edit in The Nation, Dec 6, 2022
Friday’s attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul with Chargé d’Affaires (CdA) Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani specifically targeted shows that regardless of who is in power, the security situation in Afghanistan is much the same. We can be thankful that the honourable CdA was unhurt, but the fact that a security guard at the embassy was seriously wounded is an indication of the significance of the issue.
Our diplomatic team has often publicly raised the issue of the presence of non-state actors in Afghanistan that target Pakistan to both this administration and the one before it. But much like the last government in power, the Afghan Taliban’s control over the security situation in the country is very limited. Afghanistan is home to a very large number of non-state militant groups, and the presence of IS among them is well documented. Afghan society has been militarised in the past three decades, with conflict after conflict ravaging the country and opening up avenues for the trade and use of weapons freely. This means that wiping out militants for any government in power is very complicated, especially if done through the barrel of a gun.
This is not to say that the new administration is even focusing on removing terror elements that target Pakistan or even its own Afghan citizens, but it is clear that experts that expected a rise in militancy with the ascension of the Taliban to power have been proven right in a little over a year.
For now, there is little Pakistan can do except for shoring up its borders and the security of our diplomatic missions. It is the responsibility of the Afghan state to protect diplomatic missions on their home soil, and if the Taliban administration wants to be taken seriously on the national stage, it must do what successive governments have been unable to do in Kabul—to first prove that it can stop militants from carrying out attacks as they please.
https://www.nation.com.pk/06-Dec-2022/kabul-embassy-attack
