Building a golden crescent to fight terror

Pakistan and Afghanistan had been the target of terrorist attacks till just a few days ago. But the recent attacks in Iran show terrorists have widened their targets. That's why linking Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, the region where the frontiers of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan meet, has become of pivotal strategic importance.

Peace and stability in this region is vital not only for the three countries, but also for the rest of the world. But what we are seeing is an increase in terrorist attacks, the latest being two blasts in a university in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan.

The Taliban have hit major Pakistani cities, and earlier this month even attacked the Pakistani army headquarters and an intelligence facility. These attacks have not only left hundreds of people dead and injured, but also spread panic and paranoia among the population.

The Pakistani army has now launched its largest operation against the Taliban in south Waziristan, a mountainous region with majority tribal population, bordering Afghanistan.

Terrorist attacks in Pakistan are not new. But the bombings in Iran are, and they have shocked the international community. On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting between officers of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and tribal leaders in Sistan, a frontier province with majority Baluchi population, bordering Pakistan. Thirty-five people were killed, including a lieutenant commander of Iran's ground forces and four senior Revolutionary Guard officers. It was the worst terrorist attack in Iran in two decades.

The rapid increase in the number of attacks is a pointer to the complexity of the situation in the region. As Zhang Xiaodong, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), says, one of reasons is the mismatch of national borders and ethnic compositions. Since the borders dividing Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran were drawn largely by colonial powers, they split many ethnic groups into two and even all the three countries.

The Pushtuns, the ethnic group that many Taliban members are from, are separated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban have taken advantage of this division and turned the mountainous areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border into their major operating base, making it extremely difficult for the both countries to counter them.

The Baluchi people live in all the three countries, and the separatist forces among them have orchestrated attacks in Pakistan and Iran. The suicide attack on Iran's Revolutionary Guards is reported to be the handiwork of a Baluchi separatist group, Jundallah.

This group doesn't want the Iranian government to negotiate peace with local tribal chiefs in order to resolve the Baluchi issue, says Yin Gang, an expert on Middle East with the CASS.

Drug smuggling through Baluchistan has been rampant in recent years, threatening the stability of Iran. Had the colonial powers respected the structure of ethnic groups while drawing the borders, the problems would have been much easier to tackle, Yin says.

Another problem plaguing the border regions is the refusal of local tribes to accept a country's central authority. In some places, they have even wrested control of the administration, law enforcement, as well as the judiciary. Exploiting this extreme feeling among the tribal people, the Taliban have built a solid base in the frontier region and are waging a guerilla war with the support of many residents.

Ma Xiaolin, a commentator on international affairs who covered the Middle East as a journalist for many years, says many tribes in Waziristan have given refuge to Taliban members, making it more difficult for the Afghan and Pakistani governments to root them out. Ma describes the region along the Pakistani-Afghan border, where there's a vacuum of government power, as a "terror frontier".

Since the security situation in the region is complex with terrorist groups operating from across borders, one country alone cannot restore peace there. International cooperation, especially among the three countries, is needed to root out the terrorists and restore order in the region.

It is here that the media have to play a positive role. After the suicide bombing in Sistan, Iran asked Pakistan to crack down on Jundallah and hand over the plotters of the attack to it. But a few media outlets misunderstood (or misconstrued) Iran's message to say that the Pakistani government might have been behind the attack.

What they forgot is that Iran and Pakistan share a common interest in fighting the Baluchi separatists, Ma says. In fact, Pakistan extradited a senior Jundallah leader to Iran a couple of months ago. So the media should not try to turn the tragedy in Iran into the starting point of a dispute between the two neighbors. They should instead urge deeper bilateral cooperation to combat the separatists.

Cooperation is even more important in the fight against the Taliban. Since the Taliban have strong bases along the Pakistani-Afghan border and their members can hide on one side of the border to evade military crackdowns from the other side, the two countries have to work more closely to eliminate them.

The Pakistani army has launched a massive operation against the Taliban, but it is restricted to its territory. Kabul now has to coordinate with Islamabad and prevent Taliban members fleeing Pakistan from crossing into Afghan territory.

The Pakistani operation against the Taliban is the most resolute in its history of fighting terrorism. With a 30,000-strong force and possible reinforcements, the Pakistani army has been battering the Taliban.

But only military measures are not enough to eradicate the Taliban and their influence, Zhang says. The Taliban may seek shelter in Afghanistan and/or hide among local residents, many of who sympathize with them. And when the army halts its operation, they can regroup and launch attacks again.

Ma suggests the Pakistani government apply a comprehensive set of policies, including military, political, economic and diplomatic, to tackle the Taliban. It should negotiate with the local tribes and seek their support to exert the central government's authority in the tribal areas.

More significantly, to win people's hearts, the Pakistani government should invest heavily in infrastructure and economic development in the region so that the local people can enjoy economic benefits.

It may be extremely difficult to restore peace and instill stability in the region. But for the sake of the people of the three countries (and the rest of the world), efforts have to be made, even though they come at a price.

(China Daily 10/22/2009 page9)