IT is unfortunate that the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan remains strained for most of the time despite inseparable bonds and the role that Islamabad has all along played for socio-economic development of the neighbouring country and to promote the cause of a sovereign Afghanistan. In a latest development, the Afghan Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in Kabul to record a formal protest over the reported airstrikes a day earlier inside Afghanistan, targeting the hideouts of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Media reports suggest that fighter jets bombed four locations, said to be camps of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, targeting and neutralising several suspected terrorists. It has been reported that at the time of the air strikes, the TTP was holding a big gathering in Bermal and TTP camps in the Murgha and Laman areas of the district were targeted, including one that was used by Sher Zaman alias Mukhlis Yar, Commander Abu Hamza, Commander Akhtar Muhammad and the head of TTPs media arm, Umar Media.
The Afghan Government is squarely to be blamed for the continued escalation of tension between the two brotherly countries as, on its part, Pakistan has demonstrated remarkable patience in the face of unending provocations. The civil and military leadership of Pakistan took up the issue of cross-border terrorism with the Taliban authorities repeatedly providing undeniable evidence of involvement of TTP elements in acts of terrorism and sabotage in Pakistan. However, Kabul has ignored Pakistani concerns about threats to the security of its people and persisted with its facilitation of the terrorist outfits, which are operating freely from Afghan regions bordering Pakistan despite assertions made by the Taliban leadership not to allow anyone to use Afghan soil against any other country. Pakistan also demonstrated its peaceful intentions by reappointing its special representative to Afghanistan, who was incidentally in Kabul for talks with Afghan authorities during Pakistani action against terrorist hideouts. It is strange that at a time when the Pakistani envoy was holding talks on ways and means to resolve the security issue, Afghan authorities allowed TTP to hold a gathering to mull over its anti-Pakistan activities. The Afghan side has claimed killing of 46 and injuries to six others and the remarks that some of them were Pakistanis (meaning TTP terrorists) justifies Islamabad’s action to safeguard its security interests. TTP has launched an open war against Pakistan carrying out attacks on civilian and military targets and its right of the country to neutralize threats to its people. Following the airstrikes, the Afghan Ministry of National Defence said that the interim Taliban Administration would not leave this act unanswered rather it considered the defence of its territory its inalienable right. These remarks ignore ground realities as Pakistan has been taking up with Kabul for the last two years the issue of a surge in terrorist activities against the country from Afghan soil. It was because of inaction on the part of the Taliban regime that forced Pakistan to take unilateral action and the action was not against Afghan people but against TTP terrorists. The Taliban spokesperson has also claimed that the airstrikes were an attempt to create distrust between people of the two countries but is it a friendly gesture to the people of Pakistan to shield and patronize elements killing innocent people in Pakistan. There are reports that the Taliban authorities have plans to relocate the TTP outfit away from the Pakistan border to Ghazni. This confirms the belief that Kabul is unwilling to weed out terrorists involved in anti-Pakistan activities and instead wants to retain them as an asset against Pakistan. Cosmetic measures are unlikely to help and instead Kabul should address legitimate concerns of Pakistan in a satisfactory manner.
