Someone somewhere is itching to say “I told you so” when he sees the reaction of the Defence Ministry and the Foreign Office to Wednesday’s Zhob attacks, which led to the largest single-day casualties, with nine soldiers being killed. Both fulminated against the Taliban government of Afghanistan, with Defence Minister Kh Asif saying it was neither fulfilling its obligation as a neighbouring and brotherly country nor safeguarding the peace agreement.” At the time of the Taliban takeover, it had been predicted that there would be an upsurge in terrorism. Whether it is indeed the fault of the PTI, which Kh Asif was quick to blame, there is no doubt that there has been an upsurge in Tehrik Taliban Pakistan activity, mainly because they now have safe havens in Afghanistan. Though the Pakistan government has repeatedly demanded that the TTP members who had carried out acts of terror in Pakistan be handed over, the Afghan Taliban have refused to do. Now, it seems, those who had been most supportive of the Afghan Talban, and happiest at their accession to power, and most confident that they would act according to Pakistan’s interests, are seeing the consequences of that policy, in the shape of military fatalities.
It is not entirely reassuring that the Afghan government has said that it remained committed to the Doha agreements, and the peace and stability of the region. The Afghan government shows a recognition that stability is essential to achieve the aim of making Afghanistan a hub of trade and prosperity. However, that recognition does not accord with its actions, which have protected its ideological colleagues, and which have extended to its attempting to mediate between the TTP and Pakistan, as if they were equals rather than a state dealing with citizens who had violated the law.
The problem has been that the Afghan Taliban have been handled by the establishment. This must stop, for the Afghan Taliban’s protection of the TTP has led to the establishment itself becoming a victim. Rather than reinforcing failure, the establishment must allow the civilian government the authority to deal with the problem. The Talian, whether Afghan or Pakistani, hsave become a problem too hot to be left to some murky and amorphous agency to handle. The deaths in Zhob are only the latest example of how establishment intervention in matters that should be left to the government lead to the hand that feeds being bit. May 9 was another.
