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Taliban to Benefit from India-Pakistan War
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Indian
army soldiers prepare for war along the India-Pakistan border.
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By Husbanullah Motawakkil, IOL South Asia Correspondent
AFGANISTAN,
May 31 (IslamOnline) – An Indian-Pakistani war would be in the best
interest of the Taliban, who will resurface when the Pakistani troops
are moved to the Indian borders, leaving the Pakistan-Afghanistan
borders without surveillance.
According
to many Afghan political analysts, Islamabad may also seek Taliban’s
support in their war, or Jihad against the Indian forces.
In
case a war flares up, the Afghan people will be divided between
supporters of Pakistan and those of India, Mohamed Hakim, former head
of the judicial and Fatwa committee in the Islamic party, told
IslamOnline.
Due
to their focus on India, he added, the Pakistani government and its
security forces will lose control of the Pakistan-Afghan borders,
which will give the chance to those against the U.S. troops presence
in Afghanistan to launch attacks against the American forces in
Afghanistan.
This
means the Jihad movements could be revived in Afghanistan if Jihadi
supporters find means to cross the Pakistani borders into to
Afghanistan, Hakim said.
The
Afghan interim government will then accuse Pakistan of exporting
terrorism to their country and may file a complaint against Pakistan
to the United Nations, he said. The Afghan government is then expected
to take India’s side against Pakistan in case of war, he added.
The
Pakistani government, Hakim added, is also expected to use the concept
of Jihad against the Indian troops to encourage the Jihadi groups to
fight, as volunteers have proven a higher effectiveness than the
regular army in many incidents, one of which was the Jihad against the
Russians in Afghanistan where volunteers defeated the biggest army in
the world at the time.
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An
Indo-Pak nuclear war jeopardizes the lives of thousands of
Afghan refugees.
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Concerning
the Afghan government’s and people’s reactions to a India-Pakistan
such war, Abdel Wase’ Saber, Afghani university professor, said most
of the Afghans will support Pakistan, while the rest, mostly from the
Northern Alliance, will support India.
The
Afghan government will either stay neutral or will be divided amongst
itself between supporters of Pakistan and those of India, he said,
adding that those who will side with India will be doing so only to
weaken Pakistan to prevent its possible interference in
Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
Other
analysts, however, see that such a division will lead to a civil war,
and that the Afghan and Pakistani Jihadi groups, as well as Taliban
and Al-Qaeda movements, will take this break from the continued
attacks on Afghanistan and Pakistan as a chance to reorganize their
forces.
Concerning
the effect of a possible war on the Afghan economy, Alhag Guel Zi, an
Afghan political analyst, said that it will be severely damaged due to
expected closing of roads.
An
Indian-Pakistani war will destroy the commerce and economy in the
whole region, Saber said.
In case this war develops into a nuclear one, he
added, thousands of Afghan immigrants, in addition to those living in
Afghan-Pakistani border villages, will lose their lives.
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