Is this the real game changer? At least 151 Taliban fighters have been killed by government forces during 12 days of fighting near Kunar province in Afghanistan. But remember the last game changers? The talks with the Taliban was supposed to be a game changer. The splitting up of the Taliban was also supposed to be a game changer. The death of bin Laden, the rise of ISIS, the death of Hakimullah Mesud… all game changers. But the more the game changes the more it stays the same. A real game changer did not come after the attack on Ahmadis, the manhunt of Christians or the deaths at Wagah border. If we have learnt anything from the past then in out hearts we know that Peshawar is not our last tragedy.
One meeting with Afghan President Ghani after Peshawar, our army is going after Fazlullah. The War on Terror has been going on for thirteen years now, and only now, do Pakistan and Afghanistan cooperate. Like Osama Bin Laden sitting pretty in a house in Abbottabad, is Mullah Fazlullah also protected? Has Pakistan been the one resisting an operation in the border areas? Former President Karzai had been shouting out his contempt for us till he was blue in the face, blaming us for being a safe haven for terrorists. With Ghani agreeing to cooperate, has the stance of our military really changed? The Afghan Taliban have also stepped up their attacks as Nato wraps up its combat operations, which ends on December 31. With a history of distrust, Pakistan and Afghanistan will make uneasy partners. But if they are to end the menace of the Taliban there can be no keeping of strategic assets, no protection to any militants. What are we going to do with hundreds of Haqqani network fighters in Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, Karak and a number of other cities? If we had handed over members of the Quetta Shura and Haqqani Network there wouldn't have been this trust deficit, regardless of the political dispensation in Afghanistan. Afghans don't believe Pakistan is ready to abandon their strategic assets and so they will proceed cautiously.
Afghans are all on the same page when it comes to dealing with Pakistan. It is our politics and military that is not on the same page and does not have a clear anti-Taliban anti-Terrorist narrative. This narrative cannot be built in a week; we will continue to have apologists and Taliban sympathisers. We have to change a national mindset and Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have proven that they are not the ones to do this going by their past actions and statements, while the military fumbles through one barely won battle after another.