Jalalabad attack

On Saturday, the Islamic State announced that it had made inroads into Afghanistan – and it did so with a suicide bomb blast in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad, killing 33 people and injuring over a 100. The attack occurred on a government bank as government employees were withdrawing their salaries. For once, local Taliban groups that had recently increased attacks on government machinery denied they were behind the attack. Similarly, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Islam declared that those who were behind the attack had ‘nothing to do with Islam’. These condemnations from Taliban groups have bemused observers since the same groups were quick to accept responsibility for similar attacks in Pakistan. According to some, it may just be a matter of expediency for groups that have been forced to find sanctuaries in Afghanistan after a change in tact in Pakistan since the Peshawar school attack.
Most observers have thought that local militants would be the allies of choice for Isis as it attempts to expand into South Asia. The attraction of Isis for young militants in the region is clear: Isis has managed to actually deliver the promises groups like the Taliban have unsuccessfully made. Pakistan must be quick to talk to the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to come up with a joint strategy on Isis infiltration in the region. With the Afghan chief of general staff in Pakistan, this is a good moment to have a serious discussion on regional cooperation to combat the collective threat posed by militancy in the region. Pakistan must also focus on ensuring peace in the region, instead of involving itself in conflicts elsewhere. American officials may have expressed alarm at the entry of Isis into the region, but the entire situation is of their making. The US withdrawal from the country has come at a bad time as the militancy the US invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq gave rise to are gaining strength. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has correctly understood the significance of responding quickly to the attack and has called terrorism ‘a common enemy’ for both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that both countries are working together to end it. This has not been the case for much of the history of the two countries. Therefore, moves by Afghanistan-based Taliban groups to distance themselves from the attack should be viewed suspiciously. All militant groups in the region are more or less committed to destablising one or another government in the region. On Sunday, the Afghan president and Iran President Rouhani stood together to announce joint efforts to combat Isis. The Jalalabad attack should serve as a reminder of the potential danger such militancy poses.