President Hamid Karzai has condemned the firing of 470 rockets from Pakistan into Afghanistan over the past three weeks. Islamabad says only that “a few accidental rounds” may have crossed the border when it pursued militants who had attacked its security forces. The escalation of fighting on the border between Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun tribal areas and Afghanistan has underscored the difficulties the three countries face in working together to reach a political settlement to the 10-year Afghan war.
“We need to end this blame-game,” Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, told a news conference after a meeting of three countries in Kabul, without making any specific reference to border shelling.
“We need to take ownership for our own affairs, this problem will not go away if we keep on pointing finger at each other, we have done it for too long and I think it is time that our two great nations decide.” Afghanistan has often blamed elements within the Pakistan government for supporting the Taleban insurgency.
Pakistan blames Afghanistan for giving refuge to militants on its side of the border, particularly in eastern Kunar province, leaving it vulnerable to counter-attack when it chases them out of its own tribal areas. The talks were formally aimed at mapping out plans for reconciliation with the Taleban, but the shelling had been expected to dominate the agenda.
The meeting, between US envoy Marc Grossman and top diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan, followed President Barack Obama’s announcement last week of a faster-than-expected troop withdrawal, accompanied by talks with the Taleban.
Top military commanders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States met in Kabul on Monday to review the situation on the border, a Pakistan army statement said.
Pakistan, badly bruised after US forces found and killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, is keen to show it has a constructive role to play in helping the United States to bring stability to Afghanistan.
It has long wanted the United States to hold talks with the Taleban to seek a political settlement to the Afghan conflict which it says is fueling its own domestic insurgency.
The United States has come some way toward sharing that view, opening its own preliminary talks with the Taleban.
Karzai has also been pushing for reconciliation with the Taleban and for the first time in the 10-year war, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States all share — in theory at least — a commitment to seek a political settlement.
