The relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan is improving, with officials and analysts saying the two countries are hopeful for regional peace as they join forces to fight extremism. Islamabad (dpa) - Pakistan's attitude toward Afghanistan began to change following the Afghan leadership succession in the autumn. The intense border shelling has stopped. The countries instead have been carrying out co-ordinated military operations on either side of the border.
The two armies have also started joint border management exercises, with military commanders from each side visiting with one another. They have also started sharing intelligence, a giant leap for the two highly suspicious neighbours. There are talks about medical evacuations along the border, something the Afghan army desperately needs support for, and the training and equipping of an Afghan brigade by Pakistanis.
Never before has there been a substantial military engagement between the two South Asian neighbours. Throughout his tenure, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai maintained a tumultuous relationship with his nuclear-powered eastern neighbour. Karzai continuously scorned Pakistan for providing the Taliban with a safe haven, as well as the United States for not targeting those sanctuaries. "It was impossible to engage with Karzai on the matters of national interest," one Pakistani politician told dpa on condition of anonymity. "His angry, accusatory politics was the main obstacle to improve the Af-Pak relationship.
"But the leadership change was an opportune moment to start afresh." In September former World Bank technocrat Ashraf Ghani took over from Karzai. Almost immediately, Ghani engaged the Pakistani leadership, specifically the military establishment, which considered in charge of all matters related to foreign policy and security. For his first official visit to Pakistan, Ghani went straight to the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, instead of meeting with the prime minister in Islamabad, a rare move.
General Raheel Sharif, the Pakistani army chief, has regularly engaged with Ghani on bilateral issues, security officials and diplomats privy to the meetings said. Ghani has said the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be special, like that of Germany and France after the World War II. In June, General Sharif started a military operation in the tribal region, despite the civilian government's reluctance. He targeted the Pakistani Taliban, which is closely allied with its Afghan comrades. After the Pakistani school attack in December, in which more than 150 people, including 135 students, were murdered by Pakistani Taliban fighters, the political and military leadership in Pakistan joined hands to fight against extremists.
Military engagement between the two countries has also increased. Last week Afghan intelligence detained five people - upon information from Pakistan - who were allegedly involved in the school attack. Afghan officials said they would be handed over to Pakistan. In what security analysts call a paradigm shift for the military, Pakistan has decided to ban the Haqqani Network. The group mainly operates out of Pakistan's border areas. Pakistani military leaders have long viewed India as an existential threat. General Sharif, who took over in November 2013, sees home-grown Taliban and other radical Islamic groups in his country as the real, immediate enemies of Pakistan, officials close to him say. "The army chief has sent a clear message to his commanders that there will be zero tolerance for all those outfits that support any radical Islamic agenda threatening the statehood," a military official said, asking not to be named.