J K News Today Commentary
Jammu
Taliban effectively distancing itself from interfering in India’s domestic affairs is a fact born out of the changed strategic realities in South Asia, particularly after the surgical strikes in Pakistan in 2016 and 2019 . Taliban , a protégé of Pakistan , has changed its tune to help itself in Afghanistan . this may very well be an emerging threat to Pakistan’s long time thesis of strategic depth across its western borders .
With Taliban acknowledging that Jammu and Kashmir is n internal matter of India and it has nothing to do with the Pakistan sponsored destabilization and violent moves signal a grand shift in the strategy of Taliban that, in a way, is admitting that its priority is to set its own house in order rather than extending its stakes to the internal matters of India .
In a tweet, Suhail Shaheen spokesperson Taliban Political Office, Doha said, “The statement that has been circulated in certain media regarding India does not belong to Islamic emirate. The policy of Islamic Emirate regarding neighbour states is very obvious that we don’t interfere in the domestic issue of them”
“We don’t have an agenda beyond our borders, “makes it clear that what he is talking about – for long there have been fears that Taliban would mount attacks in J&K to fulfill agenda of its master Pakistan . These fears have been laid to rest is a very optimistic assessment, but that does mean that there is some change of heart among Taliban quarters that are keen to regain control of their own country . Any diversion of their agenda can spoil their game back home, especially when there is a lot o violence going on in Afghanistan, threatening the Indo-US peace deal.
India has travelled a long way from what it was more than two decades ago when it had little diplomatic and strategic influence in the region, where Islamic extremist forces were peaking, and its longstanding friendship with the Soviet Union before the end of Cold War, was a permanent source of irritation for these forces. The fight against the Russian troops by the “Mujahadeen” created jointly by the US dollars, arms and Islamic jihadist forces summoned by the call to save Islam in Afghanistan had created havoc in the region.
That Taliban came into being in mid-1990s when Pakistan army recruited young among Afghan refugees in Pakistan, mostly who studied religion and Jihad in madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan. This was creation of Pakistan army, to which the political leadership o Pakistan of the times – Benazir Bhutto was Prime Minister of Pakistan that time- contributed handsomely. This was a joint venture of Pakistan army and the political leadership in a clearly stated objective of taking control of Afghanistan to maintain its strategic depth there- a long –time policy of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
What has made the difference now is the offensive strategy of India to tackle the outside threats in the recent years. The two sets of surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the mainland Pakistan in retaliation to September 2016 Uri attack and to the terror attack in Pulwama in February 2019 respectively have significantly changed the strategic landscape. India can strike back and that too, with greater intensity to inflict strategic wounds. It is known to Pakistan.
Since Taliban is a creation of Pakistan, it is easy to guess that it has understood the changed realities in the region. If Pakistan can be subjected to the retaliation for its misadventure in Jammu and Kashmir, Taliban can also not escape consequences if it happened to resort to any such audacity. The message is loud and clear.
