The Boya camp attack in North Waziristan, which killed four Pakistani soldiers and injured civilians, did not surprise anyone watching the western border. Violence there has not crept back; it has returned in force. Islamabad\u2019s decision to summon the Afghan charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires was therefore less a show of anger than an admission that its patience has run thin.
\nPakistan has named the Gul Bahadur faction of the TTP as responsible. That attribution matters because the group operates from areas under Taliban control. Kabul\u2019s response has been to deny, deflect, and point to Pakistan\u2019s internal vulnerabilities. UN monitoring teams, however, have already found Taliban claims of dismantling militant sanctuaries to be not credible.
\nThis is not about reopening old arguments over Pakistan\u2019s past choices. The question now is present tense. The Afghan Taliban run a state, collect taxes, police cities, and conduct diplomacy. A government that can do all this can also stop armed factions from using its territory to kill neighbours. Choosing not to, hence, constitutes a deliberate policy choice. Nothing more and nothing else.
\nThat Pakistan now ranks among the most terror-affected countries in the world should be enough to end the pretence that denial and deflection are acceptable substitutes for action. Attacks have more than doubled, and fatalities are concentrated along the western belt. These statistics translate into soldiers killed at posts, families caught near checkpoints, and towns sliding back into curfews and fear.
\nWhat Pakistan needs is continuity and proof. The law already allows targeted proscription, financial tracing, and coordinated prosecution. Parliament should call for regular disclosures on cross-border threats and the steps taken to counter them, forcing institutions to work from evidence rather than emotion. Similarly, diplomacy should be tethered to the oft-repeated benchmarks of arrests, camp closures, and verifiable action, not assurances.
\nThe Taliban\u2019s governing bargain is visible. Allied militants are tolerated so long as they do not challenge Kabul. Pakistan should state its position plainly and take the case where it counts\u2013UN sanctions bodies, regional forums, and capitals still inclined to take Taliban promises at face value.
\nCalls for a befitting reply satisfy anger but fade quickly. What lasts is a policy that narrows the space for denial and protects people on both sides of the border from becoming hostages to militancy. That is the test Islamabad must now insist on, without theatrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Boya camp attack in North Waziristan, which killed four Pakistani soldiers and injured civilians, did not surprise anyone watching the western border. Violence there has not crept back; it has returned in force. Islamabad\u2019s decision to summon the Afghan charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires was therefore less a show of anger than an admission that its patience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-521335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n