PAKISTAN and Afghanistan are at war. Neither government wants to use the word. The international community prefers not to hear it. But words cannot change reality. When armed forces cross borders, when fighter aircraft strike targets on the territory of another state, when military positions are attacked in retaliation, when soldiers are killed and civilians are buried, the language of ‘tensions’ begins to sound less like diplomacy and more like denial.

For Pakistan, this war did not begin with a desire to attack Afghanistan. It began with a security threat that Kabul repeatedly failed to stop. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has used Afghan territory to organise and launch attacks inside Pakistan, while Islamabad has repeatedly presented evidence, issued diplomatic warnings and demanded action against TTP commanders and networks. When those efforts failed, Pakistan had to defend its people and territory. A country cannot be expected to remain passive while armed groups attack it from a neighbouring state. Pakistan did not create this conflict. It was pushed into it by a threat that Afghanistan failed to eliminate.

Pakistan’s right to defend its people cannot, however, be separated from the responsibility to protect civilians. Every military operation must comply with international law, and credible allegations of civilian casualties should be investigated. But that principle must apply to the entire conflict, not........

© Pakistan Observer