TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan

Following an attack on a security post in North Waziristan, in which four soldiers lost their lives, Pakistan Foreign Office summoned the deputy chief of the Afghan embassy on Wednesday to hand him a demarche. Foreign Office later issued a statement saying "serious concerns were conveyed to the Afghan side on the developing threats from the recently-established sanctuaries across the border in Khost and Paktika provinces." The protest note comes in the wake of reports that TTP and affiliated militants escaping from the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan had established sanctuaries in two Afghan provinces to launch cross-border attacks like the one on the security post. After 11 of them killed in the clash with soldiers some 100 terrorists fled back across the border. There is no sane reason for Kabul to harbour these terrorists.

Notably, at the outset of Zarb-e-Azb Pakistan had requested Kabul to take action on its side of the border to eliminate fleeing terrorists. Instead, as FO statement notes, they have been allowed to set up sanctuaries. Earlier, the Swat militant leader Mullah Fazlullah who now heads the TTP, was allowed to use Kunar and Nuristan provinces to carry out terrorist activities in this country. The excuse then was that since the Afghan Taliban, in particular the powerful Haqqani network, were camped in North Waziristan from where they launched attacks into Afghanistan, Pakistan should not expect Afghan security forces to do anything about Mullah Fazlullah and his men operating from Kunar and Nuristan. Even if the excuse had validity in the past, it is impertinent at present in view of the fact that Pakistan's security forces are carrying out a comprehensive military operation in North Waziristan. The Haqqanis are not there. And to address any lingering misgivings, a while ago Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a special emissary, Mehmood Khan Ackakzai, to Kabul to clear the air, and redress any complaints President Hamid Karzai might have had against Islamabad. Persisting issues need to be resolved urgently and effectively.

Some reports indicate Kabul is still unhappy with Islamabad. It is said to have taken umbrage at the September 12 video message issued by the Punjabi Taliban chief Ismatullah Muaviya, saying that his men will stop militant activities in Pakistan, focusing only on preaching Islam and Sharia, but that they would continue "practical jihad in Afghanistan." Subsequent reports indicate the Punjabi Taliban are aligning with the Haqqanis to continue fighting in Afghanistan. That should worry the Afghan government. However, it needs to be remembered that Punjabi Taliban carried out some of the deadliest attacks against civilian as well as military targets in this country, including the Army headquarters. Muaviya made the statement not as part of some agreement with the Pakistan government or the security forces, but as a consequence of the military action. This is no time for Kabul or Islamabad to hurt one another. International forces are due to leave Afghanistan soon. At a time like this Kabul's turning a blind eye, even indirect encouragement, to TTP's violent extremists is inexplicable. For they pose as serious a threat to peace and security in this country as in Afghanistan, and Western countries even further afield. The two countries must join hands to fight the common enemy.