“I don’t know if India is winning in Afghanistan but I know that Pakistan is losing massively.
I’ve travelled, as a journalist, from Nangarhar, where you can still spend Pakistani rupee in the market, to Kunduz, to Herat, to Mazar, talked to street vendors, local police, tribal elders, government officials and even Taliban sympathizers. And I have yet to find a single Afghan who thinks Pakistan is their friend.
Most Afghans think their government should get help from India to counter Pakistan’s “games in their country.” They start smiling from ear to ear when you mention India, and start frowning when you mention Pakistan.
Voices on social media are getting louder and louder to pressure Afghan government to “play the same game with Pakistan that Pakistan is playing with us.”
We should all be afraid of what that means.
Concurrence by PTI leader Shafqat Mehmood
On our visit to Afghanistan where we met all the top leadership including Ashraf Ghani, Abdullah, Karzai, parliamentarians, etc, it was clear that there is little love for Pakistan. It will be a huge challenge to fill this gap.”
© Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and Afghan Studies Center (ASC), Islamabad.
