The Afghan revulsion
Cross-border terrorism has been a bone of contention with Afghanistan for long. Free flow of men and material across the porous 2,600 kilometres Durand Line has impacted bilateralism for ages. This is why Pakistan has been very conscious of its security concerns, as it has been a victim of misadventures from the Afghan side. To further compound the situation are a plethora of terrorist outfits at large. So was the case as a convoy of the Pakistan Army was ambushed on Friday in the bordering area of Isham, North Waziristan. It resulted in the martyrdom of seven soldiers. Thus, Pakistan’s reported hot pursuit was in retaliation, and meant to send across the message that there would be zero tolerance to such nefarious attempts in future.
Taliban are under a promissory note not to let their soil be used against any other country. This has been a salient feature of their commitment as they pledged to fight non-state actors and well-entrenched terror nexus in the war-torn country. But unfortunately despite complete coordination and all kinds of auxiliary support from Islamabad, Kabul has not been able to stem the tide of otherness and intervention. What happened on Friday was just the tip of the iceberg, as unrest has been simmering for long. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of coordination as far as the organs of state in Afghanistan are concerned, as not many in the militia are on board to the decision of fencing the porous border, and there have been hiccups over the issue.
Afghanistan is at a crisscross, and it couldn’t afford to blink. Security is in need of being beefed up, and to do so the Taliban should act against the terrorists holed up inside the country to flush them off. The Tehreek-e-Taliban on either flanks, ISIS and Al Qaeda are parasites to peace and coexistence, and none of their splinters should be allowed to resurface under political and ethnic premises. Last but not least is the regressive diatribe wherein people invoke the historical and lingual banner to foment discord. Such trends have to be put to rest, and their harbingers taken to task as per sovereignty laws.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2022.
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