By Ajmal Jalal
Once again, Pakistan’s military regime has turned the fire of its anger and failure against innocent Afghans. A few days ago, fighter jets from that country targeted certain areas in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika in a brutal act, seeking in this manner to answer for its inability to ensure its internal security.
Islamabad claims that it targeted terrorist hideouts; however, this assertion is clearly discredited and proven false in the face of the martyrdom of defenseless women and children.
A regime that lacks the capacity to control its own bloody internal crises and witnesses deadly explosions in its cities on a daily basis is now attempting, through these attacks, to divert public opinion from its repeated failures and to shift the blame for its security shortcomings onto a neighboring country.
This is a familiar and timeworn scenario: concealing internal incapacity by violating the national sovereignty of others and shedding the blood of people whose only “crime” is living beyond an artificial border.
In committing this crime, the Pakistani regime has revealed its true nature to the world more clearly than ever before. Just as the Zionist regime exposed its brutal face in Palestine through the bombing of hospitals and schools, the Pakistani military regime, by targeting residential homes and a religious madrasa in Afghanistan, has likewise demonstrated that, in its view, there is no distinction between an innocent child and an armed combatant.
The Afghan nation will not forget these scenes: the lifeless bodies of children pulled from beneath the rubble of bombardment, and the cries of mothers who, in a single moment, lost their loved ones. Reports indicate that dozens of civilians were killed in these strikes, including seventeen members of one family, ranging in age from one year old to eighty, who lost their lives under the debris. These are profoundly shocking accounts.
The undeniable reality is that the current insecurity and conflict in Pakistan are the result of that country’s own flawed policies and its long-term support for militant and terrorist groups over past decades. It is a calamity that it has itself nurtured and that has now seized it by the collar.
Afghanistan not only refrains from any form of interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs, but has also sought to ensure that no destabilizing elements are allowed to operate from its own territory. It has consistently emphasized dialogue and diplomacy as the means for resolving disputes. The blood of innocent Afghans stands as a response to Pakistan’s unfounded claims, and this military regime must understand that one day it will be held accountable for this aggression and for all these crimes.