Tragedy in Jalalabad

The killing of Rana Nayyar, an assistant at Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in Jalalabad, will further complicate the troubled relationship between the two countries. The Foreign Office has already lodged a protest with Afghanistan and has demanded greater protection for our diplomats in the country. Further recriminations will likely be forthcoming, especially if the perpetrators are not speedily caught. So far, all this known is that Nayyar was shot dead outside his residence by armed assailants on motorbikes; no group has claimed responsibility. This killing only reinforces Pakistan’s complaint that the Afghan government has allowed militant groups space to operate in the country. Since many of these militant groups, particularly the TTP and its offshoots, have specifically declared war on Pakistan it is no surprise that one of our diplomats ended up targeted. It is the Afghan government’s duty to provide sufficient protection to diplomats and in that duty it has failed. After the May attack on the Green Zone in Kabul, security should have been enhanced for all foreign nationals but Nayyar appears to have been unguarded when the killers struck. Far from the “undeclared war of aggression” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has accused Pakistan of launching against his country, this killing shows how both countries are equally at risk of militant attacks and need to work together, rather than demonising each other.

This murder will also further strengthen the conviction that Pakistan must continue construction of a border fence with Afghanistan. So far, only 43 kilometres of land has been fenced but already Ghani has repeatedly denounced it. There are certainly many problems with constructing a fence, primarily the inconvenience it will cause to those who need to cross the border for work or to visit family. But the violence in Afghanistan, accompanied by Ghani’s constant attempts to blame Pakistan for it, has now got so out of hand that the Pakistan government feels it has little other option. Just one day after Nayyar’s murder, Islamic State gunmen stormed a television station in Kabul and killed two people. Pakistan has only just concluded its own military operation against the IS near the Afghan border and can ill-afford a resurgence. The IS in Afghanistan has now grown to a point where it can seemingly attack at will. There is a possibility the group may start looking towards Pakistan as its next target. This is why the two countries need to stop accusing the other of being behind attacks and cooperate to neutralise the true threat.