Engage TTP, what?

There seems to be a faux pas with Kabul. The reported undiplomatic sermon from Afghan Taliban, urging Islamabad to engage the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in talks is nothing but a tactic to deviate public opinion. The Taliban 2.0 dispensation knows very well that the terror outfit is a nuisance, and all efforts to deal with it in the civilised avenues of negotiations have hit snags. Moreover, Kabul also understands that it is in a pledge with the international community to persuade the TTP to not use its soil for nefarious activities, and to exterminate all such elements. Thus, the lecture to take to the table seems to be a friendly gesture more towards the TTP, then actually addressing the menace of cross-border terrorism.

This new stunt from the Taliban will surely be contested by Pakistan, and the regional states alike. It is quite unfortunate that efforts to persuade the Taliban to act against the TTP have fallen on deaf ears, and it seems vested interests in the Afghan communal spheres are being guarded at the cost of regional peace. Pakistan had done all it can in order to reach out to the TTP and the likes, by offering them an olive branch in lieu of giving up arms, and had signed many accords too. The disgusting part is that none of these non-state actors know how to live up to the international expectations, and values of commitment to upholding peace. This is the reason Pakistan’s civil and military leadership had called it a day, and resolved not to engage anymore with such dreaded entities.

The Afghan deputy prime minister’s diatribe to the Pakistani envoy to pursue the “path of peace” instead of “use of force” must be taken up at the highest forum. Islamabad will be well within its rights to call on the regional states to look into this aspect, and better advise the Taliban as to where and why they are flunking. It is in a bad taste to see them falling in line, and providing a cover to the TTP to remain alive and kicking on both sides of the divide.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2023.

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