Commotion among the rosebushes
The sands of the Afghan govt are rapidly running out, and the final collapse is not far away. The recent Taliban advances, clear writing on the wall, indicate that the death throes have begun. Any hope to contrary is delusional. It’s just a matter of time before they gather the remaining crumbs and consolidate their hold. The Taliban, over the years, have been administering fatal and heavy blows to Americans, but the hasty exit in order that they may retrieve their much-soiled reputation proved a God-sent for the extremist group. They picked up the threads again and precipitated the disaster which is now unfolding. Therefore, viewed against such sobering developments, it should not surprise us that quisling voices from this God-forsaken land, and from the American camp have now bestirred themselves, heaping blame on Pakistan. One must expect a serpent in every paradise. To be sure, history tells us that gratitude is only for individuals; this is not a trait much admired by nations. The military and political elite have had a rude awakening in Pakistan, a belated one so to say, suggesting firmly that they have no more stomach for dragging the war at their doorsteps.
The scales, at long last, are falling from their eyes. This defiance, among other things, is causing much consternation in the US. Also, we must brace ourselves for a Hollywood version of Afghan history, certainly a distorted one, and not much dissimilar from those shopworn lies sold after the invasion of Iraq. They are left high and dry, with lessons of history entirely lost upon them. Yet, for all their sins, these lessons, as the womb of time has taken a weird twist, have not been lost on the political and military elite in Pakistan. There is a tide, said Shakespeare, in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads them to fortune. Let's hope then, since the tides are indeed in ebb and flow, that we grasp the details wisely this time, without sacrificing regional peace, so that it will lead to not another fiasco but a fortune which would secure our own interests and lasting stability in Afghanistan.
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