Despite Pakistan’s public posture that it rejects the new US policy towards the region, Pakistani authorities have taken the sound decision to make overtures to ensure that Pakistan does not end up completely isolated in the international playing field. On Thursday, the Director General Military Operations led a military delegation to attend tripartite talks in Kabul. Afghan and American authorities joined the talks – making this the first time in recent history that the three countries have talked about peace in Afghanistan and fighting terrorism in the region together. The huddle is thought to have produced some candid conversation on the Trump-led regional policy, which Pakistan has made clear singles out the country without just cause. Pakistan’s position remains that it is a victim of terrorism and that it has led the fight against all kinds of terrorist organisations on its soil. This is not a view shared by Afghan or US authorities – but both have historically recognised that there is no path forward towards regional peace which excludes Pakistan from the talking table. Making sure Pakistan does not lose its seat at the table is also a domestic priority. Terrorism in any part of our region is no longer merely a domestic phenomenon.
The involvement of the US in the Afghan war of 2001 opened the path towards cross-border regional terrorism in a way that we had never seen before. The inability to recognise how severe the consequences of such unchecked militarism would be in an already volatile region has been part of the story that is no longer talked about. Despite recent promises to deescalate, the US has promised a more intense military strategy focused on a single objective: the elimination of the Islamic State. The corresponding policy towards the Afghan Taliban remains sufficiently vague in practice despite whatever the Americans might state on paper. This creates the confusing environment that Pakistan has continued to operate in. This situation also indicates the need for a serious conversation amongst regional powers and power-brokers such as the US on how to move forward. Reminders of the threat terrorism poses to the region are not hard to find. On Thursday, the IS beheaded two men in the Kunar province. On Friday, an attack on security officials on the Pakistani-side of the Torkham border left six injured. It is essential to avoid falling into the chaos that has ensued in the Middle East after IS infiltration into Syria, Iraq and Libya. Peace seems even more like a pipedream when looking at the millions displaced by war. It is important that an open and candid conversation occurs between Afghanistan and Pakistan on how to fight terrorism. The meeting in Kabul is a small step forward.