EDITORIAL: Speaking at an Asia Society event in New York on Wednesday, interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said Pakistani’s chief concern is the enhanced threat from terrorist organisations, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the so-called Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), which are using Afghan soil to launch attacks on Pakistan.
Although the Kabul government denies the presence of TTP militants on its territory, a recent UN Security Council monitoring report confirmed Pakistan’s concerns, saying the Afghan Taliban who consider TTP militants as part of the ‘Emirate’ provided safe havens to them, and that an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 fighters of that terrorist outfit are based mainly in the eastern Afghan provinces close to Pakistan’s border. Furthermore, noted the report, while the Afghan Taliban target the IS-K, their own adversary, they have largely looked the other way when it came to the TTP or the Al Qaeda.
Part of the problem is also Pakistan’s own policy blunders. It erred first when it fell for the Afghan Taliban’s offer to negotiate a settlement with that criminal enterprise, which took it as a sign of weakness and made preposterous demands, such as reversal of erstwhile tribal areas merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and withdrawal of security forces from there so they could establish their own rule in those areas.
The second big mistake was a dubious agreement under which a large number of TTP militants were allowed to return along with their weapons, the expectation being that they would peacefully integrate into society.
Instead, they saw that as an opportunity to regroup in the previously stabilised areas and facilitate ingress of fighters from across the border and do what they have been indoctrinated to do. The result is a resurgence of attacks on the security forces, police and other soft targets. They have also made life difficult for peaceful residents of KP’s tribal districts as well as Swat, killing several local elders for their loyalty to the State and resorting to other criminal activities, such as extortion and kidnapping for ransom. The TTP terrorists have proved right those who have been saying all along that they deserved no settlement short of total surrender.
Minister Jilani also told his audience that Pakistan remained closely engaged with the interim government of Afghanistan on the issue. Some reports have suggested that the Afghan Taliban do want to resolve it. However, there seems to be a difference of approach between the pragmatists represented by interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and the hardliners aligned with ultra-conservative Supreme Leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada to whom the TTP has declared its allegiance.
Whatever maybe the reason for the Afghan Taliban’s reluctance to act against the TTP, of late Pakistan’s military and civilian leaderships have been issuing public statements telling the interim Afghan government that if they are unable, or unwilling, to rein in TTP terrorists, their hideouts inside that country would be taken out. That resolve is yet to be followed up with action. The best course to adopt in such situations is ‘fight fight, talk talk’. Pakistan should employ its intelligence assets to launch drone strikes on TTP targets while keeping the door open to talks with the interim Kabul government.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023