The message of Qureshi’s confession to US

Although there are attempts to portray most of American actions in Afghanistan as mistakes, the trend is largely unacceptable to Afghan people who are the primary victims of the ongoing conflict. Since the very beginning of the reemergence of Taliban after they were ousted in 2001, Afghan people have been telling the United States and its allies that Pakistan is behind the resurgence of the militant group. The game remains unchanged, and the United States has not made any convincing efforts to address the roots of the problem. Apart from the symbolic suspension of aid, no other action has been taken against Islamabad to impel it to stop supporting and harboring anti-Afghan government insurgents. Despite the fact that the roots of the problem are crystal clear, the United States has continued to fight its so called war on terror in a territory whose people are the victims of both the insurgency and counterinsurgency operations.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has recently acknowledged that their military and intelligence agencies have been backing the Taliban to protect Pakistan’s national interests. While Qureshi has tried to label his country’s support for insurgents as compulsion, the reality is that Pakistan is still not ready to accept and respect Afghanistan’s independence and territorial integrity, and continues to pursue its interests through a proxy war.
Qureshi’s confession is nothing new for Afghans who are well aware of Pakistan’s duplicity, but it has a clear message for Americans. If this confession doesn’t lead to a shift in Washington’s policy towards Islamabad, it will be hard not only for Afghans but also the entire region to buy into the West’s rhetoric that it is fighting against terrorism. If the goal of the US-led western coalition in Afghanistan is what they claim, the continuation of war in Afghan homes and villages cannot put an end to the phenomenon of terrorism. When terrorists have state support, safe heavens, breeding ground, and training camps outside Afghanistan, any war fought under the pretext of dismantling them has no justification at all. If the United States is really honest, it has to take the war to where its roots lie.