EDITORIAL: Islamabad would be disappointed that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s trip to Kabul didn’t quite prove fruitful and there’s no progress at all in terms of getting the Taliban to eliminate TTP’s network in Afghanistan.
Yet, it must be said, if Pakistani authorities expected any other outcome, especially quick compliance, then they just haven’t been paying attention to the position the Taliban have consistently taken on the matter.
They always repeat the same line that Afghan soil is never used for attacks on other countries even as TTP’s operations, planned right under the regime’s nose, become increasingly complicated and deadly.
And now that Pakistani authorities have thrown the kitchen sink at the Taliban as far as a diplomatic solution is concerned, the question now arises about just what measures they are willing to take to crush TTP once and for all.
It no longer matters whether the Taliban have gone back on the Doha deal and broken their promise to Pakistan because of some ideological overlap with TTP or because their own fight with ISIS rules out opening any more active fronts.
The point is that they have done nothing to discourage TTP either, even relocate them away from the border. And their repeated urges that Islamabad talk to them shows that they recognise the insurgent group as an equal to the state of Pakistan.
This is unacceptable; especially, since there is enough chatter in the security community to pretty much confirm that much of TTP’s arms and funding come from hostile agencies across Pakistan’s eastern border.
And even while the JUI-F chief was being so warmly received by his hosts, TTP thought the time was perfect to kill six Pakistani policemen during an attack on a polio vaccination team in Bajaur — clearly sending a loud message that is falling on deaf ears in Kabul.
Instead, the Taliban told Maulana Fazlur Rehman that they weren’t happy with the way Afghan refugees were asked to leave Pakistan.
The government cannot and must not allow the country to be encircled in this way. Far too many people have already been killed in the time authorities exhausted all options in favour of a soft solution via Kabul.
Now, it seems, the only workable way forward is to bite the bullet, cleanse the border area of all TTP pockets, and then firmly fence it. Kabul must also be told in no uncertain terms of the consequences of interfering in this initiative.
It is already a shame that the Taliban have forced Islamabad to push the reset button on this unique relationship. No country in the world talks to them, much less recognise them, because they prove time and gain that they cannot be trusted to keep their word.
For a government with very little resources and even less money, the Taliban betray a shocking disregard for ground reality. Unfortunately, they seem bent on further isolating themselves from the world, and increasing the suffering of their own people. In hindsight, it was unrealistic to expect much to come out of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s trip in the first place.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024