File photo. Tauseef Mustafa—AFP
The U.S. on Wednesday reiterated warnings of Afghanistan becoming a center of international terrorism, spelling trouble for neighboring Pakistan.
The porous border connecting Pakistan with Afghanistan offers little impediment to cross-border movement, damaging the sovereignty of both states regardless of the recently erected wired-fencing. Add to that the almost total lack of writ of the state in Afghanistan—and a similar situation in Pakistan in its border areas—spelling the undoing of the 21st century’s traditional nation-state, where borders need to be sovereign to discourage warlike spill-overs activated by “foreign fighters” like the Arab terrorists of Daesh in Afghanistan who recently killed a Pakistan Army soldier.
Earlier this year, an Army spokesman alleged that “the terrorist organization Daesh/ISIS is using the Afghan territories to operate against Pakistan with Indian backing,” adding that the group was flourishing “due to the loose control of the Kabul government.” The big question: what about Pakistan? Does it have a firm writ of the state on all its territory?
It is often said that it is “very difficult for Pakistan to be delinked from Afghanistan because of reasons of geography and history.” Ignoring the naivety of the reasons put forward, it is undeniable that Pakistan lacks internal sovereignty in almost half its territory, including the erstwhile tribal areas and Balochistan. This is evident from a surge of militant attacks in North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Khyber, Bajaur, Dir, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshehra and Mardan targeting Pakistan Army, police and intelligence personnel. Some people from the business community have also been attacked. The opposition has alleged that “some ministers in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf provincial government and the chief minister’s brother are paying ransoms to the militants.” No one has denied these claims; rather, PTI chief Imran Khan has confirmed that party workers are receiving threatening calls.
The re-emergence of the Taliban in Swat has created fear throughout the province, triggering protests for peace. In the past 20 years, according to Pakistani security agencies, 1,100 Al Qaeda terrorists were arrested, killed, or repatriated, apart from the more than 18,000 suspected militants that were killed in over 1,200 security operations. The war against terrorism has also cost Pakistan around 83,000 civilian lives, as well as economic losses of $126 billion.
Post-Partition, Pakistan inherited a tightly administered state compared to “uncentralized” next-door Afghanistan, which couldn’t prevent penetration of its territory or collect taxes. Unfortunately, Pakistan soon began imitating Afghanistan by losing its own writ, with metropolis Karachi literally taken over by terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan and Iran, the fallout of which it is still contending with in the form of street crime. Islamabad ostensibly has a National Action Plan “to crack down on terrorism,” as well as a National Counter-Terrorism Authority to restore its state authority; however, both remain notable for a lack of success in achieving their goals.