PARTLY FACETIOUS: The fall of Kabul

"I have been watching the coverage of the fall of Kabul..."

"Right, but it ain't a coup you know - I mean it isn't like...like..."

"Hey I am a Pakistani - I get it, but it has given so much fuel to the Western-bashers particularly America bashers."

"Agreed, though both Trump and Biden realised that the US had degraded Al-Qaeda and Daesh in the country and there was little chance of an attack on US soil."

"That's true, but one question: Ashraf Ghani has American citizenship I think, his wife is American, and yet he opted to land in the UAE? Why do you think that is?"

"If you are trying to form comparisons with the Shah of Iran..."

"No, just wondering."

"Or with Musharraf who is also resident there?"

"Nope."

"Or the pre-MQM Pakistan members who are resident there, or those Pakistanis who bank there..."

"Yeah, yeah, anyway going back to Ghani, he claims he left to avoid bloodshed."

"I doubt if any Afghan would have given up his life for Ghani, for themselves and their families yes...but what is interesting is that Pakistani ambassador has been active and met with Karzai, who incidentally used to attack Pakistan at every opportunity when he was president just like Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, another Pakistan hater..."

"Don't forget we imprisoned Mullah Baradar when, was it Musharraf who was in power?"

"Hey back off, anyway the Western media coverage is focused on the withdrawal of the rights of women by the Taliban, rights that they acquired after Nato forces took over control of the country, as well as seeking Afghans who worked with Nato forces..."

"It wasn't a coup - city after city fell without engaging in battle in most cases..."

"OK, but I would like to note that an Afghan woman on a British channel gave more than 10 minutes to an Afghan resident who claimed he had heard foreign languages being spoken by the Taliban fighters which, she said, should be concerning..."

"Yes I heard her say the word Balochi, so perhaps the TTP and the Haqqani network and..."

"But how can a news agency place so much credence on one unnamed source i.e. an Afghan resident. I mean even our most famous Karachi resident, Faisal Vawda, cites many Karachi residents discontent with the PPP...."

"Don't be facetious. Anyway the good news is that China is on the same page as Pakistan..."

"You know I want to know the title of the book, the edition because that must be the same, and the page number and seriously how do they read the page in question - they all wait till the slowest reader is ready to change the page..."

"Don't be facetious - as a matter of curiosity who is the slowest reader?"

"It aint the Chinese."

"And the book?"

"It's Machiavelli's The Prince..."

"Not the Le Petit Prince by..."

"No."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021