Hari Singh

India invented the Chess game. Be confident. My "becauses" to your "whys". Why it matters to support India. In September 1996, President Mohammad Najibullah was brutally executed in Kabul. The prevailing narrative attributes this act to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with the Taliban as the executors. From 1992 to 1996, the Islamic Government of Afghanistan, led by President Burhanuddin Rabbani, accused Pakistan of sponsoring Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and later the Taliban to violently overthrow the Afghan government. The ISI was named the orchestrator of this brutal war, driven by Pakistan’s pursuit of “strategic depth.” Reports assert that the ISI supplied 10,000 missiles to target Kabul during this period. In 1997, a scorched-earth policy devastated the Shamali Plains. The destruction was attributed to a trio coalition of Al-Qaeda, the ISI, and the Taliban. Numerous interviews with national hero Ahmad Shah Massoud, available online, corroborate these assertions. From 1998 to 2001, Pakistan’s Special Services Group (SSG) deployed units to Kunduz to support the besieged Taliban. Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, these units were airlifted out in what became known as the “evil flights,” enabled by a secret agreement between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and U.S. President George W. Bush. On September 9, 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by two Al-Qaeda operatives whose passports recorded twelve trips to Pakistan. General Musharraf warned British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Scotland Yard that pursuing the investigation would jeopardize Pakistan’s role in the anti-terror coalition. The investigation was halted, and the official narrative holds the ISI, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban responsible for the death of our leader Shaheed Ahmad Shah Massoud. From 2004 onward, Pakistan’s military provided financial, military, and logistical support to the Taliban, enabling them to regroup and wage a bloody terror campaign against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The ISI was repeatedly condemned by Afghan leaders, including Presidents Hamid Karzai, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, and Ashraf Ghani, as well as international figures. The U.S. designated the Haqqani network as a “veritable arm” of the ISI. In 2008, the Indian Embassy in Kabul was bombed. In 2023, the bombers’ families publicly revealed their ties to the Taliban and disclosed the terrorists’ identities online while seeking recognition and financial support from the Taliban system. On September 20, 2011, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the High Peace Council, was assassinated by a Taliban operative using a sophisticated bomb concealed in a turban. The operative had traveled from Pakistan, and the ISI was accused of supplying the device. On May 31, 2017, the German Embassy in Kabul, located on a crowded street, was bombed by the Haqqani network, killing or injuring over 700 Afghans. The Haqqani network, a close ally of the ISI, was based in Peshawar and Miram Shah. Pakistan facilitated the Taliban’s diplomatic outreach to legitimize their cause. When Kabul fell in August 2021, ISI chief General Faiz Hameed visited to assist the Taliban in forming a cabinet, famously photographed holding a teacup - celebrating the humiliation of Afghans. Pakistani leaders particularly the relgio-terrorists celebrated the fall of the Afghan Republic as a religious victory, rubbing salt on the wounds of millions of Afghans. Emboldened by their success in Afghanistan, the ISI and its proxies launched the Pahalgam attack in Kashmir, India, on April 22, 2025, killing 26 cilivilan Indian citizens. in a brutal assault claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot - our common enemy. In response, India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, launched Operation Sindoor to dismantle the ISI’s terror networks. Why should we not thank India for confronting our common enemy? Why act with cowardice? Some assert that this type of statement conflicts with the interests of our bloc, constituency, or ethnic group. But let’s not forget Pakistan’s official stance: without the Taliban and the complete removal of ethnic diversity, particularly the Tajiks, from power in Kabul, Rawalpindi would continue to support the Taliban. This policy is recent and well-documented. We, the good Afghans, couldn’t dismantle the ISI’s terror networks ourselves, though I wish we had. India has now taken bold action. The least we can do is offer moral and political support for India’s large-scale counter-terrorism efforts targeting the culprits behind our leaders’ assassinations. We live in a multipolar world. The outcome of this conflict will shape South Asia’s strategic landscape. Let’s have the courage to call a spade a spade. And remember: chess was invented in India. They know the game.