PESHAWAR: After terrorists’ attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda on January 20, Pakistan has swiftly thrown the ball in the court of Afghanistan, demanding the neighbouring country to cooperate in bringing the masterminds of the gruesome incident to justice.

This is efficient intelligence gathering that our spy agencies intercepted conversation of the attackers, found out location inside Afghanistan where the attack was orchestrated and identified the facilitators etc. Four facilitators have been arrested, but the mastermind is out of reach.

Next day of the attack on the university, Gen Raheel Sharif shared details of the incident with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Dr Abdullah and US commander in Afghanistan and sought cooperation to bust the network involved in the incident.

The Afghan presidential palace spokesman denied that his country’s territory was used for the attack, saying they would never allow using Afghan soil for terror activities against its neighbours. Islamabad’s prompt reaction and denial by Kabul will trigger new blame game.

Experts say both Pakistan and Afghanistan should chalk out joint strategy to eliminate terrorism

Before the launch of operation Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan in June 2014, the Afghan government was used to blame Pakistan for providing sanctuaries to Taliban factions.

Now Pakistan has shifted the blame game narrative to Afghanistan and has been complaining that fugitives have set up sanctuaries in Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan where they train suicide bombers and their perpetrators. Islamabad is demanding of Kabul to take action against these fugitives or hand them over to Pakistan.

Whether it’s a blame game or double game this elusive war has caused widespread destruction on both sides of the Durand Line. Terrorists are striking places in Pakistan and Afghanistan at their will. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have been killed in incidents of terrorism, but both the countries have yet to develop joint mechanism to cope with this common threat.

Question is what options lay with Pakistan and Afghanistan to stamp out terrorism and bring lasting peace and stability to the region that is in turmoil since 1979.

Whether Islamabad will put diplomatic pressure on Afghan government to take action against Pakistani fugitives, having sanctuaries inside Afghanistan or both the countries will conduct joint military action to dismantle terrorist networks?

In case Afghan government does not cooperate to take action against fugitives then what choice would be left with Pakistan -- surgical strikes to wipe out terrorist hideouts or proper management of the border to stop infiltration of militants from the Afghan side?

Analysts say that unilateral military action against terrorist groups inside Afghanistan will not worth it and repercussions of use of force would be serious for Pakistan.

Dr Ijaz Khattak, who teaches at the international relations department of University of Peshawar, said that it would be disastrous if Pakistan went for military action. He said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan should cooperate and chalk out joint strategy to eliminate terrorism.

Dr Khattak said that like Pakistani government, Afghans had same grievances and demanded of it to take action against the groups that used Pakistan’s soil against Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s western border particularly from the Fata side which is called “Islamabad backyard” remained open for incursions and surgical strikes since 1979 when former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

The Soviet and Afghan aero planes often carried out air strikes deep inside Pakistan to dismantle ammunition depots and other facilities of Mujahideen (holy worriers) at that time.

Soviet and Afghan armies always used heavy artillery to pound targets in Kurram, Waziristan and other parts of the tribal belt to prevent infiltration of the ‘holy worriers’. The Soviet planes were shot down when Pakistan’s air space was violated.

This scribe had witnessed intense shelling of Soviet helicopter gunships when an air strip was being constructed at Parachinar in Kurram Agency in 1980s. The Afghan government believed that the facility might be used for strategic purposes.

The Americans did the same after fall of Taliban regime in Afghanistan and carried out hundreds of drone strikes against Al Qaeda, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Haqqani Network and other militant groups in Fata and settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Dr Khattak said that it was true that the US used drones against Taliban and Al Qaeda in Fata, but they should not compare America with Pakistan. Best option for Pakistan was to strengthen its institutions and reorganise administrative structure, he suggested.

Retired Brigadier Mehmood Shah also opposes surgical strikes against militants inside Afghanistan. He said that military action against terrorist groups inside Afghanistan would not worth it.

“Our government should improve state structure to prevent cross-border frequent movement,” he said. He pointed out that hundreds of people crossed Durand Line without proper travelling documents on daily basis, but no agency managed their record.

“Afghan government has neither any intention to take action against terrorist groups, nor it has the required capacity. Even Afghan government wants to engage Pakistan and India on its soil,” said Mr Shah and suggested that Pakistan should remove its internal weaknesses instead of going after terrorists inside Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2016