Isaf must stop cross-border attacks

The new commander of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, US General John Allen, got an earful during his first visit to Pakistan on Wednesday. According to media reports, his hosts, upset over Pakistani Taliban using sanctuaries in Afghanistan to launch raids into Dir and Chitral, told him that it was the responsibility of Isaf and the Afghan National Army to prevent future incursions. And that further attacks would not be tolerated.
It may be recalled that following military operations in Swat and the tribal areas, many of the militants fled to Afghanistan. During the last few months, they have launched several attacks in border villages of Upper and Lower Dir and Chitral, killing many members of the tribal militias, policemen as well as security personnel. They have also been torching schools, even a mosque. The militants have been able to cause as much harm as they could have because the security posts in the affected areas were too few, and the existing ones undermanned. For long those posts served their purpose. But problems started after the US removed its security posts from the neighbouring Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nooristan, leaving a vacuum that the militants used to set up their sanctuaries.
Pakistani forces have been avoiding hot pursuit, preferring to fire rockets and mortars. A couple of months ago, a nasty situation developed when some of the mortars fell on Afghan villages, resulting in several causalities and an angry reaction from the government. Head of the Afghan border police announced he was resigning from his post for failure to protect his people. Pakistan since has adopted a more cautious policy. As reports quoting official sources say, use of excessive force is being avoided to prevent civilian casualties on the Afghan side. However, that can change, they say, if Isaf and the Afghan Army do not act against Pakistani militants' sanctuaries in that country. Such a situation could easily lead to serious clashes, impacting Pak-US co-operation, which has already been under much stress since the US Special Forces' secret raid on the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad. That surely is not going to help anyone, but the militants.
For its part, Pakistan has resolved to augment paramilitary deployment in areas bordering Nooristan and Kunar provinces so as to prevent militant forays into Dir and Chitral areas. But the border is notoriously porous. Both sides need to work together to stop the activity. The US is unlikely to put back its posts in the area, especially in the wake of its troop drawdown and escalation in Afghan Taliban attacks. However, its focus having shifting back to eastern Afghanistan, the visiting general indicated his side might undertake special operations in the areas occupied by Pakistani militants. His side owes that to Pakistan in return for so many sacrifices this country has made as a partner in the fight against terrorism. The US must also ask the Kabul government to deploy the Afghan National Army in the affected areas to stop cross-border militant attacks.