The way ahead

With Pakistan mounting pressure on Afghanistan after a recent spate of terrorist attacks in the country, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani came up with a strange defence at the Munich Security Conference. Acknowledging the need for Pakistan and Afghanistan to work together to fight terrorism, the Afghan president insisted that there was no civil war in Afghanistan and that instead it was an ‘unannounced war amongst states’. Left unsaid, but implied, was that Ghani considers Pakistan to be one of the countries at war in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan for sheltering the Afghan Taliban; but coming at a point when Pakistan has faced a renewed bout of terrorism, Ghani’s line appears to be confusing. The claim that there is no civil war in Afghanistan is simply untrue. The country has been in the throes of a civil war since the 1990s – if not the 1980s. This is the weight of history that Ghani has to bear when attempting to steer Afghanistan towards peace. Faced with concrete demands from Pakistan, if Ghani is genuinely committed to both countries working together he would welcome such efforts.

Instead, the recent border skirmishes between the Pakistan Army and terrorists have drawn the ire of Afghan officials. The anger is not surprising; Afghan perceptions remain that Pakistan has found an easy scapegoat in Afghanistan for its own failure to control terrorism. Even if that is true, Ghani himself has indulged in more blame game and accusations of this sort. Cross-border shelling may be a violation of sovereignty, but so is cross-border terrorism. If there is now a renewed countrywide offensive against terrorists in Pakistan, Afghan support would be crucial. There are fears within Pakistan though that the indiscriminate nature of the ‘retribution’ for the Sehwan attack will result in problems in the future. Cross-border shelling on its own can barely solve the problem of terrorist camps in Afghan territory – and there is no doubt that the civil and military leadership knows that. But somewhere amidst this mess, the Pakistan and Afghan governments will need to come together to form a joint approach to tackling terrorism. There have been a few nods towards cooperation, with Army Chief Qamar Bajwa saying that Pakistan and Afghanistan face a common enemy that they will fight together. Ghani has publicly recognised this, but will have to show commitment to it by responding positively to Pakistani demands after the recent spate of terror. And Pakistan will have to respond in kind. The need for an end to the blame game is more obvious than ever. But that would require an instant cooling down along the border, followed by the difficult work of restarting the diplomatic process. The damage done by militancy is only multiplied when the two governments react with anger and accusations.