One-way responsibility?


NEARLY seven years after America attacked the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the security situation there shows no signs of improvement. On Sunday, the militants launched the deadliest attack on American forces in Afghanistan in three years. The three prolonged attacks on an American base in Kunar province left nine Americans dead and 15 wounded. What was surprising was that it was not a ‘hit and run’ attack typical of guerrillas. The Taliban not only attacked the US base, the battle with the American forces lasted the whole day. The weapons used by the Taliban ranged from machine guns and mortars to rocket-propelled grenades. This makes us wonder what the American and Nato-led security forces have achieved in that country since October 2001. The Taliban not only exist in strength in Afghanistan, they have their command and control structure intact, they continue to find new recruits, and their sources of arms supplies remain unbroken. What is more, the battle theatre is not the entire country but selected pockets — like Helmand and Kunar — which border Pakistan. This geographical proximity to Fata provides the American and Nato forces’ high command with a ready-made pretext for blaming Islamabad for all their ills.

There is no doubt that Fata has become one big base of operation for the militants, including Uzbek and Arab. Pakistan has failed to crush them, because — let us admit — this is not a job that can be accomplished by force alone, as the British learnt to their cost. Of late, the American complaints against Pakistan on this score have increased in frequency. The Centcom chief’s sudden visit to Pakistan was an indication of Washington’s impatience with what it believes to be Islamabad’s failure to ‘do more’. However, the US-Nato forces must know that it is not Pakistan’s responsibility alone to prevent militants from crossing over into Afghanistan; it is also their responsibility to prevent this movement across the Durand Line. If Pakistani security forces fail to control the Taliban’s movement, what keeps the US, Nato and Afghan forces from stopping them?

The truth is that European forces are there in Afghanistan only grudgingly. They want to avoid casualties, and they have a long list of caveats for doing their job. Many Nato commanders do not send their boys on night patrol, many insist that they are there on ‘security duty’, and others say their job is to protect development projects and aid personnel. This has worked to the Taliban’s advantage, for as statistics show, American and Nato casualties for May and June in Afghanistan are higher than those in Iraq. If Pakistan must ‘do more’ it is time the US-led forces in Afghanistan re-assessed their performance and tried to determine why the seven-year war with the Taliban has failed to produce results.