This year, with the Pak-Afghan relationship seemingly on the mend, it had been hoped that what was expected to be the toughest fighting season yet for the Afghan National Security Forces would not turn into a spat between Pakistain and Afghanistan.
However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
with the official Afghan Taliban declaration of the start of the spring offensive little more than a week old, those hopes have already been dented.
After the Afghan interior ministry's spokesperson alleged that snuffies from Pakistain had crossed over into Afghanistan to join the spring offensive, the spokesperson for the Foreign Office struck back, denying the Afghan interior ministry official's accusations and suggesting that the best course for both countries was closer cooperation and coordination. Therein lies the crux of the recent problem.
When Pakistain launched operations in North
Wazoo and the Tirah region, the military here expected that anti-Pakistain snuffies would try and escape to Afghanistan and hoped that the Afghan state would either cut them off on the border or capture them inside Afghanistan.Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do...
the Afghan government expected that Pakistain would do more along the Pak-Afghan border to prevent the Afghan Taliban's spring offensive being reinforced by Pakistain-based holy warriors, some of whom, having being eased out of their sanctuaries here, were always likely to join the fight in Afghanistan.
Neither the Afghan government's nor the Pak state's expectations have been responded to adequately by the other side, so now both countries are turning to an old and familiar blame game.
The best response is indeed closer cooperation and coordination, especially on border management, but the old issue of trust appears to be thwarting that.
There is also the much bigger issue of reconciliation inside Afghanistan that appears to be going nowhere -- an impasse that is beginning to show in terms of the undiplomatic accusations Pakistain and Afghanistan are once again beginning to indulge in.
From the Afghan perspective, President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
's unprecedented outreach to Islamabad has not yielded the desired cooperation in terms of leveraging Pak influence over the Afghan Taliban to nudge them towards the negotiating table.
From the Pak perspective, despite Operation Zarb-e-Azb
..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)...
, Operation Khyber-II and the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
school massacre, the Afghan state has not responded as urgently to Pakistain's security concerns in its hour of need as it could have. Trust, as ever, appears to be the one commodity in short supply on both sides.