The Afghan and Indian-led narrative against Pakistan has received a charged response from people on social media. At first, #SanctionPakistan was trending under the context that Pakistan is a safe haven for terror outfits like the Taliban.
A video clip of Carter Malkasian went viral amidst these tweets. Malkasian has authored the book “The American War in Afghanistan: A History”. In conversation with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), he laid out the argument that US troops withdrew from Afghanistan, and there remained the Afghan forces who failed to solidify their control against the Taliban. He argued that the Afghan failure has nothing to do with Pakistan.
#BlameGameOnPakistan
Listen what Americans say who had spent his time in Afghanistan.
If 200 Afghan soldiers surrender before 50 Taliban than how can pakistan can blamed?
👇 pic.twitter.com/4clZlkHE8T— Haider (@HaiderCh8890) August 10, 2021
Habib Khan, a Kabul-based journalist, was one of the first to criticise Pakistan, who encouraged his 97,000 followers to help the hashtag reach a million tweets. Pakistan lashed out in response that Afghanistan lacks the capacity to protect its own people and resorts to blame game to divert attention from issues at home.
Read more: Afghan president blames Pakistan, Taliban for bloodshed
https://twitter.com/DSI786/status/1425000617202884610
Pakistani ministers, on Tuesday, slammed Afghanistan. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said, “Pakistan stands for peace and nothing could be gained from conflicts. Everyone knows for whom people like Hamdullah Mohib work.” Sheikh Rasheed also said that Pakistan has nothing to do with the internal matters of Afghanistan. Pakistani Twitter users have been tweeting to neutralise the negative narrative against Pakistan.
Pakistan always supported the Afghan peace process and immensely put the efforts into it.
Afghan government is blaming Pakistan and hiding it's corruption behind this malicious propaganda.#AfghanLeaks@Team4PK pic.twitter.com/fwNqfDmQ7k
— IMRANIST❤️ (@Abrar_views) August 10, 2021
Recently Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) released its detailed research on Disinformation & Propaganda Campaign to Sabotage Afghan Peace Process. This data provides insights into the activities of the Afghan and Indian led initiatives to sabotage Pakistan’s efforts. Despite their attempts, Pakistan is still a focal member of the Peace meetings proceeding at Doha, under the banner of extended Troika.
Read more: Ex-Canadian minister blames Taliban fighters are waiting to cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan
On 11th August, Tuesday, the Foreign Office released a statement saying “Pakistan attaches high importance to the Troika Plus mechanism, involving Pakistan, US, Russia and China…This meeting of Troika Plus in Doha is taking place at an important time when the security situation in Afghanistan is continuously deteriorating particularly as the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country continue.”