I was going through the tv channels yesterday and saw CNN breaking news that Taliban are preparing for a big battle in Arghandab district of Afghanistan. The problem here is that even statement by NATO soldiers on the ground downplayed the threat but since CNN loves to create panic and make big drama out of small rumor, specially when it is related to Afghanistan, the news has been made a headline.

This reminds me of the last year news when CNN claimed that Taliban are in Helmand and preparing for a major battle and the irony is that even coalition troops in Afghanistan watches CNN before deciding their moves. A major assault was launched on the Helmand city and in the end the whole city was recaptured without a single bullet fired. CNN later covered itself by claiming that Taliban slipped few hours before the assault while i remember them claiming even few hours before that they whole city has been cordoned off and there is no chance that any Taliban will get away.

This time its Arghandab district with same script. Afghan army is moving its soldiers from here and there to tacle Taliban upcoming attack on the news of unknown elders. Their own intelligence reveals that there is no major presence of Taliban in the area.

I think this drama has been staged to pressurize Pakistan as the district is adjacent to Pakistan border and the Afghan army and Coalition troops will later claim that all the Taliban slipped into Pakistan in the last minute and hence they will substantiate their earlier claims that Talibans are getting back up from Pakistan and have a safe heaven in our tribal areas. I think these dramas now more impress anyone except Hamid Karzai himself. His recent threat to Pakistan is as hollow as it could be as he himself knows very well that without coalition troops, his government won’t last for few days, no matter how big Afghan army he kept with himself. The same Afghan Army will be the first one to hang him in Kabul.

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