The “Denial Regime” Needs to Step Up

Zabihullah Mujahid has a talent for denial. The Taliban spokesman said his regime has no means to create insecurity in other countries or finance it. He said instability in Pakistan would hurt Afghanistan too. He accused Pakistan’s military and security institutions of blaming Kabul whenever they fail to contain violence at home. He also said Islamabad spends resources to destabilize Afghanistan. All these accusations, with no proof.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had just told a high-level security meeting in Peshawar that terrorists cross from Afghanistan and martyr civilians and security personnel. President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan has no dispute with the Afghan people but will not let terrorists use Afghanistan as a base. Those are modest demands. Families who have buried police officers and civilians martyred in these attacks do not accept a press statement as an answer. Mujahid answered them with a shrug and denial as usual.

The record is not hard to find. A U.N. Security Council monitoring report published in February estimated that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has about 6,000 terrorists in Afghanistan. The report warned that the group benefits from a permissive environment under the Taliban regime. Independent monitors working for the world body wrote those words. Pakistan did not.

Pakistani authorities also regularly catch Afghan nationals involved in terrorism on Pakistani soil. Each arrest adds to a file that Kabul treats as a misunderstanding. Mujahid demands evidence from Islamabad while the U.N. findings sit in plain view. If the Taliban regime has nothing to hide, it can tell the public what it has done about TTP commanders since that report appeared. So far it has offered denials and a few angry sentences.

How long can this go on? A regime cannot claim control of a country and then disown what happens inside it. The Taliban say they do not allow Afghan territory to be used against other countries. Then they should prove it. Proof looks like arrests, restrictions on TTP movement and a public accounting.

Mujahid also says his government lacks the money to unsettle its neighbors. That claim invites a question. Someone supplies the TTP with weapons, salaries and safe houses. Pakistani officials have long said India finances and shelters terrorists that attack Pakistan. New Delhi denies this. Kabul has an easy way to settle the matter. It can name who it believes is paying for terrorists on its soil and act against them, instead of waving the question away.

Pakistan has the right to a straight answer. It hosted about 4 million Afghans for decades. It gave them homes and schools and carried the cost with little thanks from the world. Repaying that hospitality with attacks on Pakistani police and soldiers is a poor return. A little shame in Kabul would be a start.

Mujahid is right about one thing. Instability in Pakistan would hurt Afghanistan. Trade routes would close and refugees would move. Aid would slow down for people who already live on the edge. He should act on his own logic.

A responsible neighbor does not wait to be asked repeatedly. It restricts TTP commanders and closes their training sites. It keeps foreign sponsors of terrorism from using its soil to target Pakistan. That is the minimum one state owes another across a shared border, and it costs the Taliban nothing but the will to do it.

Mujahid calls Pakistan’s complaints excuses. Look at who is offering them. Pakistan names the problem, points to U.N. reporting and asks for action. Kabul answers with a statement and irritation that someone raised the subject.

The dispute has already strained relations between the two countries. Cross-border terrorism, security operations and arguments over who is responsible for each attack keep getting in the way of better ties. Every new attack and every military response along the border raises the risk of a wider clash that neither capital wants. Nobody in the region gains from a longer war of words while terrorists plan their next move.

Pakistan will keep defending its people and would prefer to do it alongside a cooperative Kabul. The choice sits with the Taliban leadership. It can keep issuing denials or it can start closing the camps. The excuses have run out of road.