Taliban Afghanistan now has an interim government with a council of ministers consisting of a couple of global terrorists. Men with flowing beards and mega-million dollar rewards on their turbaned heads. Those who figure in the United Nation’s most wanted list, are lawmakers beyond the pale of international law! Today’s Afghanistan does not have an elected government.

The only hope for the country are the Afghan women. For them to stand up to the Taliban (and ISIS, the Al Qaeda, and the Haqqani Network), keep up their protests in the streets, create enough and continuous opposition to the Taliban to never let the world forget that a monstrosity rules Afghanistan in cahoots with Pakistan, the nursery for “home-grown” international terrorists.

Like somebody said, there’s no “conscience” left in the Americans, or the Pakistanis; forget the Chinese and the Russians. What about we Indians, do we have a conscience? The fact is, Pakistanis are having a ball ever since August 15, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoisted the tricolour from the ramparts of the Red Fort, and the Taliban and their ISIS cohorts drove their SUVs into the parking lot of the Presidential Palace in Kabul.

On August 15 2021, Pakistanis on social media labelled India “loser”, and Pakistan “victor”. For a big swathe of Pakistanis, it was sweet revenge, for “1971”. Pakistani panellists on Indian media talk shows gloated, but unaccustomedly held their calm against the loud voices of Indian counterparts, who had a time holding to their ground.

India was no longer “Chaudhary of South Asia”. More shocking, Narendra Modi stood worsted in the ‘Great Game”. Defeated by a cricketer-turned-politician, a novice with “nothing between his ears”, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Of course, being Indian, with an Indian mindset, we haven’t questioned the turn of events in our bailiwick. When it comes to foreign affairs and foreign policy, Indians don’t speak in different voices. The voice of the Government of the Day rules the day.

There are no doubts left that Pakistan has invaded Afghanistan and more or less colonized the landlocked country. If nobody has understood this, the Afghan women have. It’s not for nothing that hundreds of Afghan women are outside the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul, braving Taliban rifle fire and shouting their lungs out with cries of “Azaadi” and “Pakistan Get Out”.

The Pakistanis are the ones who are setting policy for the terrorist-infested Afghan Taliban government of Afghanistan. And it’s not for nothing that the ISI Chief is in Kabul. There are also confirmed reports of the Pak Army fighting in the Panjshir Valley. It’s clear as the snow-driven tops of the mountains of the Hindu Kush that the United States and Pakistan sold the people of Afghanistan down the river, US for getting out of Afghanistan, and Pakistan for netting a “colony” of its own!

And India? The Modi Government spent money like India has loads and loads of greenbacks to throw around; as if Indians are rich dudes, each and every one of us given the promised Rs 15 lakhs; thriving in the prophesied “ache din”.

So, what do we have? Apart from the $3-4 billion lost, a “loss of face”, our title of “Chaudhary of South Asia” taken away; two instead of one hostile governments to our west in addition to the one to our north. Very soon the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be inside Afghanistan, heading for Iran and beyond. Whatever is going to happen to ‘Chabahar Port’ is speculation.

And the Modi Government will continue to behave as if there cannot be a bigger and more popular global leader than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Today, India is the “most disadvantaged” country in the region, and who’s to blame?