This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial "Talking to Afghans about Afghanistan" carried by the newspaper yesterday. It has concluded its argument by saying, among other things, that "The Afghans must also understand that they must play ball if things are to work out. It's a very big thing that they've won, and the speed with which they have done it has shocked the whole world. But these are not the old days and Afghanistan will not be able to survive in isolation, especially now that it's been battered and bruised by 40 years of war and the treasury is empty."

This is, without any doubt whatsoever, a highly informed perspective on the evolving Afghan situation. One of the examples that can be cited to prove a point that the Taliban 2.0 are vastly different from their predecessors is that the Taliban representatives are now engaging themselves even with the most hostile media that has been churning lies and fake news against them 24/7. A Taliban supporter speaking from Kabul, for example, had made ultra-right Maj-Gen GD Bakhshi (retd) flee the show of one of the highly viewed Indian channel through sheer articulation which was based on facts on grounds.

Kabir Ahmed (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021