Revisiting US, Pak losses in ‘War on Terror’ as Taliban resurface in Swat

LAHORE: Having returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, some 20 years after their ouster by the American troops, the Taliban have now reportedly surfaced in the picturesque Pakistani valley of Swat, which produces 13 per cent of the country’s tomato and specialises in peaches and contributes to around 60 per cent to the national fruit production, research shows.

According to the Islamabad-based “Institute of Strategic Studies,” Swat has 98,100 hectares of cultivable land, while 408,175 hectares remain uncultivable. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for most households, accounting for 80 per cent of the total population.

In the overall provincial production of vegetables in the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, about 25 per cent comes from Swat alone. The Institute’s decade-old report adds: “Normally, 500 to 600 trucks transport fruit from Swat to the rest of the country during the harvest season on a daily basis. However, due to the insurgency, the Swat valley has been subjected to continuous attacks since 2007. According to the government of Pakistan estimates, the loss to agriculture alone amounts to Rs. 35 billion. The local media, citing Swat-based agricultural officials has reported that 55 to 70 per cent of the total fruit produce has gone waste. That has been due to various factors, including hostilities, artillery shelling, blowing of bridges in bomb blasts, blockade of roads, attacks, and curfews. The breakdown in law and order has damaged the district’s fruit-based economy and rendered billions of rupees losses to the landowners, labourers, dealers and farmers who earn their livelihood from these orchards.”

The “Institute of Strategic Studies” goes on: “Swat was an important tourist destination in Pakistan. The valley attracts people from across the world not only to its natural beauty but also to see its rich civilisation and history. Swat is suitable for all sorts of tourism, i.e., eco-tourism, adventure tourism, spiritual tourism, culture/heritage tourism, sports and commercial tourism. It has over 400 Buddhist sites. It has also a number of snow-capped peaks, waterfalls, glaciers, springs, streams, vast grassy tracts, thick forests, natural parks, lakes and dark forests. There are more than 855 hotels, including 405 restaurants, in the valley and around 40,000 people are associated with these hotels. But they have mostly remained closed during the past three years due to militancy and the subsequent military operation. According to government’s own estimates, the hotel industry in Swat valley has suffered a loss of Rs60billion from 2007 to 2009. The workers associated with the hotel industry have also lost their jobs due to the ongoing incidents of terrorism.”

As far as Pakistan’s losses due to “War on Terror” are concerned, the finance ministry had estimated that between 2001 and 2018, the direct and indirect cost incurred by Pakistan due to incidents of terrorism amounted to $126.79 billion or equivalent to Pakistani Rs10,762.64 billion.

The January 12, 2021 edition of the “Gulf News” had quoted Major General (now Lieutenant General) Babar Iftikhar, the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), as saying that Pakistan has lost 83,000 lives during the US-led War on Terror, which has also cost almost $126 billion to the Pakistani economy.

The general further asserted that intelligence sharing with 70 countries had helped Pakistan Army eliminate the militants, securing regional peace and stability.He revealed: “More than 18,000 terrorists have been killed during the War on Terror in the last two decades. At least 1,100 Al Qaida terrorists were either captured or killed in 1,237 operations to ensure global peace and security during the same period, Pakistan has witnessed 86 per cent reduction in terror attacks since 2013 and 45 per cent decrease in 2020 compared to the previous year (2019).”

General Babar had maintained: “The law-enforcement agencies averted more than 50 per cent of the terror threats during 2020. Suicide bombings have also seen a 97 per cent decline since 2009. The high impact terror incidents that had hit an annual peak of 90 in 2013 had now dropped to around 13. Nearly 83 per cent of the 2,600-km Pak-Afghan border has been secured, while more than 37 per cent fencing of Pak-Iran border has been completed. Almost 482 out of 1,068 border posts have been built. Due to the fencing, terror incidents in border areas have seen a 55 per cent decrease while IED blasts in border districts reduced by 16 per cent.”

It is imperative to note that during Pakistan Army’s 2017 “Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad,” the security agencies claim to have conducted more than 371,000 intelligence-based operations, including 50 major offensives, and succeeded in recovering 72,227 weapons and 5 million rounds of ammunition, hence dismantling the terrorist support base, their facilitators and financiers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s tribal districts and Balochistan.

Coming to the American losses during the “War on Terror,” the Rhode Island-based Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs had estimated a few years ago that since invading Afghanistan in 2001, the United States has spent $2.313 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The afore-mentioned American university’s research paper states: “This amount of $2.313 trillion does not include funds that the United States government is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of this war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war. This $2.313 trillion spent on Afghanistan is a portion of the total estimated cost of the post-9/11 wars. At least 243,000 people have died as a direct result of this war. These figures do not include deaths caused by disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences of the war. The figures for Afghanistan are part of the larger costs of the U.S. post-9/11 wars, which extend to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. The numbers are approximations based on the reporting of several data sources.”

Meanwhile, the “Council on Foreign Relations,” a 101-year-old renowned American think tank specialising in United States foreign policy and international relations, writes:

"The War on Terror has killed more than 6,000 US troops and contractors, besides leading to deaths of over 1,100 Nato troops. Some 47,000 civilians died, and an estimated 73,000 Afghan troops and police officers were killed between 2007 and 2021. Tens of thousands of Taliban fighters are also believed to have died. The number of US. troops in Afghanistan peaked at around 100,000 in 2011. At its height, Nato had more than 1,30,000 troops from 50 nations stationed in Afghanistan."