Written by: Bashir Afghan
Some time ago, the Pakistani military regime brazenly violated Afghanistan’s airspace and carried out attacks within its borders; attacks that claimed the lives of innocent people in this land, injured a number of others, and martyred some.
As expected, this operation was met with global condemnation from both Islamic governments and non-Islamic governments. However, amidst this, some individuals residing outside of Afghanistan who bear the name “Afghan” sided with Pakistan and defended that country.
Although the long silence of Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the sham Resistance Front, regarding these attacks by the Pakistani military regime and his failure to condemn them had raised questions, this notorious figure ultimately sold out his conscience and humanity for personal gain, just like other republicans who had fled. During a meeting held a few days ago in France, he claimed that twenty foreign armed groups were active in Afghanistan.
Now the question is: are these claims true? What does it mean to make such a claim at this point in time? And why are the fugitives from the collapsed republican regime now clinging to Pakistan and lobbying for a regime that is despised even by its own people?
Undoubtedly, Ahmad Massoud’s hollow claims about the presence of twenty foreign armed groups in Afghanistan have no informational basis or objective evidence. From the perspective of security analysts as well, these statements resemble propaganda more than field reality.
In fact, if such groups were active in Afghanistan, regional intelligence agencies like Russia, China, Iran, and even India – each with their own interests and influence in the region – would undoubtedly have raised the issue and warned about the threat sooner than anyone else. However, Western powers and international organizations, which are always sensitive to the slightest movements of foreign armed groups, have not made such a claim either.
In fact, these types of accusations are mostly made with the aim of discrediting the current Afghan government. Some failed political figures abroad are trying to keep themselves alive in the media by spreading such lies, while also providing a pretext for Afghanistan’s enemies – especially Pakistan – to justify their invasions.
Such claims by Massoud and his co-religionists are, in fact, an indirect confirmation of the Pakistani military regime’s claims; because in justifying its attacks on Afghan soil, Islamabad has always claimed the existence of foreign group havens in Afghanistan. Therefore, when Ahmad Massoud or other fleeing republican figures speak such words, they are essentially aligning themselves with the same propaganda line that Pakistan uses to legitimize its aggression.
These words, now heard from the mouths of Massoud and other Pakistani mercenaries, are in fact a new propaganda tool in the hands of Pakistan’s intelligence and military apparatus to change its international image from “aggressor” to “defender of security.”
On the other hand, the silence of these individuals in the face of the Pakistani army’s bloodshed, followed by their coordinated stance with that country’s claims, is a clear indication that their primary goal is not to defend the interests of the Afghan people, but to gain the approval of their foreign masters. Notorious fugitives who are trying to align themselves with Pakistani propaganda to present themselves as “reliable intelligence partners” in the hope of regaining a foothold in the region’s political equations.
However, the reason Ahmad Massoud and other fugitives from the collapsed republican regime have now sought refuge in Pakistan is that these individuals have been more rejected by their foreign backers than ever before. Western countries that once cooperated with them are now unwilling to support these burned-out and baseless pawns, as they have realized that these figures lack a popular base and operational capacity.
Even countries in the region, such as Tajikistan, which until recently was a haven for some opposition figures, have turned them away due to political pressure and to avoid tension with Kabul. This isolation has left them with no choice but to seek proximity to Pakistan.
Pakistan is also well aware that these individuals no longer have any real influence or credibility among the Afghan people, but it uses them as a propaganda mouthpiece to justify its aggressive policies.
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