Pakistan has been firing away at the border province of Kunar. Political analysts and the media believe there are several reasons for the unprovoked attacks.
Pakistan has been firing away at the border province of Kunar. Political analysts and the media believe there are several reasons for the unprovoked attacks. Islamabad wants to stop the construction of a hydropower project on the river Kunar; make the Durand Line the formal border; and, clear the border of civilians to create a safe shelter for the Taleban.
Interviews by our reporters reveal a new reason. The rocket attacks on Kunar, Nuristan and Nangarhar are an attempt to change the geography of the war and change the route of war from Waziristan towards the mountainous areas of Afghanistan.
Wasifullah Wasifi, the spokesman of the Kunar governor, Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, told reporter Esmatullah Mayar that there were 91 attacks on the Dangam area in the last week. Though no loss of life was reported, villagers have fled the area, which has been continuously bombed for more than two months.
Strategic interest
According to military experts, Kunar and Nuristan have strategic interest for Pakistan.
Colonel (retired) Mohammad Sarwar Niazai who has served in both provinces said Kunar is connected in the north with Chitral, Dir, Bajaur and Mohmand areas of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province; in the west it shares a border with Nangarhar; and, the north east border is with Nuristan and Laghman provinces.
Colonel Sarwar Niazai says that if Kunar, with its forests and high mountains, were to fall in the hands of Pakistan, its soldiers would dominate Afghan soldiers. “These tactically advantageous points in the high mountains are now in our control,” he explains.
Bargmatal in Nuristan province is strategically the most important, he adds. Apart from its proximity to the Durand Line, it controls traffic to eight northern and northeastern provinces. “There are eight ways to Chitral of Pakistan; ways to Kunar, Laghman, Panjshir and the districts of Zebak and Keran Menjan of Badakhshan province. The area is very important geographically. The contours of Nuristan make it difficult to attack and easy to defend,” the colonel explains.
Durand Line
Some of the criticizers believe that Pakistan is trying to give formality/render formal the Durand line through rocket firing on Kunar and support of Taliban in Nuristan.
Abdul Quayum Wafa, a political analyst, thinks Pakistan’s aim behind the bombing of the border is to redraw the frontier and provide support to the Taleban. He says Pakistan will not stop the bombing until it becomes an “international” issue, and Afghanistan is forced to go to the UN Security Council. Islamabad will insist that Afghanistan should make the Durand Line the official border between the two countries. “Even if Afghanistan complains to the Security Council about attacks from Pakistan it will mean that we recognise the line – namely we are involved in problems from all sides.”
In 1893 the Durand Line was drawn on the map to divide Afghanistan and British India, but has never been officially recognised by Kabul.
Water dispute
Is Pakistan seeking to sabotage the plan to dam the Kunar River for electricity?
Ghulam Jilani Zwak, the head of Afghanistan Research and Advisory Center, thinks it is. Pakistan is not just creating obstacles in the way of the Kunar project but it wants to prevent work on the Panjshir dam as well, he says.
Zwak adds that he was told by an authority in the Ministry of Water and Energy who did not want his name to be revealed that Pakistan had created problems in their attempt to get money from the World Bank for dam construction. “Pakistan says the water is going to Pakistan; construction of a dam would affect the flow of water to Pakistan,” he said.
In 2010, the Ministry of Water and Energy said it had signed a contract with an Iranian company to build a hydroelectricity project on the Kunar River. The project was to be completed at an estimated cost of 3 million dollars. The dam was sited on the river in Gambiri desert.
Mohammad Ismail, Minister of Water and Energy, says, “A dam can also be constructed in Shegai area on Kunar River, to supply water to even Jalalabad City. The dam would also generate 45 MW of electricity for distribution in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.”
Response to Pressures
Pakistan also has an interest in emptying the border areas to provide shelter to Taleban factions from across the border. Islamabad has been under intense US pressure to eliminate the Taleban.
Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, the head of the Regional Studies Center, who supports this argument thinks that after the Taleban move to Afghan areas, the Pakistan military will carry out military operations in Waziristan, kill “innocent Pakistanis” and pass them off as militants to satisfy the US.
Pakistan’s border offensive has been condemned in parliament and the public. Rafiullah Haidari, Member of Parliament from Kunar, voiced his disapproval of the NATO. They never helped the Afghans, he said. “They don’t keep their promises. They have come to Afghanistan for their own interests.”
Jihadi commander Haji Jandad Khan, a tribal leader, said the US should leave Kunar since they have not reacted to the Pakistani attacks. Mawlawi Sayed Waliullah, member of the jihadi party, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, accused the US of working in the interest of the US. “They should give us back our weapons and leave this province,” he said.
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