
As Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul intensified and peaked at cross-border attacks and diplomatic friction, Shami said Afghan Taliban’s growing engagement with India could further complicate fragile relationship between the two neighbors.
Speaking on program Think Tank, he said Afghanistan must “reconsider its alignment” and ponder whether it is serving India’s strategic interests. “Does the Afghan government not see how the Indian government treats Muslims in its own country?” he asked.
Referring to resurfaced video of India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Shami recalled Doval saying that “if we pay them more, they will side with us, and we will control them through Deoband.”
He noted that the Afghan foreign minister’s grand reception at the Deoband seminary should prompt serious introspection. “They must ask themselves whether they are becoming India’s proxy,” he added.
Discussing recent events, Shami said during Afghan foreign minister’s presser in India, female journalists were initially restricted from entering, causing widespread outrage across Indian media circles. To manage the backlash, he added, Afghan foreign minister later held another press conference where women were finally allowed to attend.
Afghanistan fought both US and Soviet Union with Pakistan’s support. Even today, many Americans blame Pakistan for their failures in Afghanistan, such ingratitude is unfortunate, he said, adding that Afghanistan’s claim of being ‘graveyard of superpowers’ is not right.
“They have made their own country a graveyard with no progress in education, infrastructure, or governance. If foreign powers have been thrashing you for decades, that’s hardly a matter of pride,” he said.
Shami also clarified that Pakistan’s stance is not anti-Afghanistan but anti-terrorist elements operating from Afghan soil who are involved in attacks against Pakistan. He also revealed details of a recent interaction with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during which journalists questioned him about the government’s policy on talks with Afghan authorities.
He also added that PM said that dialogue had been ongoing for quite some time, but the situation remained unchanged, and said it’s time to send a message that Afghanistan cannot continue to act with impunity.
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