Double jeopardy
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan had taken a lot of effort over a long time to improve. They have taken only months to touch the nadir once again. The unending attacks by the Afghan Taliban across Afghanistan and a devastating wave of terrorist attacks in Kabul have led President Ashraf Ghani to point his finger at Islamabad for allowing Pakistan’s territory to be used against his country. Meanwhile, border incidents continue to take place. last week eight Afghan border guards were killed. On Sunday four Pakistani army men died in a rocket attack from Afghanistan.
President Ashraf Ghani maintains that the decisions Pakistan’s government makes in the next few weeks will significantly affect bilateral relations for decades. This implies there is still room for turning the situation around. What one sees happening is that the situation continues to deteriorate. The meeting of the Joint Economic Commissions (JEC) between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been cancelled. If there is no major initiative to stop this trend, the Afghan cadets would also return to Afghanistan or get themselves enrolled in Dehradun. Meanwhile, those who look after the Afghan policy seem to be short of options. Unmindful of the worsening relations with Kabul, Nawaz Sharif has left for Kazakhstan on a two-day visit. Presumably he thinks someone else is already looking after the relations and his absence would not make much difference.
During the last two years there have been several meetings between the civilian and military leaders from both sides. They have pledged on more than one occasion that one country’s enemy would be considered the enemy of the other country also. They have vowed not to allow the terrorists to use their territory against each other. It would be sheer incompetence if after all this relation were to revert to what these were under Karzai.
The situation on Pakistan’s eastern border with India is already worrisome. With gross misunderstandings piling up with Afghanistan and border incidents increasing, Pakistan now faces double jeopardy.
