October 2009 proved to be a tough month for the coalition and specially the US forces in Afghanistan. A deadly attack on a United Nation guest house inside Kabul the nerve center of coalition forces in Afghanistan along with 8 dead soldiers has left little doubt in the minds of the Obama administration and the coalition that the war in Afghanistan is not going well.
A recent report by International Council On security and Development stated that the Taliban are in fact in control of 72% of Afghanistan and are tightening their noose around Kabul. The taliban made their presence felt in traditional strongholds such as the southwestern Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Urozgan and Zabul. Nowadays they are able to organise attacks and maintain bases in faraway provinces such as Badghis and Faryab on the Turkmenistan border, Herat, Farah and Nimroz bordering Iran and Ghazni, Wardak, Logar, Kapisa and Parwan neighbouring Kabul.
Conveniently for the Taliban economies around the world including those of coalition partners have come under enormous recessionary stress and with the cost of Afghanistan war amounting to nearly 232.066 Billion as of right now the cost of running the afghan operation is simply becoming too high and it seems evident that USA’s strategic objectives have out stretched it financial muscle.
The coalition is trying to change its strategy in Afghanistan and the approach of this highly resourceful war machine has changed as it draws plans to bring the Taliban on board the political system in Afghanistan but the question that comes to the mind is that would the Taliban join the political club. Anyone who has some insight in the history of Taliban would know that the Taliban movement started as an ideological movement based on the principles and teachings of Islam. With a rifle on their shoulder and a Quran in one hand the Taliban movement aimed at bringing the people of Afghanistan under one umbrella by uniting them through religion.
Would these fundamentally fuelled ferocious fighters come to the talking table and cut a power deal with the same coalition which ill advertised them all around the world and then found it convenient enough to attack their free country which these ill equipped, un-educated fundamentalists were running? The answer to this question still needs to be answered.
What would Pakistan have to face if the coalitions and the US decided today to pack their bags and leave? Most of the analysts believe that it would create a power vacuum which would be hard to fill. Yet we need to realize this fact this very basic fact that the coalition presence in this region is an alien presence in the first place and an exit would not create a vacuum but in fact would help all the other natural regional elements to settle down, elements which are supposed to run the matters of this region.
A coalition with drawl might prove as a setback to the current political setup in Pakistan because sure our current political establishment will collapse without the support of its western friends an event which Pakistan can hardly afford at this point and time because it is in the process of recovering from a political and economic depression but beyond that a coalition withdrawal might help bring a revolutionary change in Pakistan because the people of Pakistan need to understand that they cannot depend for their sustenance on foreign powers.
We must also not forget the fact that the coalition presence in Afghanistan has helped India foster and nourish an insurgency across our Western borders and in case of a pack up the Indians would automatically be forced shut. Not only would this be a blow to the Indian plans to establish itself as a regional power, trap Pakistan from two sides and have free access to middle eastern power resources might also put a divide in the Indian American relations, relations which will have dire consequences for Pakistan.
The US backed coalition is considering different exit strategies and one of them is to raise a local force which can administer the Afghanistan. Though a viable plan it is easier said than done because despite the additional cost of almost $ 12 billion this effort might not prove very concrete in the Afghanistan, Why? Anti-coalition sentiments run very deep in the afghan population a perfect example of this was a shooting incident on the 4th of November 2009 when a rouge Afghan policeman shot dead 5 British soldiers and injured 6 other in the Helmand province at a checkpoint (the policeman escaped). In such a case the idea of raising a force would be very moot because the quality and the command and control of such a force would always be at question.
If we closely monitor the events of the past 2 years we can clearly see a shift in the coalition strategy towards Pakistan, as we see an escalated level of aggression in their policies consequently we see their assets on ground increasing (Backwater, now known as Xe), their political interference increasing, their media consistently bad defaming the ISI, the Army and showing concerns over the security of our Nuclear program. In addition to this the American notion of “Pakistan has to do more?” has increased tremendously with India joining the band wagon. It seems as if the US & the Coalition are trying to push the Afghan war into Pakistan.
In face of an inevitable retreat of the Americans from Afghanistan what is the course of action that Pakistan can take?
1) Draw the line, US and its coalition partners need to be told aggressively that our part of the problem is what we will take care of and something beyond our borders is not our problem and we will not be responsible for it
2) Keep them away; keep their assets off our streets and as far away from Pakistan as possible, our political system and our military do not need outside guidance. Leaders in power or on opposition benches need not be contacted by the foreign civil and military administrations. The main point of contact for all foreign communication is the Foreign office.
3) Annihilate them, the RAW and CIA sponsored insurgencies across our western frontier need to be annihilated and suppressed. Pakistan army needs to ensure that it maintains a consistent presence on our western borders regardless of the fact if the US & the coalition stay or not and we need to ensure that our side of the border is clean and stays clean. We need to make sure that those regions are brought into the political and economic cycle of the country.
4) Political Self dependence, we need leaders who have cultivated out of our own system not leaders who have been imported from abroad. Leaders who believe in developing welfare based state system not a system that fosters on the divide and rule policy.
(3) Will Smith
(2) Adam Sandler
(1) Harrison Ford
Wazir Khan Mosque- Lahore
(1) Micheal Bloomberg
(2) Silvio Berlusconi
(3) Serge Dassault 
We have forgot the words of our Pakistan’s greatest leader and philosopher Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal that hindus and muslims are opposite poles which can never come together. And our media is going totally opposite to this idea.
According to various sources Gold price may touch Rs 50000/tola in next one or two months; currently Gold is hovering around Rs 37650/tola.