Cross-border raids

Cross-border attacks by the Afghanistan-based militants have become a new source of tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The latest attack happened on Wednesday when hundreds of militants armed with rockets, mortars, heavy machine-guns and assault rifles crossed into Pakistan and attacked several villages in Upper Dir, engaging in firefights with the tribal militias and killing at least five people.
They also torched three schools and a mosque. A day earlier, a similar attack across the Afghan border resulted in the death of at least 12 policemen. During recent months, there have been a series of such attacks, mostly from the Kunar province in Afghanistan into Upper and Lower Dir. They have resulted in a large number of casualties. Rockets and artillery shells fired by Pakistani soldiers pursuing the militants have also caused several casualties in Afghanistan.
The cause of the sudden increase in these incidents seems to be the US decision to remove its security posts from the areas that fall between the Kunar River on the Afghan side and the Pakistan border. The militants, who escaped military operation in Swat and the adjoining areas, had taken refuge in Afghanistan. The vacuum created by removal of US posts has made it easier for them to attack Pakistan's border villages where security posts are either too few or are undermanned.
Taking advantage of the situation during the last one month, militants coming from the Afghan side have killed at least 55 members of the security forces and tribal militia. Pakistani forces, of course, pursue the militants fleeing into Afghanistan, and as a result, some of artillery shells and rockets have landed on the other side, causing civilian deaths and eliciting an angry response from the Afghan government.
Earlier this month, while President Karzai accused Pakistan of killing Afghan civilians in cross-border fire, in a dramatic gesture head of the border police in the affected region, General Aminullah Amerkhil, announced he had submitted his resignation to the interior ministry because he had failed to protect his people. The sentiment is understandable, but reactions like these put relations between the two countries under unnecessary stress, which only help their common enemy.
Such incidents tend to overshadow also the ongoing negotiations process. There is need for cool-headed thinking. The Kabul government has consistently been rejecting Pakistan's suggestion to fence and mine the border, arguing this will create hardships for the Pasthun people who live on both sides of the border. But the blame game will not resolve anything. Kabul and Islamabad need to sit together to find a satisfactory solution to the militants' cross-border forays.