This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "Afghanistan under the global spotlight" carried by the newspaper on Saturday. The writer, Farhat Ali, has started off on his argument in a fascinating manner. According to him, for example, "Afghanistan is said to be a reality that is neither apparent to senses nor obvious to the intelligence". Yes, there is an element of mysticism insofar as the history of this landlocked country is concerned. That countless civilizations intersected Afghanistan is a fact. It is also a fact that the history of Afghanistan is too often written from the perspectives of Westerners who gave this landlocked country the epithet of 'Graveyard of Empires". It is therefore important to note that the defeat of the US against the Taliban was expected, it's highly disappointing for the West itself. In my view, too, Afghanistan is a reality that is neither apparent to senses nor obvious to the intelligence.

Mehdi Hasan (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021