Bridging the Pak Afghan gap

The need to bury the hatchet

The assassination of former Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour has opened the lid on a new wave of violence and political turmoil in Afghanistan

This is the century of Asia because approximately all major countries on the continent are thriving as the balance of global economic power tilts towards them. However, the dream of a prosperous Asia would remain just that, a dream, as long as major countries in the region remain at daggers drawn.

Peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan is key for regional and world trade as both provide a pivot for transcontinental and regional connectivity. However, the region remains destabilised due to the menace of terrorism.

The assassination of former Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour has opened the lid on a new wave of violence and political turmoil in Afghanistan. Not only has this move badly derailed the dialogue process, it has put all the four major players working quietly for peace dialogue including Afghan president Dr Ashraf Ghani, Pakistan, China and the pro-dialogue individuals in the United States of America.

The attack was aimed at sabotaging the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) which included Pakistan, Afghanistan, US and China. It seems the enemy’s objective has been achieved to some extent.

The QCG process was based on the dominant supportive role of Pakistan to pursue peace in Afghanistan through dialogue. Pakistan successfully hosted first round of the process in Murree which was attended, among others, by Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s close comrades.

However, the powers opposed to Pakistan could not digest its central role and damaged the future prospects through announcement of the death of Mullah Omar in July 2015. Killing of Mullah Akhtar Mansour has further damaged the prospects of peace.

Though Pakistan and China are engaged with the US for revival of the peace dialogue, it would be a huge task to pacify the Taliban who are not only furious over the killing of Mullah Mansour, but their gains on ground in Afghanistan may make the job even more complicated.

A new Pentagon report states that the Taliban continue to make gains in Afghanistan as allies of the war-torn country reduce their commitments of troops and assistance.

While Afghan forces generally remain in control of major population centers and key lines of communication, the Pentagon says the Taliban and extremist groups have demonstrated “resilience” by waging attacks in Nangarhar, Herat, Kunduz, and other northern provinces. The Taliban also launched attacks and seized territory in the southern Helmand province during the same period, in addition to sabotaging a major power line that severed electricity to the Afghan capital for over three weeks.

The Defense Department’s June report to Congress, the third in a series required semi-annually by law through next year, illustrates the prevalence of insurgent and extremist groups — including the Taliban, a degraded al Qaeda, and an ISIS affiliate called the Khorasan Province — that continue to “dominate” the security situation in Afghanistan.

The report arrived before President Obama was due to make a decision on the planned drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan later this year.

“Our senior military commanders have been warning for months that the security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating, placing at risk the hard-won gains of the last 15 years,” Sen John McCain (R, Ariz), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Washington Free BeaconTuesday.

Afghan security apparatus is infested with widespread corruption, lack of coordination, ethnic fragmentation, ghost employees and increasing desertion. Most importantly, ANSF seems to lack the key elements of will and resolve to match the Taliban. Successes of Taliban in Faryab, Kunduz and Helmand provinces and mounting causalities of ANSF indicate the level of resistance offered and the state of their morale.

“This latest Pentagon report to Congress points out the dynamic nature of threats in Afghanistan and highlights the need for further development of key capabilities of Afghan security forces.”

Pakistan has helped the Afghan government in developmental projects and roads infrastructure, including building of 75km Torkham-Jalalabad Road, additional carriage way on Torkham, Jalalabad Road, three internal roads in Jalalabad

Pakistan very rightly considers that peace in Afghanistan is a guarantee of peace in Pakistan; therefore, it has been striving for the same with utter sincerity. However, enemies of Afghanistan and Pakistan don’t want to see peace and prosperity in the region.

One may understand that India is the only country in the region which is not a part of the QCG; one doesn’t need rocket science to understand who may have played a role in convincing the US establishment to go for the recent attack.

Moreover, new cooperation between India and the US also has impacted the chances of QCG efforts greatly. What appears is that a twofold game is being staged to isolate Pakistan. On the one hand, the US State Department is pushing Pakistan to bring Afghan Taliban either to the dialogue table or to take action against their families residing inside Pakistan. While on the other, through killing of Mullah Mansur, practically all avenues for peace have been blocked.

Also, a hostile nexus is being construed and a new great game has again been initiated to encircle Pakistan with hostile neighbourhood in a bid to limit choices for Pakistan. Moreover, a new doctrine of ‘economic strangulation’ is also in place to economically stifle it.

The sabotage efforts increased after the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Though India has funded a port in Iran to counter the economic prospects of CPEC, one may draw a conclusion that only Iran would benefit from the port which would be a total failure for India.

CPEC is much bigger, more natural and viable project than the Chabahar port if Pakistan can develop the project with required speed, efficiency and transparency. We need not worry about Chabahar if we can safeguard own interests and counter Indian moves.

Indian Premier Narendra Modi visited Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and the US in the recent past. Indians are trying to squeeze Pakistan’s influence/space with these countries. Pakistan may approach these countries and brief at appropriate levels about the negative fallout of the current Indian move. The counter moves should be aimed at convincing and persuading these countries not to get too close to India due to Indian closeness with Iran.

China is keen for investment in Chabahar and Pakistan may encourage the move. If materialised, this is likely to counter-balance the Indian move.

Pakistan’s concerns regarding the presence of Indians in Chabahar and its security implications (especially after the Kulbushan episode) must be conveyed to Iran. A strategy should be chalked out to counter the Indians right from the outset. Indian and Israeli closeness may be played up in Iran to discredit the Chabahar project domestically.

The Pakistani army, with the success in Shawwal valley operation, has successfully rooted out militants from country’s region bordering Afghanistan. These great successes have been achieved through sacrifices, support and resolve of the entire nation as well as through the unprecedented accomplishments of intelligence agencies of Pakistan.

Elements within vested interests have often tried to create a perception that Pakistan actually controls the Taliban. Such an impression breeds unrealistic expectations from Pakistan. All concerned parties need to understand the ground realities are against their wishes and pursue only the agreed upon peaceful options leading to a solution of the problem rather than finding new solutions.

All over the world, the intelligence agencies work for making their country secure, however, the case of National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Afghan intelligence agency, is strange. Successive media reports have suggested that NDS is hugely funded by RAW and it is focused on inflicting harm to Pakistan instead of securing Afghanistan.

Recently, Indians have enhanced their influence on the Afghan government and turned them against Pakistan through negative propaganda.

Afghans need to rememb‎er that their Indian ‘friends’ had facilitated the capture of Afghanistan by the USSR. It was however Pakistan which thwarted their evil designs by funding, supporting and arranging a counter response, by backing the freedom struggle. Not only did Pakistani youth give their lives fighting Soviet oppressors but Pakistan provided funds, arms, training and intelligence to defeat the mighty power of the USSR.

It would now be a stab in back of Pakistan if Afghanistan intelligence is involved in activities of sabotage on Pakistani soil.

Media reports claim that 126 Afghan agents funded by RAW have recently been arrested across Pakistan.

A recent media report says that with latest capture of six NDS supported terrorists in Balochistan, the number of terrorists arrested and killed by Pakistani Intelligence agencies has crossed 126.

The agents were arrested from Peshawar, Swat, Gilgit Baltistan, South Waziristan, Attock, Turnol, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Chaman, Quetta and other bordering areas at Pak-Afghan border, say the reports.

The Pakistani media blames elements among Afghan intelligence for providing safe havens to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership hiding in Nuristan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan. Reportedly, Mullah Fazlullah-led TTP is being prepared to carry out a fresh wave of terror activities inside Pakistan.

Afghan media reports accuse Pakistan for harbouring hostile Taliban elements like the Haqqani Network. This blame-game must end now and talks on joint border mechanism must succeed.

Though Pakistani forces are put on a high alert to foil any attempt to destabilise the country, security is still fragile due to the presence of over three million Afghan refugees.

The long and porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is frequently used by human and drug traffickers, criminals and miscreants and terrorists. The easy access through unguarded porous border provides opportunity to miscreants to cause havoc inside Pakistan and possibly in Afghanistan as well. For effective counter terrorism measures strong border control management is vital. Pakistan’s desire to fence the border is reflective of Pakistan’s willingness to stand by the commitment for peace and not to allow its land to be used for terrorism in Afghanistan.

The trust between Pakistan and Afghanistan has remained a sore point in the eyes of our enemies, especially India, and it has been doing everything possible to create mistrust between two neighbours.

The Afghans must not forget the role played by Pakistan to help liberate Afghanistan from the subjugation of the USSR. Moreover, it merits mention that Pakistan is the biggest Muslim donor country to Afghanistan despite the fact it itself is suffering from the economic fallout of the ongoing war on terror in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has, so far, spent over US$385 million for the development, education and infrastructure building in Afghanistan. The incumbent government has added over US$500 million more to this list for development in Afghanistan.

Peace and prosperity of Afghanistan is a pre-condition to peace and development in Pakistan. We have rendered huge sacrifices for the people of Afghanistan. Afghan citizens are allowed to avail medical and education facilities in Pakistan at par with the Pakistani citizens. Pakistan has funded different educational institutions inside Afghanistan such as Allama Iqbal Faculty of Arts, Kabul University, Sir Syed Post Graduate Faculty of Sciences — Nangarhar University, Liaqat Ali Khan Engineering University, Balkh, Rehman Baba School, Kabul and Rehman Baba Hostel, Kabul.

Pakistan has helped the Afghan government in developmental projects and roads infrastructure, including building of 75km Torkham-Jalalabad Road, additional carriage way on Torkham, Jalalabad Road, three internal roads in Jalalabad, digital radio link between Kabul and Peshawar. In addition, Pakistan has also given around 100 public transport buses and 200 trucks to the government of Afghanistan for the welfare of the Afghan public.

Pakistan would be the last country on planet earth to even think of supporting violence on Afghan soil. It is up to the Afghan government to lead peace talks with the insurgent Afghans and Pakistan — along with China and the US — would be willing to supplement the efforts of the Afghan president Dr Ashraf Ghani.

However, it would be childish to believe that Pakistan can force any group to come to terms with the Afghan government. Pakistan has limited influence over Afghan insurgents, which it has been using to facilitate the dialogue process. However, one must get rid of wishful thinking and serious efforts should begin to help bring peace to Afghanistan. Only mutual trust and sincere efforts by leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan can guarantee peace and stability in the region so our future generations may enjoy the fruit of development and prosperity.