Blaming Pakistan for Afghan tribulations

Yet once again, the Afghan authorities took no time to put the blame of the attack on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul on Pakistan. The attack started on Wednesday evening and continued for over 10 hours, leaving at least 13 people dead. The dastardly attack ended early on Thursday when two gunmen were shot dead by Afghan forces who finally worked their way inside.

Reports said that soon after the attack, there was a telephonic conversation between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif. President Ghani asked the COAS for action against the unidentified accomplices of attackers. The Afghan government shared three mobile phone numbers allegedly operating on the Pakistani side of the border, which it claimed had remained in contact with the attackers. Afterwards, the Pakistan Army initiated a combing operation along the Pak-Afghan border near Chaman to find the suspected persons.

The ISPR responded in a statement: “Our evaluation of the evidence provided and outcome of Combing Operation so far, has shown that all Afghan SIMs used during the attack were from a network owned and operated by an Afghan company whose spillover signal affects some areas along the Pak-Afghan border.”  Also, no “technical traces” of telephonic contacts between the Kabul university attackers and people on Pakistani side of the border could be found. Understandably, Islamabad also sought more evidence.

Instead of following in the Indian footsteps and putting all sorts of blame on Pakistan, it would be prudent for Mr Ghani to look at the real challenges he faces.

The US Director of National Intelligence in a report warned early this year: “Political cohesion will remain a challenge for Kabul as the National Unity Government will confront larger and more divisive issues later in 2016, including the implementation of election reforms, long-delayed parliamentary elections, and a potential change by a Loya Jirga that might fundamentally alter Afghanistan’s constitutional order.” As told, the infighting between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah recently became public.

Then the Taliban are not on retreat but on offensive courtesy the Afghan army and the government in Kabul, who have been unable to mount an effective challenge to the militia. According to The National Interest, a US magazine, “Since the beginning of the year, the Afghan National Army has faced a dramatic casualty rate in the battlefield. Army recruitment has reached its lowest point to date and desertion has risen to an all time highest.

These events are ultimately attributed to the weak leadership and lack of political will of the National Unity Government to implement desperately needed reforms.”

The report continued: “If any or all of these processes are allowed to continue unhindered—a re-armament by warlord militias, a territory grab by the Taliban, or further delay of the promises of electoral and constitutional reform of the Unity Government—it would drastically intensify the conflict, militarize the society even further and sabotage the precarious progress in strengthening the rule of law.

There will be a deepening of the crisis of political legitimacy. Under these fragile circumstances, Afghanistan cannot afford any of those outcomes.”

The Foreign Office had earlier in a statement condemned the Kabul attack. “Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attack at the American University in Kabul. …We extend our profound condolences to the government and the people of Afghanistan and the families of those who lost their loved ones in this brutal terrorist attack.… Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations.”

It is a fact that when Pakistan armed forces were carrying out operations in Fata and asked the Afghan government to seal the border and tackle the fleeing terrorists, it simply looked the other way.

One simply fails to understand that whenever there is a terrorist attack in India or Afghanistan, both countries promptly come up with “evidence” that the ‘home sick attackers’ rang up somebody in Pakistan, perhaps discussing new Bollywood releases or asking for recipes for cooking chicken tikkas and beef.