Abdullah Atif
No matter how far the world advances, builds cities and settlements on the moon, produces AI-equipped drones, and uses satellites to watch over every inch of the earth, one principle of war still hasn’t changed: regular armies might win battles, but peoples armed with the spirit of guerrilla struggle can never be defeated.
Guerrilla warfare isn’t just a military tactic. It’s a whole way of life. This is a war where resolve and courage matter more than weapons, where geography matters more than technology, and where the power of the people matters more than a regular army. Afghanistan is the clearest example of this truth. History bears witness that no superpower has ever managed to bring Afghanistan under its control for good. First came British colonialism, the empire they said the sun never set on. But against this mountain people, it suffered such a defeat and humiliation in three wars that it’s remembered to this day as a black stain on its military record. It was one of the heaviest defeats in the history of the British Empire.
Next came the Soviet Union, the superpower of its time that even made America blink. But for nearly ten years it faced brutal war and constant losses at the hands of barefoot mujahideen, poor and lacking in resources, until it finally pulled its forces out of Afghanistan. Not long after, the Soviet empire itself broke apart into pieces.
After that, another superpower stepped onto the battlefield: America and NATO, equipped with the most advanced military technology in the world, backed by a coalition of 52 countries, pouring trillions of dollars into the war. But despite all these resources, they too were eventually forced to accept defeat at the hands of this same guerrilla struggle, abandoning Bagram Air Base in the dead of night and pulling out. This is exactly why Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires.
Now the question is: what is this force that defeated the world’s three great powers? The answer isn’t some special weapon, nor is it advanced technology. It’s love for one’s mountains and soil, fearlessness of death, and hatred of slavery. It’s the feeling an Afghan child absorbs from his mother’s embrace.
After those three instructive defeats, a fourth power has now begun trying to fulfill this same dream in a new form. It’s tried various tricks and tactics, but praise be to Allah, so far every attempt has ended in failure and frustration. First, it tried to achieve from within, under the name of ISIS, what it couldn’t achieve from the outside. ISIS fought to get a foothold, but the Afghans crushed its networks and pulled out its roots with a speed unmatched anywhere else in the region. Today, not even the name or trace of ISIS remains in Afghanistan.
When the ground tactic failed, Pakistan started making claims about airstrikes and victories. Sometimes it would say it killed so many terrorists in such-and-such valley, sometimes it would claim it eliminated the TTP leader in such-and-such area, and so on. But no independent media anywhere in the world showed a single grave or any solid proof to back up these claims. Instead, international media called them a pack of lies and exposed Pakistan’s two-faced behavior on the world stage. In the end, that tactic failed completely too.
Next, it tried to raise up hired rebels and use them to create internal fitna and chaos inside Afghanistan, in other words, to show the world that supposedly Afghanistan’s own people had risen up against their own government. It put forward various figures for this same purpose. But what was the result? One center was completely destroyed, and the leader of another group was captured alive along with dozens of his armed companions. This was a clear sign of just how ignorant they are of the principles of guerrilla warfare, because hired men can never stand up to a people rooted in their own convictions and beliefs.
The Latest Conspiracy: Imposing Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
When every foreign and domestic attack and conspiracy failed, it then wiped out the elected government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa too and imposed governor’s rule. Keep this in mind: this isn’t just an administrative decision, it’s a calculated war tactic. Beyond controlling resources and natural wealth, the biggest goal of this move is to reorganize ISIS-K across this entire border region, build hideouts and training centers for it, then spread it across every part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This plan will serve several objectives. First, these people will be made to fight the domestic armed groups that are active against the Pakistani army. Second, inside the country, they’ll be used against political, religious and public figures who speak the truth. Then, through takfiri fatwas, a veneer of legitimacy will be given to actions taken against them, while the people standing behind this plan will clear themselves of any responsibility, and will even put out statements harshly condemning these very incidents.
But behind all of this, the biggest and final objective is Afghanistan. In other words, all these networks will be strengthened so they can once again be used against Afghanistan’s Islamic government and create chaos and instability inside the country.
But before putting any of these plans into action, this cowardly enemy should think a little about exactly who it’s stepping onto the battlefield against! Remember: this war isn’t only against a ruling government in Afghanistan, and it isn’t only against one government structure. It’s a war against an entire way of thinking, a belief, and the spirit of a whole people.
In Afghanistan, the army and the people aren’t two separate realities. They’re two names for the same reality. Every home there is a trench. Every mother’s embrace is the cradle that raises a guerrilla fighter. Every child grows up as a future fighter.
If it were said that the entire population of Afghanistan is, in truth, one guerrilla army, that wouldn’t be an exaggeration. It would be the plain truth.
That’s why this plan too will die on its own, like every failed plan before it. History has proven it again and again: you can attack Afghanistan, but the dream of conquering it, of subjugating this land, will never come true.
