Terror fulcrum

Pakistan has made an earnest effort to apprise the Chinese diplomats of the fulcrum of terrorism. In an extraordinary briefing at the Foreign Office, critical evidence was shared with the Chinese special envoy to Afghanistan, Ambassador Yue Xiaoyong, letting Beijing know that the epicentre of terrorism is based inside Afghanistan. The session came closely on a similar purview to the Russian special envoy, Zamir Kabulov. While China and Russia have de facto acknowledged the Taliban 2.0 regime, and have exchanged envoys, the input from Pakistan was of immense importance in drawing the new lines of interaction with the strife-torn state which has, by virtue of hosting non-state actors like TTP, al-Qaeda, IS-K and ISIS, become a melting pot for revulsion and instability in the region.

Pakistan and China are on the same page when it comes to the adverse impact of dreaded elements, as CPEC interests have repeatedly come under attack in the restive provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. A glance at the terror spike suggests that most of these men were trained inside Afghanistan, and due to the proximity of difficult terrain they freely operate on both sides of the border. This is where the dispensation in Kabul is at a failure as it has not been able to rein in these elements, and repeated pleas from Islamabad have fallen on deaf ears. Moreover, a section of the incumbent Taliban regime has come to nurse bad blood against Pakistan, which has instead been forthcoming in helping it out in all avenues of humanitarian and security domains.

The Chinese were also made to understand that Pakistan has left no stone unturned in ensuring foolproof security and the marking of Red Zone in Karachi after the recent airport attack is a case in point. The need of the hour is a trilateral cooperation between Kabul, Beijing and Islamabad to work on counter-terrorism in the region, with the explicit agreement that all non-state actors will be flushed out of Afghanistan. Only then will serenity act as a catalyst in trade and development.