Tariq Saeedi
The old hunters are back with new traps — an eastern proverb
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In the first part of this series, (published in our subscription-based publication on 12 June 2017) I quoted some verses from the Quran to point out that: 1. It is not God’s will to eliminate all the religions except Islam; 2. A Muslim is required to believe in all the prophets (Peace Be on All of Them); 3. It is strictly forbidden to take a life unjustly.
This was to show that ISIS, contrary to its name and claims, has nothing to do with Islam.
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I was planning to write and publish the second part by the end of June 2017. However, it became quite clear during this period that regardless of how ISIS appeared at its birthplace, its emergence in Afghanistan is a meticulously engineered phenomenon, intended to serve several purposes. This realization demands half a turn of the pedestal to look at this ISIS thing from a different angle.
I have pointed out in some of the earlier commentaries that there are no reasons for a genuine ISIS to take roots in this region. However, ISIS is now a brand name without any copyright restrictions. Anyone with necessary resources and ambitious agenda can put together an outfit of criminals and thugs and call is ISIS — which is what is actually happening in Afghanistan.
If there are any doubts that the USA is diligently creating ISIS (also called IS, Daesh) in Afghanistan, with probable intention of replicating it in Central Asia, one can listen to Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan, for confirmation.
Here is a recent story carried by Zee News of India, based on the interview of Karzai to RT:
US forces aiding Islamic State in Afghanistan, alleges Karzai
Asked if the US bases were being used to aid Daesh, the other name of ISIS, he said, “I have more than suspicions”.
By Zee Media Bureau | Last Updated: Oct 08, 2017, 17:49 PM IST
US forces aiding Islamic State in Afghanistan, alleges Karzai
Kabul: The US forces are helping the Islamic State group in the country, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has alleged in a controversial interview.
Asked if the US bases were being used to aid Daesh, the other name of ISIS, he said, “I have more than suspicions”.
‘The Afghan people have told me how they (ISIS) are supplied with helicopters.
‘How unmarked non-military colour helicopters supply these people, not only in one part of the country but in many parts.
‘And this is a daily occurrence,” he said in an exclusive interview with Russia Today in London.
He also claimed that the terror group has been able to spread its tentacles in the country just under the nose of the US forces and the powerful CIA.
Asked if he agrees that the ISIS was a US construct, he said, ‘Absolutely’.
Karzai said the Afghan extremism has grown stronger since the 9/11 terror attack in the US, despite spending billions of dollars in the war against terror.
“We don’t want our country to be bombed with huge, destructive weapons. We want peace,” he said.
Karzai also claimed that the US did not use the MOAB (mother of all bombs) in Afghanistan to defeat the terrorists but for some “other reasons”.
“The bomb wasn’t even for that, they say this was to indicate to North Korea the US power. Whatever the purpose was, it was an atrocity on the Afghan people.
“You don’t drop a bomb because you want to kill a few individuals. You ruined the environment, the village, the air and the water,” the ex-Afghan president said.
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This is not the first time that Karzai has pointed a direct finger at Uncle Sam.
In April 2017, in an interview with Voice of America, he called ISIS the ‘tool’ of the USA.
Here are excerpts from his VoA interview:
Former Afghan President Karzai Calls Islamic State ‘Tool’ of US
April 19, 2017 6:15 PM — Rahimgul Sarwan, Noor Zahid
KABUL AND WASHINGTON — Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday called the Islamic State terror group a “tool” of the United States, and dismissed criticism of Russia for its ties with Taliban and efforts to bring the militant group into peace talks.
“After it [the U.S.] dropped the bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh,” Karzai said, referring to last week’s “mother of all bombs [MOAB]” attack against Islamic State.
“I consider Daesh their tool,” Karzai told VOA’s Afghan service in an exclusive interview in Kabul, using the Arabic acronym for IS. “I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America.”
The United States military, in partnership with Afghan forces, has promised to eliminate IS terrorists in Afghanistan this year and contain a resurgent Taliban, citing recent battlefield successes against the two groups.
[ . . . ]
Despite strong anti-IS efforts by the United States — especially in recent weeks — Karzai told VOA that the U.S.-led fight against IS has been “weak” over the past two years. He said there is plenty of evidence to back up his allegation, even though the U.S. has been fighting to wipe out IS and its allies in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
[ . . . ]
IS has made inroads in Afghanistan in recent years and has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks, including last month’s assault on a military hospital in Kabul that killed more than 30 people and injured 80 others.
[ . . . ]
Taliban connections with Russia have increasingly come under the spotlight as Moscow seeks to increase its influence in the nation it once occupied and to counter Islamic State expansion from Afghanistan to neighboring Central Asian countries.
[ . . . ]
In his interview with VOA, Karzai dismissed criticism of Moscow’s ties with the Taliban. Karzai has become closer to Russia since leaving office, saying during a visit to Moscow in 2015 to meet with President Vladimir Putin that he supported the annexation of Crimea.
“They talk to the Taliban,” Karzai said of Russia. “The U.S. also talks to the Taliban. Norway, Germany and other countries also talk to them. Russia also has the right to hold talks with the Taliban.”
[ . . . ]
Karzai told VOA that the U.S. is not sincere in bringing peace in the country.
“A conference was recently convened in Moscow. Why didn’t America participate in it?” Karzai asked. “Why did it ask the Afghan government to send a low-level delegation to the conference?”
Karzai said that since 2008, he repeatedly relayed his displeasure with Americans to Putin who, he said, remained skeptical until 2012-13.
“But when I complained again during a gathering in Kyrgyzstan, Putin told me that there might be an element of truth in it,” Karzai said.
Former Afghan President Karzai Calls Islamic State ‘Tool’ of US
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To deal with this curveball being thrown at the region, it is important to understand whatever else is happening around us and why the USA is becoming increasingly desperate.
To be continued . . . /// nCa, 16 October 2017