Cooperation, a must
Every passing day underlines the need on the part of the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan to employ a joint strategy to neutralise, if not eliminate, the militants keeping the pot boiling in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One incident after another underlines the lack of trust between the three. The Sunday attacks By Taliban in Kabul and three eastern provinces were no different. As expected these led Washington to point the finger at Haqqani network operating from Pakistan’s tribal areas. Karzai on the other hand blamed intelligence failure particularly on the part of the US-led Nato.
The US forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Budget crises and waning public support at home is forcing US allies to leave earlier. In January French President Sarkozy announced withdrawal of his troops by the end of 2013. On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, announced an accelerated troop withdrawal to start in mid-2013. What happens after 2014 is not difficult to predict. With the foreign troops leaving the country along with their warplanes, helicopters and modern fighting equipment, the newly trained and insufficiently motivated Afghan force would not be able to hold its ground against a highly fired up and battle-hardened Taliban. A Taliban victory in Afghanistan will boost the morale of the TTP which will accelerate attacks inside Pakistan.
There is a need on the part of the US and Pakistan to urgently resolve their differences to ensure peace and stability in the region. What one sees happening is a repeat of the post-Afghan jihad scenario when the US left Pakistan high and dry to resolve the problems created by the Afghan civil war. Both the US and Pakistan had to pay a heavy price for this. In fact, the forces of chaos that were let loose subsequently spread all over the globe endangering the lives of the people in all the continents. Now that the parliament has concluded its policy review, Pakistani and US leaders should move ahead to forge a consensus over what needs to be done jointly to defeat extremism and militancy.
