The Afghan quandary

There is something critically wrong in Pakistan’s Afghan policy. Back-to-back attacks on Pakistani interests is a source of concern, and go on to reflect the missing link of unanimity. The attack on Pakistan’s mission in Kabul on Friday, apparently aimed at Chargé d’affaires Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, is highly condemnable. It led to the maiming of a security guard, who is reported to be in a precarious health. Likewise, on November 13, the Friendship Gate at Chaman border witnessed a bloodbath, as a security man was gunned down by an Afghan shooter. Both these incidents and the growing mistrust prove that the Afghan Taliban are not in full gear, and there are inherent terror fissures in the southwest Asian restive state that are posing dangers to peace and security.

This is a faux pas moment for Pakistan as, it seems, the Taliban are not on the same page with Pakistan. The unrest pouring in from the Afghan side in the wake of collapse of a so-called peace agreement with TTP has the potential to plunge the entire region in chaos and mayhem. Pakistan had been on the receiving end for all these yesteryears until it decided to nip the terror in the bud. The new policy of talking it out with the non-state actors has bred discontent at home, and lionised the unscrupulous agents to go out for a bargain.

The pointed attack on the Chargé d’affaires should be read in the backdrop of TTP threat to bleed Pakistani interests. This entails a logical question: what’s next? And the most simplified answer would be to put the foot down and defend Pakistan’s interests at home and abroad by sending down the message that there won’t be any appeasement. No point in cutting a sorry figure, and tail-teasing the dreaded elements.

Peace and prosperity in Afghanistan is close to Pakistan’s heart. Islamabad is eager to accommodate Kabul in CPEC, and make use of the connectivity fulcrum for the good of millions of people. But that won’t be a possibility until and unless the terror elements are rooted out, and political consensus is achieved. Time for all the stakeholders to see through the same prism.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2022.

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