The Taliban are divided into many factions. The only common factor amongst the Afghan Taliban is loyalty to Mulla Omar. He is acknowledged as the supreme leader because of his piety and perseverance, but there are very strong regional military leaders like Haqqani who already rule over vast tracts of territory. There are many moderates amongst them who think that it is time to ease up, so that the Americans can have a face saving exit. It is this faction which has prevailed over Mulla Omar to let them set up an office in Doha and start negotiations with the Americans on leaving Afghanistan. The hardliners will wait and watch, since their aim is the same. What happens after the Afghan Army takes over the responsibility on its own is to be watched because it mainly consists of Northern Alliance groups who cannot coexist with the Taliban. Afghanistan is likely to descend into ethnic civil war if the Afghan government cannot bring balance and justice between them on major issues.In Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi’s words, Pakistan has played a positive role in persuading all sides, specially the Taliban to negotiate peace. The same does not apply to TTP which is a loose grouping under Hakimullah Mahsud that wants to take over the state of Pakistan. It has nothing to do with the Afghan Taliban. It claims to accept Mulla Omar as their Amir but does not pay heed to him when he asks them not to kill in Pakistan. These are rebels against the state. Mostly criminal gangs banded together and killing innocent people of Pakistan to scare them and terrorise them into accepting their control over the tribal belt. They gave a taste of their rule to everyone in Swat. To negotiate with them, when their military capability is intact, would amount to surrendering to a rebel group within your own country and to abandoning our civil population to butchery in the name of Shariah. They must be defanged first before getting to the table. To do so our politicians and journalists have to understand the difference between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP, and to lend full combined support to the Armed Forces to destroy military capabilities of all those who want to undo our state. I wish Allah Almighty grants them the wisdom to understand the seriousness of this threat and to stand together to save Pakistan from this wild hoard who would destroy all progress, culture and history starting with FATA and Balochistan. You have to stop their recruitment, their funding, destroy their training camps and deny them space while gradually decimating them. Fighting an insurgency is always a long drawn affair. It took decades for Malaysia and Sri Lanka to defeat insurgencies in their countries and it may take also us a long time but our aim should be clear and the nation must stand with their Armed forces. The anger against the perpetrators was diffused by throwing doubts in the direction of security agencies, not even caring that almost daily they are sacrificing lives to defend Pakistan. Our TV Anchors started the blame game and have been reinforced by Ch Nisar passing unwanted remarks against the security agencies. Did anyone care for the feelings of the Armed Forces personnel and their families who see their colleagues die for protecting our people, but being unjustly blamed for being the guilty party? The anchors have persistently carried on with their blame game to an extent where the people of Pakistan have started hating the Army, the Generals and the ISI. A lot of them now believe that ISI is a rogue organisation as accused by our enemies.ISI is the front line for defence of Pakistan, demoralising it would devastate it and help the enemies of Pakistan in their aim to destroy Pakistan. Continuous silence by the army and ISPR has strengthened the belief that perhaps these anchors may be right, because no denial has been issued by ISPR. The Army Chief should take it up with the Prime Minister and apprise him of the serious consequences of a demoralised Army and ISI and the harmful effects of the blame game being played continuously on our TV. May God save Pakistan and the Pakistan Army!ESCHMALL SARDAR, Peshawar, June 24.