Taliban 2.0 and Pakistan

A lot of change has occurred in Afghanistan. Taliban 2.0 is the most significant one. Rest all are the games of narratives. Everyone is sticking to their narrative with cosmetic changes e.g. Indians are screaming with anger and agony. Joe Biden Administration is firm on its failure. Chinese would like to cease the opportunity by filling in the vacuum. Russia and Iran have interests to safeguard. State and people of Pakistan are happy except those aligned with Western/ Indian narrative. After getting lots of airtime in India, Hamid Mir's Hindi has also improved. 

Popular narrative is that Taliban will seek revenge from Afghans who opposed them during US' unofficial occupation. Another sensational item is release of prisoners may vent Taliban style/supported movements in neighbouring countries. Funniest and most irrelevant is the discourse on women dress code. None of these are real issues, these are like smokescreen to keep real issues out of sight.

An upgrade means an upgrade. Taliban are not the Talibans of past. One common thread from their past is that they are not skilful spin-doctors. They say what they mean and do what they say. They have announced amnesty and we have to believe them until they prove otherwise because right now they are in-charge of Afghanistan. Even if they prove otherwise, will they be worst than Modi or Joe? And if they nab few Afghans who helped occupation forces kill their comrades, what is wrong with that? Moles should get their due share. Them, Indians and few quarters in Pakistan may also learn this lesson that allying with US is total lose-lose scenario. You could be abandoned any minute. In this regard, British were great masters. They alloted chunks of lands to their loyal servants before they left and left us with seudo gora class/ culture as their perpetual legacy. So the notion of revenge is real and logical if it comes to pass. Scenes of mob at Kabul Airport are also reflection of stark reality that if you sell out your motherland, you suffer. Also note that four thousand of these don't represent all forty million Afghan. However, there is nothing ideological about this madness, most of them are looking to explore better life in the lands of opportunities.How fallacious!!! More importantly, things are normalising in Afghanistan. Traffic wardens are regulating traffic. Ashura procession in Kabul followed usual routines. Taliban went to Hindu temples to assure them safety. Women dress codes to be decided by Isamic Shura of clerics. All this points towards better and upgraded version i.e. Taliban 2.0.

Secondly, India may worry about Kashmir now but no movement may surge in Pakistan. We have a  battle hardened, well oiled war machine ready to take on anything/anyone. However, we couldn’t be complacent and bank on our past rapporteur with Taliban. We need to be proactive. Stop playing at backfoot. Stop being defensive. Don't wait for anyone else to occupy the space. We have sacrificed a generation in this cause and forget about it being right or wrong. Reach out. Don't wait for China, Russia, Iran and Turkey to accept current Afghan regime. The moment they are able to establish some form of govt accept them hands down. Hindu will runaway from Afghanistan. Take on his unfinished projects. Build infrastructure there. Train Afghan Army. Trade regulations and ties. Businessmen to go across. Educate them and if possible educate yourself a little better. Play sports with them. Send across academia, experts on media, economy etc. Start taking Afghanistan like a normal neighbour because current regime is here to stay.