AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Responding to an offer by the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to send "professionals" to Afghanistan, the former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his country does not need foreign manpower.
In a Twitter post, Karzai said that Afghanistan has many young experts and "hundreds of thousands of educated young boys and girls" who have graduated from home and foreign universities in various grades, and so there is "no need for foreign manpower" to come to country.
He also called on the Taliban government to provide employment to the youths and pave the way for return of Afghan experts living abroad.
Imran Khan contradictions in words and action
A few days ago, Imran Khan, in a meeting with senior members of his government, called on them to prepare "specialized and trained personnel in the fields of medicine, information technology, accounting, and finance" to send for Afghanistan due to the shortage of manpower in the country.
According to a statement issued by the office of the Imran Khan, the PM made the same request at the third Apex Committee on Afghanistan and stressed the need to send specialized labor force to Afghanistan.
Expressing concerns with critical conditions in Afghanistan, Imran Khan asserted commitment to continuing assistance to the neighboring country and endorsed a recent UN initiative to raise funds and aids to Afghanistan, the statement further said.
Imran Khan voiced concern about Afghanistan shortage of manpower while several months after the Taliban takeover, he did not allow transit of India-granted wheat to Afghanistan through its territories. The shortage of food and wheat flour is very critical in Afghanistan and some bakeries have been forced to close. So, the claim of sending specialists to Afghanistan is more in the interests of Islamabad than a sympathetic and humanitarian offer. It looks quite politically-motivated.
Of course, there are other goals behind the Imran Khan's request to send professionals to Afghanistan. In fact, Islamabad is seeking to reduce the pressure it is facing from the unemployed population.
At the same time, by sending manpower to a Taliban-led government, Pakistan would deepen its influence in Kabul power structure.
Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper in a report said that these professionals specialize in medicine, information technology, and financial matters to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Clearly, the Taliban professionals, if happen to go to Afghanistan, would tighten Taliban position in Afghanistan as it is now shaky and tumultuous and facing a crisis. So, to be precise, by sending the professionals, Islamabad seeks to specifically solve part of the Taliban problems.
Inclusive government missing in Taliban rule
So far, the Taliban have failed to form an all-encompassing government, with many still insisting the group is autocratic and highly sectarian-minded.
In the eyes of many Afghans and experts, the Taliban is, actually, a group affiliated with Pakistan, but since the group does not have a comprehensive view of sharing the power in Kabul, its government lacks a skilled and professional body. So, perhaps Imran Khan's offer is more directed to the Taliban than to Afghanistan.
This is while Afghanistan and its younger generation have many specialists and experts who, unfortunately, have been forced to leave the country or self-isolate due to the Taliban's power monopoly and lack of an inclusive government.
Meanwhile, the Hazaras made the largest reactions to Imran Khan remarks. The Taliban and even Imran Khan are aware that the Hazara ethnic minority has thousands of educated people, but the group has only entrusted two of them with posts of deputy ministers which are apparently for show and meant to reduce home and foreign pressures. If the Taliban had used the internal power and talent of all Afghan minorities and groups, there would have been no need for Pakistani experts.
/129