A step along the way

Any move that takes some of the heat out of the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is to be welcomed. The tripartite moot between military representatives from America, Afghanistan, and Pakistan at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Friday 12^th May are unlikely to turn the flame down by much, but that they happened at all in the current climate is close to being a minor miracle. Incidents of cross-border firing are a common occurrence and recent incidents have been of escalating severity. Quite apart from the threats to one another presented by Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is the common issue of how to address and counter the threat presented by Da’ish (Islamic State). The meeting discussed the need for coordinated efforts in this respect, also a move forwards on the part of Pakistan as there has been considerable resistance, at least among civilian politicians to acknowledging that IS exists as a functional entity in Pakistan anyway.

There being no prospect of the Durand Line dispute being resolved in the foreseeable future there is at least a chance of effective cooperation in fighting the common enemy of IS. This will require the respective military forces to act in close cooperation and there is something of a competency gap between the two. The Afghan army is relatively weak and has done poorly in rolling back both the Taliban and IS which between them now control a third of the country and present an existential threat. No such threat exists as far as the actions of either the Taliban or IS in Pakistan is concerned. Coordination on the ground and joint military actions is going to be a difficult move to pull off.

Welcome as this moot is, there is going to be no real progress in the macro picture until the Taliban in their principal iterations are brought to the table in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Fighting and talking are going to have to continue in parallel, and safe spaces created for the talking to take place. That is going to require a bold paradigm shift on all sides but it is not an impossible goal. Keep talking, gentlemen.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2017.

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