Unwarranted criticism

Pakistan’s launching of Operation Khyber-IV against the Islamic State in the Rajgal Valley in Khyber Agency was never going to sit well with Afghanistan since we have always maintained that IS militants are crossing across the border to carry out attacks in Pakistan. Any cooperation by Afghanistan would be a virtual admission that IS is indeed based in the country, something the Ashraf Ghani government has always denied. Even then, Afghanistan has gone further than expected in dismissing the operation. The Afghan Ministry of Defence has said that the true centres of militancy are in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, and has called for military operations in these cities under the monitoring of China and the US. It has also said there has been no offer of coordination from Pakistan once the operation went underway. The suggestion – or taunt – of operations in our largest cities and the claims that Pakistan is not cooperating was immediately dismissed by ISPR as “unwarranted” and against the fraternal spirit that the Pakistan Army is striving for. According to ISPR, information about the operation was shared both verbally and in writing with the Afghans, the US and Nato. The message from the Afghans is clear: working with Pakistan is so unacceptable that they will even risk jeopardising a mission that would be for the benefit of both countries.

Afghanistan is feeling particularly emboldened after the US State Department accused Pakistan of not taking significant action against militant groups, even though the State Department has also pointed out that terrorism attacks have decreased for the second year running and that Pakistan remains a key counter-terrorism partner. Afghanistan has long maintained that the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network are not only based in Pakistan but even receive help from the state. Pakistan, for its part, believes the same about the TTP, IS and other militant groups operating out of Afghanistan. But instead of levelling allegations against each other, the two countries should be working together on operations like Khyber-IV to show that they are serious about tackling regional militancy. As the Foreign Office pointed out, after the Afghan Ministry of Defence levelled its latest allegations, terrorism in Afghanistan has increased because of the 40-year insurgency that has raged in the country. We could also have pointed out that militancy in Pakistan was birthed by that same insurgency. The only way to tackle it now is by working together, something Afghanistan is still loath to do.