Hard Choice

Eight drones entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan on Wednesday, four near Torkham and four near Kohat, forcing the armed forces to engage an aerial threat at the same time that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is already absorbing militant infiltration, suicide attacks and cross-border fire. All eight were brought down. Pakistan answered hours later with strikes on 10 locations inside Afghanistan which, according to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, were being used to launch and store the drones. The security problem on the western frontier has plainly moved beyond porous borders and militant hideouts. Pakistan is now having to defend its airspace as well. Nor was Wednesday an isolated episode. Security sources say four rudimentary drones crossed from Afghanistan into Balochistan in July and another two were shot down in June. The latest incursion came days after the Kohat Police Lines massacre, which killed 23 people and injured about 100, and which the UN Security Council has since condemned while calling for those responsible and their sponsors to be held accountable. Read alongside the recent exchange of fire in Kurram, these incidents point to pressure being applied through several routes all at once. The fact that Pakistan's air-defence systems detected and destroyed all eight is therefore significant. So is the government's insistence that the subsequent strikes were confined to military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks. Kabul denies responsibility and has protested earlier Pakistani strikes. Its invocation of sovereignty cannot, however, erase Pakistan's own. Islamabad has spent years asking the Taliban authorities to dismantle TTP and allied infrastructure while attacks inside Pakistan have continued to grow in frequency and sophistication. A UN Security Council-mandated monitoring report has gone further, linking continued Afghan Taliban support for the TTP to the rising frequency and lethality of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. That Pakistan first carried out ground operations in Kohat and Hangu, then struck three militant sites across the border after the Police Lines massacre, and has now hit 10 locations following the drone incursions speaks volumes about a state being forced steadily closer to the point where warnings alone no longer discharge its responsibility to protect its citizens. The armed forces cannot be expected to surrender initiative to groups operating from across the Durand Line while policemen, soldiers and civilians continue to pay the price at home. There remains only one durable way to stop this cycle. Kabul must take verifiable action against TTP sanctuaries, restrict the movement of armed groups, prevent Afghan territory from being used for launches or infiltration and reopen serious intelligence cooperation with Pakistan. Pakistan has every reason to want a stable western border and no interest in an endless confrontation with Afghanistan. That stability, however, cannot be purchased by absorbing attack after attack. Dialogue should remain available. No qualms about that. So should the message now being sent from the frontier: no sovereign state can leave its territory undefended while the government next door indefinitely postpones dealing with the threat on its soil. *