Kabul's blame game

When a former Afghan president and a partner of the erstwhile Northern Alliance, Sibghatullah Mujadedi, escaped unhurt from a suicide bombing that killed the two bombers and two civilian by-standers in Kabul on Sunday, he blamed the attack on Pakistan.
Addressing a news conference soon after the incident, he said, "Our biggest enemy today is Pakistan's ISI" which, he went on to alleged, is behind all the attacks carried out by the Taleban and other militants in Afghanistan.
President Hamid Karzai, who in recent days has also been accusing Pakistan of not doing enough to nab Taleban and al Qaeda militants, was a bit circumspect as he said that Mujadedi's claim of Pakistan's involvement would be investigated.
As it is, Mujadedi, currently chairman of the upper house of Afghan parliament, also heads a reconciliation mission of sorts which is trying to cause defections in the Taleban ranks. His commission already claims to have won over some 1000 Taleban - the number, including ordinary fighters as well as their leaders.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Taleban military commander, Mullah Dadullah, accepted responsibility for the attack, accusing Mujadedi of seeking to sow discord among the Taleban as he called him "an American puppet."
The motive behind the attack looks strong and clear, and the Kabul regime does not need to blame Pakistan except for propaganda purposes. In fact, there is an attempt to build such a case.
On Sunday, Afghan security forces claimed to have captured a Pakistani national, and Kunar province's security director said that "strong and trusted intelligence" showed that the man was involved in several anti-government operations and he was entering Afghanistan to train militants.
Even if there is some truth to the governor's story, it needs to be seen in its proper perspective. The Pak-Afghan border is long and porous, and for centuries people have freely moved from one side to the other.
During his recent visit to Islamabad, while responding to a question regarding Pakistan's suggestion to fence the border, Karzai had rejected the idea, saying it would divide families.
The situation being what it is, it is possible that the alleged militant did cross the border to meet his kinsmen, what is a blatant falsehood is that he was crossing the border to attack on Mujadedi at the behest of ISI.
There are at least two strong reasons that go against such a probability. One, the ISI would be extremely naive to engage in activities like that at a time it knows that the Kabul government is an American construct; and the American troops, along with their Nato allies, are physically present in Afghanistan to protect it.
Any attempt at undermining the Kabul government and its allies would actually amount to treading on American toes - something Islamabad can ill-afford. Americans, of course, are aware of the situation. Hence even though during his recent visit to Islamabad President Bush had repeated Karzai's complaint about the alleged existence of Taleban/al Qaeda sanctuaries on Pakistani soil, CENTCOM chief General Abizaid, who met President Musharraf soon afterwards, expressed full confidence in this country's efforts to fight extremist elements.
The other reason is related to Pakistan's self-interest. The country has invested heavily in selling itself as an energy and transport corridor that is to link the resource-rich Central Asian Republics, via Afghanistan, to its energy starved next-door neighbour India as well as other countries of the region, and beyond.
The deep-sea Gwadar port, Coastal Highway and some affiliated infrastructure projects are nearly ready to turn the country into a regional hub of trade and commerce. Its dream to serve as the gateway to Central Asia can come to fruition only if there is peace and stability in Afghanistan. Surely, Pakistan would not want to waste all its efforts and forgo a prosperous future simply to spite the government in Kabul by lending support to the Taleban remnants.
It is about time people like Mujadedi overcame their past bitterness towards Pakistan. It is true that in the past Pakistan did dabble in Afghanistan's internal affairs in the pursuit of 'strategic depth', and in doing so it backed different Pushtun political players as they fought the Northern Alliance out of power.
But then there are no permanent friends or foes in international relations, only national interests have permanence. It is now in Pakistan's national interest to have a stable Afghanistan. The sooner the Kabul government grasps this important reality the better it would be for both sides, as also for the international community's fight against extremism.