A safer South Asia
Within months of the demise of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), military leaders from China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan met in Sinkiang on Wednesday to sign a Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism (QCCM). This is the first security cooperation mechanism signed by the countries of the region. Unlike the QCG the QCCM is more practical and task-oriented. The new pact has significant implications for Pakistan and for Pak-Afghan relations.
The four parties agreed to make joint efforts to deal with terrorism and extremism in order to maintain peace and stability of all member states. This implies that terrorist groups launching attacks inside Afghanistan will be jointly dealt with by all the signatories. It won’t be possible for Pakistan to deny support to the Afghan government in its fight against the Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban. Similarly this will require Afghanistan’s commitment to sort out TTP militants stationed inside Afghanistan. This will not only help eradicate terrorism and extremism from the region but also bring the two estranged neighbours together. With the US support being unreliable Pakistan was reluctant to take on the Haqqanis and Afghan Taliban on its own. Assured of the reliable backing of China, it can now take them on.
Under the agreement the coordination and cooperation will be exclusive to the four countries. As long as a Kashmir specific group does not launch attacks in any one of the four countries, it may not be subjected to action. The quadrilateral mechanism will help the four countries to coordinate with and support each other in a range of areas including study and judgment of counter-terrorism situation, confirmation of clues, intelligence sharing, anti-terrorist capability building, joint anti-terrorist training and personnel training.
At a time when Coalition Support Funds (CSF) are drying up and Pakistan has been denied F-16s, the QCCM will help the country continue its fight against the terrorists. One hopes the new mechanism does not meet the fate of the earlier QCG.