Hello, Mr James Mattis, terrorists are friends of none.

WASHINGTON: When he was Commander of CENTCOM, General James Mattis called on then ambassador Sherry Rehman in August 2012.

When they will receive United States (US) Defence Secretary James Mattis in Islamabad on December 4 at the Tarmac of the Chaklala Airport, Pakistani officials may not see a courteous, smiling secretary emerging from the aircraft. 

The ensuing sessions may see tense faces sitting across the table and exchanging words on ‘do more’ and ‘what else to do more’ sort of things. The tough minister will land in Pakistan after his tour to Egypt and Jordon and from Pakistan, he will fly to Kuwait to conclude his trip. In South Asia, he will be visiting only Pakistan, against that he has issued several harsh, threat-laced statements.

The objective of James Mattis’ visit to Islamabad is to get this ‘complicated ally’s’ support for the new US strategy for South Asia; the new US policy sees India as an important partner whereas Pakistan is seen a sort of partner in Afghanistan’s instability as Pakistan’s support for the Taliban is seen the mother of all ills in Afghanistan. 

To defeat the Taliban, the US has deployed 3,000 additional troops in Afghanistan and has dropped the mother of bombs. These all efforts seem to go in vain given the facts the Taliban militants, who are hardcore terrorists, still enjoy a widespread support across Afghanistan for ethnic and religious reasons. The US and Afghanistan, however, see Pakistan the main backup point for the Taliban fighters and have accused Pakistan of harbouring them in Peshawar and Quetta.

Pakistan denies the allegations and stresses for a political solution. Often Afghanistan is dubbed a friendly country of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as its leaders are hiding in Afghanistan. The deadly attack on the hostel of Peshawar’s Agriculture Training Institute on Friday, which claimed nine lives, was promptly linked with Afghanistan. 

The Inter-Services Public Relations boss told the media that the attackers had all come from Afghanistan and that the attack was planned by the TTP leadership, based in Afghanistan. The attackers had active contacts with their leaders in Afghanistan at the time of the attack. The stance clearly sees Afghan hands in terrorism in Pakistan. 

Similarly, whenever there is an incident of terrorism in Afghanistan and is claimed by the Taliban, the Afghan authorities point fingers to Islamabad and the circus of allegations goes on.

The stalemate in the Afghan issue stems from American’s demand that Pakistan needs to ‘do more’ and Pakistan’s similar demand to the Afghan government. The deadlock creates a sense of mistrust among the partners while the terrorists have no such issues among their factions as they continue doing their savage both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

On Saturday, an American drone hit a house in Upper Kurram Agency blowing the heads and bodies of militant leaders. That shows how the porous, rugged terrain border area is the hub of militants and needs coordinated operations by Afghanistan and Pakistan forces to eliminate them.     

Terrorists stand a common enemy of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the whole world. It will be a sane approach if the visiting US official talks to Pakistan candidly, and instead of pressuring or threatening it, try to open more communication channels to reach a common point. The US needs to understand that Pakistan is a victim state of Taliban terrorism. Similarly, Pakistan needs to shed the impression of it being a backer of the Taliban.