Significantly, the concerns of both sides were spelled out clearly. Afghanistan promised to deal with militants using its soil as hiding places. It is worth noting that these men include Mullah Fazlullah, the current head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who has been based mainly in Afghanistan since the military operation in Swat in 2009. In turn, Pakistan, frequently accused by Kabul of permitting militant outfits, such as the Haqqani network based in North Waziristan, to use its soil to stage attacks in Afghanistan, stated it would be going after this outfit and others like it.
The setting up of a joint working group on security could mark a key point in a war both nations must win to save themselves. It follows a visit to Afghanistan by the chief of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, sent there by the prime minister as his special envoy. The overtures from both sides, coming as a new government takes over in Kabul, seem to have worked. We must hope things can move forward from this point on, and the kind of cooperation spoken of turned into reality so that militants can be more effectively tracked down. This, after all, is the most significant task of all and must take precedence over the games of petty politics both nations have been engaging in for far too long, allowing the militants to make gains as a result.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2014.
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Have we not heard all these promises of cooperation a million times before. There are dim chances of cooperation when the Haqqani network and Quetta Shura continue to be sheltered in Pakistan. Actions always speak louder than words, as does sincerity rather than duplicity.