THE wave of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan, and especially in Kabul, were always going to elicit strong condemnation from the Afghan government.

Rather worryingly though Afghan President Ashraf Ghani chose to direct his anger at Pakistan, claiming that the massive attacks have been orchestrated from inside Pakistan and that the Pakistani security establishment has done little to stem the tide.

Much as it is possible to understand Mr Ghani and other Afghan officials’ concerns about the grave instability inside Afghanistan, the anger directed towards Pakistan is hardly going to help matters. Perhaps Mr Ghani and his supporters ought to recall recent history.

Also read: Abdullah Abdullah accuses Pakistan of helping Afghanistan's enemies

Ahead of the first round of the Murree talks, there had been much talk of a growing understanding between the Pakistani and Afghan states. The mood in the short run-up to the second round of talks was almost celebratory. Then, on the eve of the second round, it was the Afghan government itself that threw the talks into disarray by asserting that Mullah Omar had died two years ago in Karachi.

While Afghan officials claimed they only confirmed what had become known to a growing number of Afghan Taliban leaders, the fact is that it was Mr Ghani’s own government that broke the news of Mullah Omar’s death.

After that, it was almost inevitable that the talks would be thrown off course and that the succession issue would take centre-stage.

On that count at least, the Pakistani position has been relatively clear: discourage factionalism and help keep as much of the Afghan Taliban as possible under one central leadership. Surely, whatever Mr Ghani may claim and Afghan officials may believe, the security establishment here could not have wanted a bitter leadership struggle to have erupted inside the Taliban.

The Afghan president’s frustration notwithstanding his present accusations mirror the anger and suspicion of earlier this year when he accused Pakistan of not delivering on what it had pledged — only for Pakistan to eventually in fact nudge the Taliban to the preliminary negotiating table.

Perhaps Mr Ghani ought to have waited until the senior Afghan political delegation visits Pakistan this week before raging against the Pakistani state. After all, by his own admission, Mr Ghani had only hours before his diatribe spoken to both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Gen Raheel Sharif.

It does appear that all sides are consolidating their respective bases first. President Ghani’s diatribe was probably meant in part to appease hawks inside his government and the Afghan security apparatus.

The wave of Taliban attacks may be partly for the new leadership, or the leadership contenders, to establish their bonafides as genuine Taliban leaders and not mere power-hungry leaders.

And the Pakistani state’s relative reticence may be to not cause the Taliban to fracture more and deeper than it needs to. A bit of patience in Kabul, however difficult, may help.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2015

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