Pakistan forced to join peace

At last Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf had to attend the Joint Peace Jirga (Council) in Kabul which ended Sunday. In fact, the last day of the three day Jirga was Saturday, but it was extended for one more day to give a chance to Gen. Musharraf to attend it. Many believe that he was forced to join the Peace Jirga.

A total of 650 members from both sides are participating in the Jirga. They discussed terrorism, extremism, security and related issues and declared terrorism and narcotics a big threat to peace and stability. The idea of this Joint Jirga was proposed by President Hamid Karzai in a meeting with President George W. Bush and President Gen. Musharraf last September.

The background of this gathering is clear. Terrorism is a grave threat to the world security and both Afghanistan and Pakistan are suffering it badly for past few years. To eliminate terrorism and extremism in these two countries is a difficult task because the terrorists and extremists have a lot of supporters not only from common people but also in the government institutions. The worst problem is that these terrorists and extremists are the creation of those institutions who are now forced to crush them.

During Afghan Jihad, CIA, ISI and other intelligence agencies were fully backing Islamic extremists who were fighting Russians in Afghnistan with modern American and European weapons. They were given unlimited and uncountable money and weapons. When U.S. defeated Soviet Union, it left Afghanistan in the hand of these extremists and went to celebrate its victory.

This was a chance for Pakistan's ISI to get control of the extremists and establish a puppet government in Kabul. The Taliban are the invention of those efforts.

After 9/11, the situation changed as well as policies took U-turn.