NATO troops are deployed on Pakistan`s Western border for the stability of peace in Afghanistan. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the alliance`s troops would stay in Afghanistan without any exit time-frame. The main trouble to peace is the re-surfacing of Taliban. Mr Karzai has squarely blamed that the Taliban move freely across the Durand Line while Pakistan has rejected this as false.
It was the force of Taliban against which the US and its coalition forces initiated the war on terror in 2001. Memories are still fresh that instead of giving a pitched fight the Taliban faded into the countryside while the US occupied the main cities. As the NATO forces had no control outside the urban limits of the cities, Taliban had time to reorganize themselves. And since Mr Karzai, in the last five years, never bothered to worry about the Taliban, they resurfaced.
A strong and stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan but for this India must be kept out of the trio of Afghanistan, Pakistan and US. It is encouraging to learn that Pakistan is increasing its troops at the Afghan Border. The number of troops should be enough to allow Pakistan to meet the dual threat: 1) to defend the Western border against any attack, 2) to meet India`s challenge from the east.
Brig (r) A Q Anjum
Rawalpindi