News Analysis |
At least three Frontier Corps (FC) troops—Hav Muneer Khan, Lance Naik Irshad Hussain and Sep Haq Nawaz Khan—were martyred on Friday in cross-border firing from terrorists on the Pak-Afghan border, said a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The FC personnel were busy constructing a new border post when the attack took place in the Shunkrai area of Mohmand agency. At least five terrorists were killed by retaliatory fire from Pakistani forces and another 11 were injured, added ISPR.
There is a stark need for closer coordination with the Afghan government and other measures such as the border wall being constructed to tackle the issue of cross-border terrorism.
The Army’s media wing further said that Pakistan is paying the cost for lack of capacity in the Afghan armed forces and ungoverned spaces on the Afghan side of the border. Earlier in December, two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in a terrorist attack in North Waziristan Agency.
Second Lieutenant Abdul Moeed and Sepoy Basharat were martyred after terrorists fired on their vehicle from the surrounding mountains. On December 6th 2017, a bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded in a part of northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing nine people.
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The bomb was detonated by remote control late on Tuesday when an army vehicle passed in Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan region, said three Pakistani officials who declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
“Waziristan is bleeding once again,” said police official Tahir Khan in Peshawar, the main city in the northwest, who said he had heard about the blast but had no details. No militant group claimed responsibility.
Many terror leaders like Brahmdagh Bugti used to live inside Afghanistan. The Pakistani state’s capability to act against terrorists on Afghan soil is highly limited due to a variety of factors.
North Waziristan was long home to Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda until the Pakistani army launched a major push against them in mid-2014. But the militants have struck back, sometimes with major attacks. On 1st Dec 2017, three Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers stormed the Agricultural Training Institute in Peshawar, killing eight students and a guard.
A week earlier, a senior police commander was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Peshawar. These attacks raise the dilemma of foreign sanctuaries of terrorists raising havoc inside Pakistan. Afghanistan has long been a problem for Pakistan.
Ever since the independence of modern day Pakistan, it has been faced with hostile activities emanating from its western neighbor. Before the Soviet invasion in 1979, Pakistan was faced with an ethno-national terror threat in the form of “Pakhtun Zalmi”. However, after the Soviet occupation and subsequent civil war, Pakistan faced a lull in terror activities.
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The use of safe havens in Afghanistan has been a thorn in the side of Pakistani efforts at counter-terrorism. Often, militants escape from anti-terrorist operations into Afghanistan and wait for an opportune moment to return.
However, after the US invasion in 2001 terror activities began anew in Pakistan. The most prominent were the Tehreek-e-Taliban which unleashed a reign of terror in Pakistan including the horrifying APS attack. It utilized safe havens inside Afghanistan to escape pressure inside Pakistan as well as a base of operations for further attacks.
It was asserted many times that the TTP and other groups enjoyed the backing of individuals within the Afghan government. Many events seem to validate these assertions. US military forces have captured Latifullah Mehsud, a senior commander with the Pakistani Taliban from an Afghan government convoy in Logar province in October 2013. Similarly, a prominent leader of the Pakistani Taliban’s Jamaat-ur-Ahrar (JuA) faction, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confessed to having contacts with Indian RAW and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS).
The use of safe havens in Afghanistan has been a thorn in the side of Pakistani efforts at counter-terrorism. Often, militants escape from anti-terrorist operations into Afghanistan and wait for an opportune moment to return. Even now high ranking terrorist leaders such as Mullah Fazlullah are alleged to remain inside Afghan territory.
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The militants have struck back, sometimes with major attacks. On 1st Dec 2017, three Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers stormed the Agricultural Training Institute in Peshawar, killing eight students and a guard.
In November 2017, the Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah has said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has established a foothold in his country. At a time when Pakistan is telling the world that Afghan soil is being used against it, the statement coming from one of the most important figures in Afghanistan becomes meaningful.
The same is true for Baloch ethno-national terror groups most of whom enjoy similar backing. Many terror leaders like Brahmdagh Bugti used to live inside Afghanistan. The Pakistani state’s capability to act against terrorists on Afghan soil is highly limited due to a variety of factors. There is a stark need for closer coordination with the Afghan government and other measures such as the border wall being constructed to tackle the issue of cross-border terrorism.