Imtiaz Gul
Will the US and its European allies continue to vilify Pakistan despite all it has done to help in the peace process as well as emergency evacuations of foreign soldiers and diplomats from Kabul?
As of August 30th, Pakistan operated dozens of special flights to evacuate nearly 7,782. Another 1,404 foreigners were evacuated by road via Torkham under special requests by respective countries. As a whole, most of the 9,186 marines, diplomats, INGO workers, and Afghans with foreign nationalities evacuated from Kabul are currently resting in various hotels of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, awaiting flights to their respective countries.
Among them are scores of Afghan origin foreigners who for over a decade fed and bred on an anti-Pakistan narrative through the media and public diplomacy.
A leading ambassador told me privately about the negative narratives that came mostly from Afghan translators, interpreters, and technical assistance staff. “Unfortunately, the foreigners also loved to hear these stories that were scapegoating Pakistan for their own shortcomings,” said the ambassador, establishing a clear connection between propaganda, and the mouthpiece for said propaganda.
Pakistan came to the rescue of Donald Trump, who had been until December 2018 foul-mouthing the country, and went out of the way to force the Taliban into talks. Then came the debacle on the heels of Biden’s pull-out announcement, i.e., the melt-down of Ashraf Ghani and his forces.
Especially frustrating is the fact that this accommodation was made possible by cancelling prior reservations in several hotels. Scores of people had to leave, or were left stranded, because the hotel managements said they had been ordered to vacate rooms for the evacuees from Afghanistan.
This clumsy handling of guests already booked with these hotels – probably because of lack of diligent coordination – reflected poorly on the entire decision-making, discomforting hundreds of visitors from outside Islamabad.
The move also showed the extent to which Pakistani authorities went to make space for the guests from Kabul, especially in the wake of a horrendous attack on Kabul airport that left over 150 Afghan, and at least 13 American soldiers dead, with hundreds injured. August 31 is also the deadline first established by Joe Biden in his July 8 speech, and then adhered to and reinforced by the Taliban subsequent to the takeover of Kabul.
And when it came to providing humanitarian assistance to the needy Afghans, Pakistan again placed three aircraft at the disposal of the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry urgently needed 12.5 tons of medical supplies to Afghanistan. The humanitarian assistance was loaded in Dubai and flown directly to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, said a WHO statement. The supplies will be immediately delivered to 40 health facilities in 29 provinces across Afghanistan.
The 12.5 metric ton supplies delivered consist of trauma kits and interagency emergency health kits, and are enough to cover the basic health needs of more than 200,000 people, as well as provide 3,500 surgical procedures and treat 6,500 trauma patients.
Dr. Ahmed Al Mandhari, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, thanked the Pakistani government for its efforts to support the WHO and the people of Afghanistan, saying “the support of the Pakistani people has been timely and life-saving.”
In short, Pakistan literally accommodated thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan at the cost of upsetting its own citizens, helping keep America and its allies keep nearly 10,000 soldiers out of harm’s way, but nothing this country will do ever seems to be enough for the western powers. Pakistan is a geographically and geopolitically convenient scapegoat, and will continue to be the punching bag to offload the many failures of the 20-year long war in Afghanistan.
