Pakistan is facing a renewed wave of terrorism from across its western borders ever since the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban Government in mid-August 2021. Indeed, this is a return of terrorism since Pakistan had fully combated this menace through its various military operations ranging from 2007 to 2017. Besides major military operations against terrorism and militancy, Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps have conducted dozens of minor military operations all over the former FATA and even in the settled areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. Operation Zarb-i-Azb was the last major military operation launched by the Pakistan Army with the help of the Pakistan Air Force in 2014. This operation was conducted in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA), which was considered the “No Go Area” in the former FATA. It was the main headquarters of the terrorist outfit TTP, known as Fitna Al Khawarij. The renewed wave of terrorism after 2021 has seriously endangered the security of Pakistan all along the Pak-Afghan policy besides settled areas.
Indeed, owing to resurgence of terrorism, the state and society of Pakistan is under severe threat. Although the security forces of Pakistan are combating the terrorism of Fitna al khwarij with lot of professionalism and bravery yet, there is a need to diversify the strategies to counter the terrorism. In this regards, a two-pronged strategy may be adopted by the Government of Pakistan to get rid of this menace of terrorism: a) Security domain, combating the terrorism in the physical domain, b) socio-political domain, negotiating with the Interim Taliban Government of Afghanistan for controlling the terrorist of Fitna al Khwarij, who use Afghan soil. In the first domain, the security forces of Pakistan mainly Pak Army and FC should continue combating the terrorism with full force, as being done currently. The second part of the proposed strategy should fall into the domain of political forces, diplomats, intellectuals and members of the civil society of Pakistan as a Socio-Political Strategy. Considering the nature of security threats from widespread terrorism and the involvement of domestic and external forces, both strategies should work simultaneously in their respective domains with complete interconnectedness, coordination and harmony.
In the security domain, the Pakistani Military has to continue combatting the terrorist activities as being done all over the country through the recently conceived Operation “Azm-i-Istehkam”. Since the focus of this operation revolves around the “Resolve for Stability” by combating the menaces of extremism and terrorism, therefore it should be restricted to the terrorism-hit areas without creating a disturbance and displacement of the masses and without collaterals damage. Within the security domain, the focus of military operations should be on two key aspects. The first aspect should focus on a rigorous border monitoring system through physical monitoring, vigilant surveillance, and intelligence by using all available means. Strong border management through a well-coordinated surveillance and intelligence system would leave significantly less space for the terrorists to infiltrate into Pakistan and fight too.
The second aspect of the security strategy should focus on the identification and targeting of those terrorists who are already present in various parts of the country. Identifying and combating this category of terrorists will be a very challenging task since most of the terrorists of Fitna Al Khawarij and other groups have deeply penetrated the local social fabric through religious motivation and elements of coercion. For success against this group of terrorists, the military will have to take the locals of the affected areas into confidence. Restoration of trust and initiation of confidence-building measures between masses of the affected areas will act as a key to success against terrorists and terrorism.
Pakistan needs to make a lot of efforts in the Socio-political domain both within Pakistan and with the Government and stakeholders of Afghanistan. Besides these two areas, the external forces having their strategic and political interests linked with the promotion of terrorism against Pakistan have to be engaged through diplomatic and political means. The covert nature of the involvement of external forces in the promotion of terrorism within Pakistan warrants a cautious, intelligent and prophetic handling. They have to be provided with all the evidences of their involvement in the promotion of terrorism in Pakistan through a gracious and diplomatic manner. The contemporary rift between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban Government has external dimensions which need to be explained to Afghan Taliban Government in a methodical manner.
Since there is irrefutable evidence available for the usage of Afghan soil for terrorism against Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban Government has to be told in clear terms about the consequences for both Pakistan and Afghanistan at political, social and economic levels. Indeed, neither side can afford the continuation of the existing gulf between two fraternal brothers and the deteriorating security situation owing to rampant terrorism in Pakistan. Since there is no option of starting a conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the strategy of external forces for creating conflicting situation between the two states has to be debated at length and understood by Islamabad and Kabul before it is too late. Although currently Pakistan is the only country, facing terrorism from across the Pak-Afghan borders, the other regional states bordering Afghanistan may also face the threat of militancy and terrorism in the subsequent phases. To control and constrain the terrorism emanating from Afghan soil, the regional states bordering Afghanistan; China, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan should form a regional security mechanism against the threats of terrorism from Afghanistan. This forum should make result oriented engagements with the Afghan Taliban Government through dialogue for bringing an end to the terrorist activities in the region on long-term basis. The abovementioned strategy may be debated by Government of Pakistan with military leadership for working out a result oriented outcome to root-out terrorism.
—The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
