Taliban offensive in Kunduz causes fissures in Ghani government

Islamabad
Afghan Taliban militants by launching their so far most effective ground offensive in the northern province of Kunduz, predominantly a Tajik region, have rung alarm bells for Kabul which prompted President Dr Ashraf Ghani to postpone his all-important New Delhi visit on Tuesday.
Authorities in Kabul announced to reschedule his visit soon. The Taliban under their spring offensive had already hit many Afghan provinces including Badakhsan in the north.
Senior defence analysts and experts on Afghanistan see the Kunduz insurgency as first major test of Afghan National Army’s prowess to fight the war hardened militants and maintain law and order after the US led international troop’s withdrawal from the country in December 2014. The selection of North for starting major offensive against security forces both army and police seems to be aimed at preempting any allegations that it was orchestrated from Pakistan.
The Taliban by choosing North for their offensive have also tried to gain a psychological foothold in such areas of the country which belonged to other ethnicities like Tajik and Uzbeks and test the Afghan army’s power to contain their inroads in the areas which never belonged to them since they were traditionally entrenched in the southern ethnically Pashtun populated areas so far.
A former ISI chief and architect of Afghan war narrative in 80’s Gen (R) Hameed Gul has advised the US to realising the delicacy of the situation and withdraw its troops from the country which he said would like choosing between Taliban who believe in Nation State and Daesh who have no respect for the Nation-state. The Taliban have established Emirate of Afghanistan while Daesh have gone for a ‘Khilafat’, he remarked.
Talking to The News, he warned that if Taliban got weakened in that country, the vacuum would be filled by Daesh terrorists which would obviously be dangerous for Pakistan. “The Americans should withdraw their remaining troops from the war ravaged country to give Afghan government chance to negotiate with Taliban and have peaceful co-existence with them”, said Hameed Gul, adding that the effective offensive of Taliban also exposes fatal flaws in the regime’s security policy.
A former ambassador and an expert on Afghanistan Rustam Shah Mohmand says the fresh Taliban insurgents offensive in Kunduz also exposes Kabul’s move to create a local militia to fight out and kill the militants in the region. Talking to The News, Shah said the mass desertion from the Afghan National Army is main cause of Ghani government’s anxiety as more than 60,000 of trained army personnel have deserted the army during 2013-2014. The Afghan national army together with militias have been reduced to mere 200,000 as against 352,000, he maintained.
He said Taliban have pulled out of the talks with Kabul administration after Ghani’s request to US for keeping its combat army to supplement its security forces fight against insurgency as the only way to return the country to stability and peace passes through negotiated settlement. “The American and Nato troops cannot stay any long to defend and alien land,” he asserted.
Nato troops are providing training to Afghan troops while President Obama has accepted President Ghani’s request to keep US troops till 2016 which clearly means that the fight would go on and on.