KSA caution against Taliban

Pakistan has entered 2023 with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) issuing caution to its citizens to keep their eyes peeled and ears cocked for any threat of terrorism. The Kingdom follows the US, Australia and some other countries in advising their citizens to restrict their movement even inside the red zone of the federal capital of Pakistan.

The security advisories to foreigners were issued after a suicide attack on a police check post on the road that separates Islamabad from Rawalpindi. One head constable, Adeel Hussain, was martyred in the attack. The attack took place despite the fact that in the last months of 2022, iron gates were installed at the approaches to the Constitution Avenue and extended security measures were taken to counter the looming threats to the city.

The suicide attack was the latest in the sequence of terrorist attacks that was set in motion after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021. So far, hundreds of people, mostly security personnel, have been killed in the fresh wave of terrorism. The most hit areas are close to the border with Afghanistan. Intensity of the attacks increased sharply after the change of command at the Pakistan Army. Days after assuming office, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir and other high commanding officers had to attend the funeral prayers of an army officer who was martyred by terrorists in Balochistan.

These deaths are directly linked to the desperation with which the Taliban set-up in Afghanistan is striving to acquire a foothold in the international community. Their inability to understand the illegitimacy of their rule is converting their desperation into frustration. Blind to the unacceptability they have earned across the world, some Pakistani think tanks produce reports upon reports to request the world to sit with the Taliban.

Pakistan sent its delegation led by deputy foreign minister to Kabul as a symbol of its commitment to help the Taliban regime get recognition. No other country followed Pakistan in such a move. Nevertheless, Taliban sent their high-level delegations to different countries to win their support. However, they did not send such delegations to Pakistan in the current months and their main leadership even declined to meet the Pakistani minister who landed in Kabul amid much media hype.

When Taliban took over Kabul in 2001, cautious voices were raised in Islamabad indicating that this will not bode well for the region. However, the advocates of status quo contradicted then, and have since been contradicting the voices of reason. They justify the Taliban rule with the argument that it is vital for Pakistan to counter India, striving to increase its influence in Kabul. These advocates mostly sit in think tanks, wear western dresses, speak English and send their children to the US and EU for higher education and businesses. They have nothing in common with the Taliban. However differently they may look, both the Taliban and these think-tank ‘researchers’ chase the same goals.

With all their eloquence, they could not convince the world to give Taliban what is not theirs. With non-stop glorification, they strengthened the Pakistani version of the Afghan Taliban. Unlike the world that moves away from the rulers of Kabul with dread, this group idealizes them. It wants to replicate their way of governance in Pakistan. The Afghan journalists and business people always question these think-tank people that if the Taliban’s rule is good for Kabul, how is it bad for Islamabad. The obvious answer to this question is that no country can live with non-state armed outfits. Self-serving in nature, they are up for grabs by the highest bidder. Even India, for that matter, can buy them.

The hope for 2023 is that there is an awakening in the decision-making circles that if the Taliban are bad for Islamabad, they are also bad for Kabul. The army has sent a clear message that it will chase down the terrorists from their last hideouts.

The provincial leadership of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has taken a clear position against the resurgence of militancy in the province. The public is being mobilized against it in a big way. The foreign minister has broken his silence on the abuse of human rights in Afghanistan. While speaking at different programmes in Washington, he has made it clear that no compromise will be made on Pakistan’s security.

The US has offered its assistance in managing the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which is a reference to placing drones at sensitive positions.

Above all, the KSA has distanced itself from all kinds of extremisms, embracing a modern lifestyle. The public resentment on this change has been dying down in the Kingdom and Saudi support base in Afghanistan. It has dealt a severe blow to extremist narratives in Pakistan. Recently, the KSA squarely condemned the Taliban’s decision to place a ban on university education for women. It will be stating the obvious that the Taliban do not take kindly to this stance of the Kingdom. This is why the KSA embassy has issued an advisory to Saudi citizens cautioning them against potential security threats.

Though the US and Saudi Arabia are running in opposite directions on the issue of fixing fuel prices, the threat of the Taliban has brought them both on one page in Pakistan. China has also survived an attack on its citizens in a hotel in Kabul in the past weeks before asking all its citizens to vacate Afghanistan as soon as possible. In this scenario, this year will seemingly face a cut in the capacity of all Taliban brands to inflict wounds on Pakistan.

Pakistan has much more than Taliban to show as its achievements to the world. However, the continuity of foreign policy matters in 2023, which may also be the year of elections.

The writer teaches mediatization at International Islamic University Islamabad