Paving the way for peace
Peace in Afghanistan is not only vital for Kabul and Islamabad but also for the international community. This explains the arrival in Islamabad of a US bipartisan Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain, Chairman Senate Armed Services Committee. The purpose behind the visit is to discuss the recent hiatus in Pak-Afghan relations. That the delegation came on the invitation of Gen Raheel Sharif indicates Pakistan’s keenness to resolve the issue. The general underlined the security challenges faced by Pakistan and the need for an effective border management across the long and porous Durand Line.
The current level of 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan would drop to 5,500 by early 2017. The Afghan government and its allies have meanwhile failed to coax the Taliban to enter into talks. There is therefore no respite to terrorist attacks under Mullah Haibatullah. In the latest terrorist bombing of a police convoy in Kabul on Thursday, 33 including four civilians were killed. The developments are worrisome for both the US and its Nato allies. They want Pakistan to take on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.
Sartaj Aziz maintains that there are risks involved leading Pakistan to consider how far it can go and in what sequence and scale to avoid the blow back. The Afghan government too provides somewhat similar explanation for its inaction against the TTP leaders who guide terrorist attacks inside Pakistan from the Afghan side of the border. Pakistan’s concerns are by no means out of place. What riles Islamabad is that instead of sharing the burden the US has cut off part of its military aid and asked Pakistan to fund the F-16s itself. The intensifying Pak-Afghan differences help the terrorists while they cause suffering to both the Afghans and Pakistanis. Instead of asking Pakistan to do more the US should allay Pakistan’s concerns, thus encouraging it to take the risks involved in taking on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network and paving the way for peace in the region.