Daily Times

Pakistan has been warning all along about the very strong likelihood of “spoilers” doing what they can to derail the Afghan peace process and the tragic event on Monday, when gunmen stormed Kabul University and killed about 20 people including children, vindicated its position. And before everybody resorts to the usual finger-pointing and blames one side or the other of sabotaging the peace negotiations, it is important to take a cold, long look at the tragedy. The Taliban have already denied responsibility yet there are many, especially in the US press, who doubt them. But they don’t really need to go to such lengths especially since it was their ability to win crucial battlegrounds at will that practically forced the Americans to approach them for the talks.

Most likely it is one of the other bad guys that have been active in Afghanistan for a while now. Chief among them is the so-called Islamic State (IS) which appeared in this region not long after it established its fairy-tale caliphate in the Middle East. It was able to attract a number of groups already active or holed up near the Pak-Afghan border. The Taliban have been, in fact, the only force really fighting them militarily since the Afghan army was pretty toothless and completely ineffective in the face of IS and the Americans weren’t really very interested in taking on yet another militia in the treacherous hills of Afghanistan just when they were looking to wind up their war with another insurgent militia that had been a thorn in its side for more than two decades.

Anybody who has followed or covered wars and insurgencies will confirm that such bold attacks are not possible without considerable help, training and funding from some top-notch intelligence agency. The university attack, though a grave tragedy and condemnable in the strongest words, still provides all stakeholders with a rare opportunity to combine their forces and get to the bottom of the disturbance currently plaguing the peace talks in Doha. The Pakistani side is pretty sure that any such investigation would find New Delhi’s fingerprints all over the crime. These “spoilers” need to be identified and then paraded and shamed before the whole world. Everybody, especially the Pakistanis, knew that they would try to spoil things, but the way whoever was responsible for Monday’s attack targeted students betrayed an inhuman disregard for all sorts of values in the pursuit of narrow and naked ambition. All eyes will now be on the investigation. *