Daily Times

The US State Department’s annual report on Global Terrorism (2017) notes that Pakistan has contributed to the partial decimation of Al Qaeda in the Af-Pak region. While observing that terror-related violence in the country has dropped since the beginning of military offensives in the tribal areas back in 2014.

Yet the study also, unsurprisingly, recommends that Pakistan needs to do more to flush out suspected terror remnants such as the Haqqani Network (HN) and the Afghan Taliban that are charged with launching cross-border attacks into Kabul from this side of the Durand Line. The subtext being that Islamabad has only taken effective action against those groups targeting the Pakistani state. This has been a complaint long echoed by both Afghanistan and India.

To be sure, the Centre does need to do more to secure borders in the national interest. Just as it must crackdown on extremist and militant groups that sought mainstream redemption at the ballot-box back in July. Yet these types of findings never manage to paint the full picture. For the gaze is entirely US-centric. Thus there is no mention of the impact of the sustained American military presence in the region on radicalisation of local populations. Ditto when it comes to the controversial US drone programme. Indeed, the State Department report conveniently overlooks the fact that, as the occupying military power next door in Afghanistan, it remains responsible for the latter’s security. This should theoretically apply to the spill-over effect on this side of the border. Similarly, there is no looking into how intermittent cuts to military reimbursements have affected Pakistan’s ability to fight terror.

Pointing this out should not be mistaken for a case of sour grapes; or indeed wilful myopia. Instead, it should be understood that in an increasingly interconnected world — the presence of active combat troops in one country unleashes very real ramifications for entire regions. And it can never be enough to ask those who bear the brunt of military aggression to mop up the ensuing mess single-handedly.  *

Published in Daily Times, September 21^st 2018.