Cosmetic steps

To Pakistan, it's too little - and rightly so. Well, the context here is the shifting of some family members of TTP fighters from the areas bordering Pakistan, by the interim Afghan government. This relocation is meant to placate Islamabad's growing anger over the ghastly TTP activities inside Pakistan. However, it's pretty clear that rather than hitting the nail on the head, the interim Afghan government is just beating around the bush. The Taliban 2.0 - obligated to take action against the terror outfits operating from the Afghan soil in line with international guarantees - are only taking cosmetic steps that are well understood to cause no stir. By the way similar relocations have been done in the past also, with little or no impact - more so because those that were moved, then and now, did not include TTP fighter, but their families only.

Persistently entrenched in denial, Kabul is not ready to admit that Afghanistan continues to act as the epicentre of terrorism in the region, harbouring terrorists of nearly all hues and shades that are out to bleed Pakistan and other countries in the neighbourhood in the pursuit of their shady agendas. It's about time the Taliban realised that they are equally threatened by these terrorist outfits holed up inside Afghanistan. They must now gear up to confront these terrorist groups head-on rather than continuing to appease them. After all, at stake is peace - a long elusive dream of the Afghan nation. Moreover, failing to take a meaningful action against the dreaded element also threatens to squander their efforts for global legitimacy.

More than the region, a peaceful Afghanistan is in the interest of the war-ravaged Afghan nation itself. The earlier Kabul realises this the better.