USA should address Pakistan problem in its Taliban outreach: former Pentagon official

NEW DELHI: The State Department while continuing to engage with the Taliban as part of its Afghan strategy has refused to address the Pakistan problem even though Islamabad mentors the group alleged Michael Rubin a former Pentagon official.
“Being victimized at times by some terrorist groups does not exculpate Pakistan for how intertwined its intelligence and security services have become with the Taliban and its fellow travelers, such as al Qaeda. This, of course, is best symbolized by the fact that Pakistan was caught red-handed sheltering al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad,” Rubin wrote in a piece titled ‘Force Pakistan to close Taliban sanctuaries with a deadline’ in The Washington Examiner.

“Throughout the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the Taliban have relied on Pakistani safe haven. While a handful of Taliban negotiators reside in Qatar, the group’s leadership, be it the Quetta Shura, the Peshawar Shura, the Miran Shah Shura, the Northern Shura, and the Haqqani network, all reside in Pakistan. From the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence's perspective, a strong Afghanistan poses a threat to Pakistan, be it because of the Inter-Services Intelligence's paranoia with regard to India or because Pashtun nationalists have long challenged Pakistan’s territorial integrity,” Rubin claimed.

Former Pakistani Sen. Afrasiab Khattak has tweeted “It’s high time for Pakistan to give a cut-off date for Taliban sanctuaries on its soil after the recent developments in & around Afghanistan. Taliban, sitting in Pakistan, take responsibility for suicide bombing in Afghan cities killing civilians. How can Pakistan absolve itself?”

Supporting this view Rubin wrote, “Khattak is right. The Taliban’s continued violence toward Afghans against the backdrop of a peace agreement is bad for Afghanistan and bad for Pakistan. For the Taliban to claim credit for terrorist attacks from bases inside Pakistan makes Pakistan culpable…Pakistani security services know where Taliban leaders are and can be efficient when they want to be. Only when Pakistani security agencies take action will the United States, NATO, and the elected Afghan government be able to see if Pakistan is serious. Only then will the Taliban have reason to be sincere in the push for peace. Thanks to the Taliban's relationship with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, the road to peace in Afghanistan really does pass more through Islamabad than Kabul and more through Quetta and Miran Shah than Kandahar and Kunduz.”