Editorial

Of rocks and hard places

There is a large shopping list, and one Pakistan may find difficult to fulfill to the satisfaction of President Ghani

Editorial June 03, 2015

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. PHOTO: REUTERS

There must be few jobs in the world as unenviable as that of the president of Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani is trying to hold together an extremely fragile government in Afghanistan. Some of those tensions revolve around the recent improvement in relations with Pakistan, which not all parties in Afghanistan — or Pakistan for that matter — are entirely comfortable with. Nor are other players, notably India, which is going to do all it can to foster a climate of managed instability, keep the pot of tension simmering and doing nothing to promote regional peace and stability. The most recent point of sensitivity concerns the possibility of intelligence-sharing between agencies from both countries in an effort to battle the extremists better that flow back and forth across our mutual borders. President Ghani has faced severe domestic criticism for allowing this development, and he has now written to our government seeking assistance in his struggle to balance opposing internal forces.

Specifically, he is calling for tougher action against the Afghan Taliban in border regions, and moves against what are seen as ‘sanctuaries’ in the tribal areas, as well as seeking house arrest for known Taliban leaders in Quetta and Peshawar and the arrest of members of the Haqqani network. This is a large shopping list, and one Pakistan may find difficult to fulfill to the satisfaction of President Ghani. There does appear to be a willingness at least in principle to cooperate, and the head of a parliamentary panel has said that Pakistan should hand over members of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network to Kabul — which is a significant shift from the position of a year ago where complete denial was the only agenda item. Pakistan in many ways is in no less of a dilemma as Afghanistan. Changing course after years of following the same route is never going to be easy. That said, we strongly support both President Ghani and our own government in this essential rewriting of the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2015.

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COMMENTS (6)

cautious | 9 years ago | Reply Karsai was a terrible leader - like to micro manage everything and made every decision based on local politics rather than what was good for Afghanistan. But he got one thing right .... he knew that if Afghanistan emulated Pakistan's policy of providing de-facto sanctuary to terrorist that Pakistan would conclude that cooperation was better than confrontation. Probably the only case of two wrongs making a right.

Cool Henry | 9 years ago | Reply @UK: If situation between Afghanistan and Pakistan gets resolved, Pakistani military may see a huge cut in resource allocation. Hence, I do not see things getting better soon.

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UK | 9 years ago | Reply Mutual respect and co-operation is required. Apology for assassinating first PM of Pakistan, stirring up (although now dead) Pashtunistan issue. Afghan border incursions in the 50s, many many bomb explosions in the 80-s by Afghan operatives, and then end of support for Pakistani Taliban, End of support for Baluch insurgents, taking back millions of refugees and accepting the border (and later sealing it) are few things Afghan government has to do, to show intent to solve, these mutual problems. Afghanistan and Pakistan have very strong cultural ties and were one country back in the day, but it is important to let go old dreams and mentality of old glory (Durrani empire, wiki), when modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan were one.Not accepting the border would not bring back old empire. Pakistan is a reality. Mr. Ghani is so far most pragmatic of Afghan leaders, and things are going in right direction. But it will take time and lots of patience (from both sides) to resolve these issues.

Mayuresh | 9 years ago | Reply I really fail to get it. Pakistani army created taliban in your backyard, you protected them all these years, and now you say, be patient with us as we unentangle? Eventhough there are no signs of progress? What is an Afgan president supposed to do? Keep blaming India, but the fault lies with your military. It is very clear, the more things are supposed to have changed, the more they are the same. The terrorist genie is out of the bottle and Pakistan continues in its ambivalence of which ones to keep for future use. Things will get forced on Pakistan by external actors just like what happened after 9/11. Unfortunately, it will cost many more lives

Komal S | 9 years ago | Reply Okay we are confused, Is Afghanistan asking for anything unreasonable? All they are saying, do not provide sanctuaries to their terrorists and hand over some well know terrorists. Pakistan should have seen this coming. Not sure why would anyone blame India for this.

Virkaul | 9 years ago | Reply I expected an editorial to be more balanced. "Specifically, he is calling for tougher action against the afghan taliban in border regions, moves against what are seen as 'sanctuaries' in the tribal areas, as well as seeking house arrest for known taliban leaders in Quetta and .peshawar and the arrest of the members of the Haqqani network. This is a large shopping list...." I wonder what ET editor wishes to convey? Keep taliban in tact and force Afghanistan to agree to Pak army terms?

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