Last week’s fighting between the U.S. military and the Taliban, which spilled over from Afghanistan’s Kunar province into Pakistan’s Mohmand tribal agency, has sparked a diplomatic mess. Pakistan maintains the United States targeted an outpost of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, killing 11. The government called the strike “cowardly.” The U.S. military released UAV footage from the fighting that showed engagements with Taliban fighters in the open. Days later, General Dan McNeill, the outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, questioned the effectiveness and loyalty of Pakistani troops. McNeill said attacks in Afghanistan’s eastern regions have increased 50 percent since the peace agreements were initiated by the Pakistani government with the Taliban in April. Then, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai threatened to attack Baitullah Mehsud inside Pakistan. “When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to go back and do the same,” Karzai said. Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani warned Afghanistan not to interfere inside the tribal areas. The Pakistani Taliban weighed in, and threatened to boost attacks inside Afghanistan. The past week merely serves to highlight the deteriorating situation in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province. The Pakistani government, unwilling to fight the needed counterinsurgency operation in the tribal areas, believes it can negotiate with the Taliban. The U.S. military and the Afghan government, increasingly frustrated by the Taliban havens in Pakistan, are pursuing the Taliban across the border and ratcheting up the rhetoric. Meanwhile, the Taliban benefits by creating fissures between the United States, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
