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Ominous warning

A chilling sequence in which Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped assassination underscores the heightened vulnerability of the regime in Kabul, under perpetual threat from Taliban terrorists. Two people were killed in the April 27 attack on a parade at which President Hamid Karzai was taking the salute. They were sitting in the reviewing stand just behind Mr. Karzai. A 10-year old child who was caught in the ensuing cross-fire died too. Significantly, the attack was launched from a hotel nearby, a mere 500 metres from the dais. It is clear that the assailants could not have infiltrated within rifle range of the reviewing stand without the assistance of elements of the security services. The attack has proved that the Taliban, which claimed responsibility, still has teeth. But Mr. Karzai who has survived four assassination attempts should not make the mistake of reverting to the policy of relying solely on military force to defeat the Islamist radicals. Other initiatives that have been recently launched, such as the drive to strengthen local governance or the offer of amnesty to Talibs who give up arms, show promise and should be persisted with. As Mr. Karzai himself observed in a recent interview, the imprecise aerial bombardments carried out by the United States forces have actually driven disgruntled Afghans into the Taliban’s embrace.

Notwithstanding the lame-duck status of the Bush presidency, U.S. officials have not shaken off their commander-in-chief’s rigid and intractable approach to international issues. The next administration at least should acknowledge that the Taliban are Afghans and not foreign fighters who operate under the rubric of the closely aligned Al Qaeda. A distinction has to be made between the local insurgents and non-Afghan militants, who form the recruitment base for suicide attacks in other parts of the world. While these Al Qaeda recruits must be targeted by the international community for their criminal terrorist acts, the local insurgents on either side of the Durand Line need to be drawn into the mainstream even as they are constantly kept on notice that backsliding will invite dire consequences. The newly formed governments in Pakistan, at the centre as well the North West Frontier Province, have embarked on such a course and appear to be meeting with early success. A militant leader in South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud, has reportedly ordered his men to cease fighting. Mr. Karzai will not be encouraged by Washington’s response to the Pakistani initiative. The U.S., as misguided as it has always been for the past eight years, has greeted Islamabad’s well-reasoned policy with derision.

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