APROPOS the article ‘Jilted lover syndrome’ (Jan 10). The writer gives a vague picture of Pakistan’s official stance on the new low in Pakistan-US relations. He considers all militants — Afghan and Pakistani — to be the same and has ignored Pakistan’s stance. I, beg to differ.

The Pakistani Taliban are a handful of terrorists who terrorise the Pakistani people attacking mainly civilians. The Afghan Taliban in contrast were once the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Even now they control much of Afghanistan. They see themselves as freedom fighters fighting a coalition of 39 countries led by America.

The Afghan Taliban have considerable public support in their country, and the world is urging the US to initiate negotiations with the Taliban. Even Washington has intensified the fighting to force the Afghan Taliban into a better peace deal for itself.

The war in Afghanistan is essentially an Afghan war. Pakistan was dragged in as a facilitator by the US who leaned on a dictator with weak knees. As a result Pakistan provided supply routes and military bases to the US and in return was repaid with the violent death of 70,000 mostly civilian Pakistanis and $120 billion in destroyed property.

There are no Afghan Taliban bases or safe havens on Pakistan’s soil. Why would the Afghan Taliban need them when they control more than half of their own country? In fact it is the Western media that disparagingly calls the Afghan president the mayor of Kabul.

Pakistan has repeatedly told the US that if the latter provides actionable intelligence about the presence of such safe havens, Pakistan will act on the information. Furthermore, to ensure that the Afghan Taliban do not cross into Pakistan, Islamabad has been pressing the US for cooperation in building the border fencing and the safe return of afghan refugees. Why is the US dragging its feet?

Rahat Naseem
Karachi

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2018