Taliban’s #HaqqaniNetwork argues for Peace while Commercial Liberal #HussainHaqqani network wants more war in Afghanistan

A US-Taliban peace deal on Afghanistan seems eminent. Many of us are skeptical about the Taliban. And many of us are also wary.

For the last 40 years, Afghanistan has been the proxy battle ground for the world and its blow back on Pakistan has been horrific. There are no innocent players in this horror including the Taliban. In the 1990s, Taliban factions linked to Sipah e Sahaba/ASWJ-LeJ committed horrific atrocities in Afghanistan. They shared dual memberships with terrorist groups in Pakistan.

Since 2018, mainstream Taliban factions have been eager to distance themselves from the vicious WSD sectarians. This was done very publicly when the Afghan Taliban distanced themselves from #ISIS when the latter attacked Shia Hazaras in Kabul in a series of horrific events.

Still, one has to be skeptical of the Taliban. However, those who support and mainstream ASWJ-LeJ/Sipah e Sahaba in Pakistan have no moral grounds for this skepticism.

This includes the notorious #HussainHaqqaniNetwork aka the #CommercialLiberalMafia. This group has attempted on multiple occasions to justify and mainstream the most vicious WSD sectarians as “moderates”

This includes efforts to falsely portray Deobandi sectarian mullahs like Tahir Ashrafi as a “moderate”. Tahir Ashrafi has frequently been provided a media platform and DAWN group has repeatedly tried to misrepresent Ashrafi as a “moderate”.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court, another institution beloved by Pakistani liberals, overturned mass murder convictions against a brazen and boastful Malik Ishaq in 2010. (https://www.dawn.com/…/lashkar-e-jhangvi-and-the-lack-of-ev….)

Ishaq went on to massacre hundreds of more Pakistanis after this “acquittal” and none other than Tahir Ashrafi was instrumental in getting him freed. When Malik Ishaq was finally killed by the police in 2015, Pakistan’s commercial liberals including Jibran Nasir expressed their regrets. DAWN invited Tahir Ashrafi to create sympathy for the death of Malik Ishaq.

Liberal darlings like Najam Sethi, Hamid Mir and Talat Hussain provided soft and unchallenged media platforms to hate mongers like Ahmad Ludhianvi – chief of the notorious Sipah e Sahaba.

Sethi’s #TheFridayTimes blog justified and published Ludhianvi’s hate speech and incitement to violence as “political slogans”.

Jibran Nasir betrayed and slandered the late Khurram Zaki for protesting against the notorious ISIS-affiliated Red Mosque.

This is the network of liberals in Pakistan. These liberals tacitly defend that part of the Blasphemy Law that is used to persecute Shia Muslims in Pakistan. The same liberals support Turkish-US backed Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria.

Just as they tried to misrepresent Sipah e Sahaba extremists (like Ludhianvi/Ashrafi/Ishaq) as “moderates”, the same liberals misrepresent Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria and Yemen as “moderates”

If these liberals are ok with supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS violence in Syria, what is their real issue with opposing an apparent peace gesture by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The answer is very simple. A stable and peaceful Afghanistan is a death knell for the dirty financial benefits these liberals depend on in Pakistan. For 40 years, these liberals have misrepresented themselves as the only financial proxies that the West can nurture, donate and depend on in this region. 30 years ago, the liberal hero Hussain Haqqani was a rabid Jamaat e Islami activist tasked with slandering Benazir Bhutto.

Today these liberals of the #HussainHaqqaniNetwork are desperate that peace in Afghanistan means their gravy train from Washington DC comes to an end.

“Nevertheless, we decided to try once more. The long war has exacted a terrible cost from everyone. We thought it unwise to dismiss any potential opportunity for peace no matter how meager the prospects of its success. For more than four decades, precious Afghan lives have been lost every day. Everyone has lost somebody they loved. Everyone is tired of war. I am convinced that the killing and the maiming must stop.”