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| Honor guard of the Afghan National Army during the 2011 commemoration of Afghan Independence Day. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
According to media news, NATO closed more than 200 bases in Afghanistan and transferred nearly 300 others to local forces. Now, NATO is ready to hand over security responsibility to
fghan forces.
Due to the worst financial crises in the eurozone and the US, several countries can’t afford US war adventures in foreign countries and no country want to spend its taxpayers’ money on useless wars. New Zealand just pulled out its forces after the killing of four of its soldiers including one female soldier. Spain and Australia also pulled their forces out of Afghanistan.
Now, before NATO exits, Pakistan is facing worsening sectarian violence these days, with one horrible incident in Northwest Frontier Province, where unknown assailants killed 53 people.
Trying to spread more hate, the attackers make a video of the incident. In the same week, 20 more people were killed in separate incidents of sectarian violence in different parts of the social and political hub of Karachi. Targeted killings have also been on the rise in the volatile province of Baluchistan.
Several militants also attacked an air force base in Punjab province. Now, the situation in Pakistan is becoming very similar to Iraq after withdrawal of US forces when the country divided into different sectarian and ethnic armed groups. Now Iraq is seeing the worst period of bloodshed and the killing of innocent civilians.
Before the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, some actors are playing the same game in Pakistan.
The deterioration of the security situation and the rise in sectarian and ethnic violence is enough to open the eyes of concerned authorities in Pakistan to the fact that only independent policies in line with the country’s own interests can bring positive changes to the region after the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.
Khawaja Umer Farooq
Jeddah
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