Afghanistan-Pakistan: The Tragedy of Non-Cooperation

Josh Shahryar writes for EA:

Imagine this scenario: within the space of a single day, two deadly bombs hit two different cities in two different countries. The death toll from each bomb is dozens killed and dozens more injured. Both bombs are placed by arms of the same terrorist organization.

Now suppose these two cities were in France and Spain. The two countries would immediately share all the information they with each other to find a solution to a shared problem. It's common sense. But sadly in this case, the two countries are Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have not understood this logic of sharing information, even after years of being subjected to such terrorist attacks.

Afghanistan-Pakistan: America’s Private Assassination Company

On 12 March, suicide bombings in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed 72 people and injured dozens. On 13 March, a bomb ripped through the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, slaying more than 30 people and wounding dozens more. More bombs exploded in the following days.



Despite the toll, the ability and/or willingness of the Afghan and Pakistani authorities to share information about the Taliban is almost shameful. The clearest example of which is Afghan President Hamid Karzai's belated outrage last Sunday over the detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghanistan Taliban's second-in-command, in Pakistan. Mullah Baradar was arrested on 8 February in Karachi but, according to a Karzai aide, the President was in touch with Baradar through different sources and was negotiating for discussions between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

According to the Associated Press:

Karzai "was very angry" when he heard that the Pakistanis had picked up Baradar with an assist from U.S. intelligence, the adviser said. Besides the ongoing talks, he said Baradar had "given a green light" to participating in a three-day peace jirga that Karzai is hosting next month.

The adviser, who had knowledge of the peace talks, spoke on condition of anonymity because of their sensitivity. Other Afghan officials, including Abdul Ali Shamsi, security adviser to the governor of Helmand province, also confirmed talks between Baradar and the Afghan government.

Clearly, there was a mishap. Either the Afghan government did not wish the Pakistani side to know of what they were doing behind closed doors or the Pakistani government decided not to share with the Afghan government the fact that they knew of Baradar's whereabouts. In either case, it demonstrates the fragility of the coalition the US has built to fight the War on Terror.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have a long border, on both sides of which Taliban fighters have found a strong foothold to carry out attacks. You'd think that Kabul and Islamabad would cooperate much more closely, yet gaffes like this are inumerable. Taliban routinely escape into Pakistani territory after carrying out attacks on Afghan soil. Weapons from the Afghan side daily make their way into Pakistan.

If the Taliban succeed in making the border between the two countries a permanent base of operations, the world is going to suffer because next item on their agenda will be assistance to their old buddies, Al Qa'eda. So if Kabul and Islamabad aren't ready to cooperate, the rest of the world, and mainly the US, need to get a stick and start beating some sense into the politicians running the two countries.

Otherwise, the Taliban will have the last laugh.

Comments

[Bijan]

Josh -

What are your thoughts on why there is no cooperation between the two countries?

Regards,

[lusyl]

And to think both of these gouvernments are backed and financed by the USA, what a mess!

[Bill]

Hmm could Baradar have been caught to make sure Pakistan maintains its control of the Taliban? Everyone knows the Taliban was largely a ISI created entity(US funding also helped.) The ISI has a long history in creating proxy forces to exert control and one needs look no further than the whole Issue with Kashmir. Frankly this issue is largely the result of the ISI playing both sides of the fence respective to Afghan/US and Taliban interests.