This letter refers to the article ‘Some inconvenient truths’ (September 21, 2022) by Touqir Hussain. The writer has stated the plain truth, without fear or favour, and without taking undue credit for ‘hosting millions of Afghan refugees for decades’. A realistic cost-benefit analysis supports his view that both Afghanistan and Pakistan ended up as overall losers as a result of General Zia’s misadventure. Rather than gaining ‘strategic depth’, we ended up with a strategic threat.
The only point where one could disagree with the writer is where he places equal blame on both Zia and General Musharraf for the costs of our Afghanistan policy. The fact is that Musharraf took bold decisions to bring under control the mess created during the Zia years.
SRH Hashmi
Karachi