There are no two opinions about the fact that after the decade-long warfare in Afghanistan, peace through reconciliation among the Afghans of all shades and hues has come to the fore as the only viable option. Even as IDEs still explode and night raids continue peace is in the air, a reality so clearly unveiled by none else but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent visit to Pakistan. Not only did she admit having talked to the Haqqani group, as part of the overall Afghan reconciliation process, the US top diplomat diligently sought co-operation of the host government in ensuring that it works. The efforts to force 'reintegration' of Afghan Taliban into the Afghan society has been substituted by moves to take the insurgents on board as equal partners, which undoubtedly reflects the acceptance of ground realities in Afghanistan. Such a development, however, doesn't sit well with forces and groups that have not only prospered as war continues but are bent upon sabotaging all that they fear will bring to a close their monopoly over the Afghan peace option. And they have the right potential to do so given their clout in the Karzai government. They had fought the Taliban and thus earned kudos of the Western powers in the past and obviously hope they can do it again by scuttling the ongoing reconciliation process - with the help of some of the media which became their natural ally when the US-led invading forces came to Afghanistan to retrieve it from the Taliban hold. If the BBC has become the latest victim of this group of people one is not surprised; recall how during the final stages of the Taliban rout the Northern Alliance fighters staged mock fights, against handsome payments, to help 'enterprising' reporters send home news from the 'battlefront'. The same tactics are now in evidence as the Northern Alliance veterans occupy literally the whole of Karzai government's intelligence service. Who are these so-called Taliban commanders being aired as the proxies of the ISI? Did anybody hear of them ever before? That intelligence outfits can always produce confessors in pursuance of their game plans there should be no question about it. But the fact remains that such tactics on the part of intelligence agencies do play havoc with plastic minds - of some as powerful as retired US armed forces chief Admiral Mike Mullen whose diatribe against the ISI has been rubbished by his own government. What did the Taliban confessors allege? One of them said "they (ISI) support us by providing a place to hide...and they provide us with weapons" - as if Afghanistan is absolutely clean of Taliban presence and saboteurs have to be brought in from outside. The truth however is that the Taliban have successfully blunted one of the history's most powerful war machines by fighting it in deserts, mountains and cities, and the world is witness to it. Who should know the determination and grit of Afghan insurgents than the Britishers whose elitist troops had failed to clear the Helmand Valley from the ragtag Taliban fighters. The issue is not the training and help the Taliban allegedly receive from outside, it is all about their will to fight and die for their country. And who should know it better than the BBC, which must have seen London being defended by the Churchill government against the marauding German bombers. As for the former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh's revelations, it is worth recalling that he is said to have resigned after 'disagreeing with Karzai over plans to talk to the Taliban'. Not that he wanted talks with the Taliban to materialise; he opposed such a move and so strenuously that when overruled he resigned. How credible can be his words now spoken to the BBC; why didn't he come up earlier about the information passed on to General Musharraf about Osama bin Laden's alleged presence near Abbottabad. The news outlets, wherever they are, are welcomed to be informative, even entertaining, but objectivity should remain their sheet-anchor. How fictional, made-up is the BBC product, the ISPR rebuttal doesn't go beyond a sentence: "I think nothing could be further from the truth," said Major-General Athar Abbas. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011
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