News & Comment
Pakistan Must Evict the US from Afghanistan, the Fortress in the Sky

News

According to a former American ambassador to Pakistan, Richard G. Olson, writing in the New York Times:

President Trump’s decision last week to suspend almost all security aid to Pakistan, which quickly followed his accusation that Pakistan had “given us nothing but lies and deceit,” suggests that his administration is carrying out the hard-line approach that the president foreshadowed in August.

Last Thursday, the State Department confirmed the suspension of security assistance including “coalition support funding,” which reimburses Pakistan for counterterrorism operations, and the Foreign Military Financing program, which pays for purchases of American military hardware, services and training. The decision is expected to affect about $1.3 billion worth of annual aid.

While perhaps it is emotionally satisfying to penalize a country that has supported American enemies in Afghanistan for the past 16 years, the administration’s approach is unlikely to work. Pakistan has greater leverage over us than many imagine.

Comment

Afghanistan is perhaps one of the most important of global strategic prizes; its mountainous terrain effectively securing a fortress in the sky at the conjunction of West, Central and South Asia. Once ensconced within it, there is nothing to fear except the Muslim people of Afghanistan who have never tolerated occupation of their lands by the foreign disbeliever. The Afghan people accepted Islam as soon as it reached their lands, and one of the legends about them is that they are from the righteous lost tribes of Israel, which means their reward is double as explained in the Qur’an about the righteous of the people of the book who worshipped Allah before Islam and then continue to worship Allah after Islam:

(الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِهِ هُم بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ * وَإِذَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِهِ إِنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا مِن قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ * أُوْلَئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَهُم مَّرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا وَيَدْرَؤُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ * وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لَا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ)

“Those to whom We gave the Scripture [i.e. the (Torah) and the (Gospel)] before it (i.e. the Quran), are believers in it (i.e., their scholars). And when it is recited to them, they say: "We believe in it. Indeed it is the truth from our Lord. Indeed even before it we were Muslims (those who submit themselves to Allah (God)). They will be given their reward twice over due to their patience, and because they repel evil with good and spend (in charity) out of what We have provided for them. And when they hear Al-Laghw (dirty, false, evil vain talk), they withdraw from it and say: "To us our deeds, and to you your deeds. Peace be upon you. We seek not (the way of) the ignorant."” [Al-Qasas 52-55]

America is only the latest power to be attracted by the sky fortress, and the latest to taste the righteous steadfastness of the Afghani Muslim people. So now, in its desperation, America is turning again to the Pakistani leadership to somehow disrupt the Afghani jihad against the illegal American occupation. Indeed it was the Pakistani leadership, under the shameful Musharraf, that betrayed Afghanistan under the slogan of ‘Pakistan first’, without which America could not have entered the sky fortress. Pakistan’s reward for this treachery is only to receive continued abuse from America for not doing more, and accusations of ‘supporting the enemy’ whereas it is America that has received Pakistan’s support and service all these years. Allah (swt) says in Surah Al-Baqarah:

(وَلَن تَرْضَى عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلاَ نَصِيرٍ)

“And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say, "Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance." If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper.” [Al-Baqarah: 120]

The Americans are well aware of how weak their situation is, and how desperate is their further intimidation of Pakistan. Many voices within America itself are fearful of the risks of alienating Pakistan. As Ambassador Olsen goes on to explain in his article:

For the past 16 years our military efforts in landlocked Afghanistan have been dependent on transit through and especially overflight of Pakistani territory. Absent an implausible similar arrangement with Iran, other options are not good. Supply through the Central Asian states to the north is theoretically possible, but would rely on Russian good will. Enough said. Without Pakistani cooperation, our army in Afghanistan risks becoming a beached whale.

The Pakistan leadership had to place their trust in Allah instead of succumbing to the threats of shaytan:

(الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُم بِالْفَحْشَاء وَاللّهُ يَعِدُكُم مَّغْفِرَةً مِّنْهُ وَفَضْلاً وَاللّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ)

“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.” [Al-Baqarah 268]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Faiq Najah