Terrorism is a rising problem around the world and it needs to be tackled soon. But is Afghanistan justified in its claim when it says that war on terror "should know no borders", implicating that Pakistan should be attacked, inquires Sualiha Nazar
Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders operate "outside the country". The war on terror "should know no borders." The international community should address the "root causes of terrorism — wherever they are." This implication of the Afghan officials suggest that they would not mind if the US forces attack the safe havens of Al Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan. So conclusively, if an attack is made on Pakistan on the basis of "war against terrorism", then Pakistan can forget any form of support from Afghanistan.
The analysts are of the view that until and unless the US and Nato don’t deal with the militant’s ability to command and control the insurgency from across the border (Pakistan), they won’t be able to make any long term development in Afghanistan.
For this purpose, the "brotherly neighbours" are intent on eradicating the "source of terrorism". Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defence Ministry spokesman is of the view that terrorism is like a spring and it is better to go to the main source than to fight the water’s flow. The chief of Afghanistan’s intelligence service, Amrullah Saleh, recently said that terrorism’s defeat requires that either Afghanistan’s borders be sealed or "the strategy of the coalition forces toward Pakistan should change."
The reason behind this lobbying of military attacks is that the top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are, supposedly, managing their operations out of tribal areas in Pakistan, where US forces are unable to pursue them. Also the region is thought-out to be a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Pakistan army and Foreign Ministry spokesmen did not reply to calls seeking comment, but the government is repeatedly denying Taliban leaders’ coordinate the Afghan insurgency from its soil.
In fact what the world fails to realize is that Taliban militants pose a growing threat to Pakistan’s own security. Hundreds of people have died, many of them security forces, after Islamist fighters grabbed control of tracts of Pakistan’s northwestern frontier. In the past three months alone there have been 19 suicide attacks, mostly targeting the army or government. Also, in the highest-profile attack, Pakistan’s government suspects the top Taliban leader in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud. They say he might have been behind the Dec 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
For the sake of "war against terrorism", however, US President George Bush’s top security advisers — including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are considering of expanding the authority of CIA and the military to "conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan."
But until now, the prospects of an American military deployment inside Pakistan, remain slim, because of the suspected outrage which might take place would from the government of President Pervez Musharraf and the wider public. According to the President, they would not let American forces hunt militants on its soil after.
Still the Afghan officials keep on forcing the US government to "deal with the source of the problem", which according to them is in the northern areas of Pakistan.
Humayun Hamidzada, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, believes that the operations against terrorism carried out by the international community, irrespective of where they are carried out will benefit Afghanistan. Some of the officials are implicit about their claims. However, officials like Saleh, the intelligence become very clear in their objective and incentive when they claim that the Taliban indeed has leadership councils in the cities of Quetta, Miranshah and Peshawar. Also in a previous occasion, Hamid Karzai openly stated that Taliban supreme commander Mullah Omar hides in Quetta, even though Pakistan denied the claim.
Saleh said that although the terrorist organizations are not strong enough to resist Pakistan’s army, "the system in Pakistan has no political determination to eliminate these elements and forces."
Even after every move of persuasion on part of the Afghan government, the American commanders in Afghanistan still praise Pakistan’s role in fighting militancy. They accept that Pakistani forces have killed or arrested scores of insurgents while taking heavy casualties.
Now what remains to be seen is who will be successful in convincing the US of their claims. The Afghan government is intent on making the US believe that Pakistan’s northern areas are the source of rising terrorism and there only the problem could be tackled. However, Pakistan remains adamant and keeps denying these claims. Now it’s up to the US government whose side they want to take.
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