Ending America’s longest war

US forces withdrew from South Vietnam in 1975 following the signing of a peace accord. This time Washington is leaving Afghanistan by September 11 without any peace treaty. President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah made a last bid to persuade President Biden to agree to something that they could take back with them to show to the Afghan people as a sign that the US was not abandoning them. All they could manage to get was a promise to maintain support for Afghanistan's military from abroad and to continue to provide economic and political support. Whether this will stop the fall of Kabul to Taliban in coming months is doubtful.

Over the last few weeks, the Taliban have advanced at lightning speed. They now hold almost twice as much of Afghanistan as they did just two months ago. The Taliban have even advanced in non-Pushtun northern provinces once seen as off-limits for the insurgency and a stronghold for the government. Indian media suggests that New Delhi has opened a channel of communication with the Afghan Taliban.

A high-level security briefing has been arranged for the Parliamentary Committee on developments with regards to Afghanistan and related matters of national security on Thursday at the Parliament House in Islamabad. The briefing will be held in a closed doors session where the 29-member committee will get an opportunity to avail a question-answer session. It would be the first meeting of the committee in about eight months as the last meeting in November was boycotted by the opposition which must not happen this time.

Pakistan cannot afford to be a bystander in Afghanistan. The PM has frankly told the US he will absolutely not allow bases for action in Afghanistan. This amounts to favouring the Taliban. Pakistan can demand in return that the Taliban stop the TTP and other networks from using the Afghan soil as a launching pad against Pakistan.

Pakistan needs to consult with China, Russia, Iran and Turkey to evolve a joint strategy to interact with whosoever controls Kabul, including Taliban. Pakistan meanwhile has to launch an earnest campaign at home against extremism, sectarianism, and the Taliban’s Pakistani derivatives so that they are not used by the Taliban to pressurize Pakistan.