Incompetence of Ashraf Ghani’s administration behind Kabul’s collapse: Malik

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Rehman Malik has said incompetence of former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s administration was responsible for the collapse of his government in Kabul.

“Neither Pakistan nor anyone else had started this war in Afghanistan while the United States invaded Afghanistan after 9/11 even though no one from Afghanistan was involved in the tragic incident,” he said in an interview with an Indian channel.

Rehman Malik said this so-called war on terror lasted for 20 years without any result and success. “Pakistan suffered great losses due to this war in which its 80,000 troops and civilians were martyred and the country’s economy was shattered,” he said. He said that in this war, everyone learnt that bullet is not a solution to any problem.

Malik said Pakistan had always wanted peace in Afghanistan and political solution to its internal problems, adding everyone knows that the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan was because of the dialogue between the Taliban and US authorities in Qatar and now that the Taliban are back, the international community should give a chance to peace in Afghanistan.

He hoped in the last 20 years, the Taliban had learnt a lot and they would respect the concerns of international community regarding human rights, women’s right to education and protection of religious minorities.

Malik said that after the Doha Pact, President Ashraf Ghani had an opportunity to have formulated a withdrawal strategy in collaboration and consultation with the United States, so the current chaos could have been averted timely but, sadly, the US withdrew its forces from Afghanistan without any strategy and plan.

He said the Taliban were not created by Pakistan, nor was Daesh created by Pakistan, and everybody knows who created the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and then the lethal terrorist organisation Daesh. He said that there are 25,000 Al-Qaeda members in Kunar and 8,000 people have also come from Syria and the Indian intelligence agency knew well about it.

He said mistakes had been made by both India and Pakistan in the past but it is time to move forward towards peace. “I have written Modi’s War Doctrine which is being read all over the world in which I have exposed many facts and I would also like to advise all Indian scholars to read both the Modi and General Bajwa’s doctrines and compare who is advocating peace,” he said. Malik said that Islam and Hinduism and all other religions teach peace, so he would like to appeal to Modi to stop oppression against Kashmiris, lift the curfew and give them the right to live with peace.

Rehman Malik said that India has been leveling allegations against Pakistan since day one and when Chidambaram levelled the same allegations, I had asked for evidence of Pakistan’s incursion into India or Kashmir, adding that the-then Indian interior minister was unable to provide any substantive evidence. He said that very openly, Modi has said many times that India will teach Pakistan a lesson through Balochistan, and after that many people, including Kulbhushan Yadav, were caught from Balochistan.

He said that it was no more a secret that India also trained people in Sri Lanka and other countries against Pakistan and India’s involvement in the recent attack in which 11 Chinese engineers were killed had also come to light.

He said it was not time of blame game and both the countries should put aside their egos and think of a solution to our real problems, which could bring peace between both countries.In response to a question, Malik said that now the Taliban are going to form a government in Afghanistan, the will of the people of Afghanistan should be given priority, so that there can be long-lasting peace and all other countries should stop their interference.

He reiterated that there should be peace efforts from both sides and he would like to invite 11 intellectuals, journalists, and writers from India to visit Pakistan at his own expense to have a dialogue to devise a peace plan.