US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was right to warn, in discussions with the Pakistani military leadership just a few days ago, that the way violence is on the rise in Afghanistan it would not be a surprise at all if the talks actually collapsed. According to a US watchdog, which is monitoring all sorts of activity on the ground as the war winds down, violent attacks in the country have increased by about 50 percent since the intra-Afghan dialogue began. The way the two temporary ceasefires worked so nicely over the summer, it was hoped that a similar approach would be adopted to increase the chances of success of the talks. Unfortunately nobody seems to have taken into account all the foul play that the so called Islamic State (IS) can whip up. Most of the attacks, especially the unspeakable attack at Kabul University just last week, have been carried out by this out-of-control militia that was run out of the Middle East but has fond a very willing patron in India, which facilitated, trained and armed it to keep up its bad work in South Asia. But the way this nexus has succeeded in increasing the number of attacks, even as the principle warring parties look to tone it down, speaks volumes about just how everybody has been looking in the wrong direction. For, the talks would achieve nothing at all really if the country returns to terrible fighting of the past while everybody is sitting comfortable in Doha and trying to hammer out a deal. So far, only the Taliban have confronted this menace on the ground. That they were able to do so while also fighting the Afghan National Army and the Americans, and still record very impressive advances on the ground, says something about their ability to tame even the most fearsome opponents and also explains why the Americans finally turned to talks. Now everybody is going to have to join forces and tackle the IS threat before it causes more damage than can be ignored. A 50 percent spike in violence is no small matter. Unless authorities give it the attention it demands, they will have themselves to blame for letting bad guys steal the show and spoil the peace. *