undergoing a realignment of sorts with regional blocs coming together to make themselves self-sufficient. “But we chose to revive the Taliban in Afghanistan.”
The third opportunity came following the 9/11 attack. “We went after a resurgence of jihad in Kashmir instead”
Rashid said Pakistan could have fared well had it built a camaraderie with Afghanistan and deprived the militants operating within the country of their ideological ally, the Afghan Taliban.
Speaking of the National Action Plan, Rashid said there was enormous slippage already with respect to the goals meant to achieve through it. He also pressed for greater transparency of the military operation, Zarb-e-Azb.
Another interesting aspect dominating our foreign policy, Rashid pointed out, was the ‘bogey’ of India which kept rearing its head every now and then. He suggested going around the issue by discussing Afghanistan with India instead of trying to strong-arm our way out of it.
“India is here [in Afghanistan] to stay, whether we like it or not. Their embassies were attacked but they have stuck around.”
During a conversation, Noman Naqvi, the dean of the school of arts, humanities and social sciences at the Habib University, asked Rashid as to whether or not there was a change in policy in the offing. “It has been over 40 years since we embroiled ourselves in the mess, but the changes have to be extremely drastic,” he responded.
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