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Operation Ghazab Lil Haq is a befitting rejoinder to the continued transgressions from Afghanistan. Pakistan’s sorties flying deep inside the terror-infected country is an unavoidable response to infiltration of terrorists from across the western frontiers. The airstrikes on Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, meant to target terror sanctuaries, is a lawful retaliation from Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban had, over the weekend, opened unprovoked firing on Pakistani check-posts in Torkham and Tirah sub-sectors, resulting in mass casualties. This is in addition to a flurry of terror attacks carried out by Afghan and Indian proxies in the restive provinces of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as in the federal capital.
This escalation of terrorism in Pakistan, undoubtedly, has its epicenter in Afghanistan, and that too under the patronage of the regime in Kabul. By conducting aggression inside Pakistan, the Taliban regime stand in violation of international law. Moreover, they have failed to abide by Doha Accord which makes it mandatory on them to flush out terrorist elements from the Afghan soil. Kabul’s obsession, of late, to act as a colony of India – as rightly stated by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif – and to nurse extra-territorial designs in cahoots with Israel is a negation of state-centrism and good neighbourhood. The least that the Taliban regime could do is to indulge in some introspection and take urgent and concrete steps to exterminate a synchronised terror network, as it stands indicted by the United Nations and regional states for complicity.
The shenanigans that Kabul is indulging in by way of flying some rudimentary drones risk escalation in hostilities. Such gimmicks seen over Sibi, Abbottabad and Nowshera have bitten the dust. The Taliban regime will surely become a laughing stock in the world if it even dreams of testing the resilience of the Pakistani nation or goes over the brink to test the muscles of a nuclear army. It needs to be reminded that Pakistan has a defence pact with Saudi Arabia, and any more jingoism would invite the ire of Riyadh too. Taliban’s myopic policy to open a war front with Pakistan has come at a time when tensions in the Middle East are mounting, and major powers are in a thought-process of their own. In such a scenario, making life miserable for an already dispossessed and security-scared Afghan nation is no leadership.
A valuable piece of advice, even in adversity, for the wayward dispensation in Kabul is to mind its business, and behave as a responsible government by acting against the terror nexus that keeps flourishing on its soil. It must come up with some genuine counterterrorism measures with the involvement of Pakistan and other states in the region, and let the remnants of the “war on terrorism” inside Afghanistan be defeated for collective good. It is a pity that diplomacy has taken a backseat, and no credible efforts are underway on the part of neighbours to usher in sanctity, except calls for restraint from Russia. This is where a consortium of regional peace is desired to broker a dialogue, and let Kabul learn some lessons in state-centrism.
