Hot pursuit (Afghanistan/Pakistan)

President Hamid Karzai is a man often berated for his weaknesses, both real and perceived. Recently, however, he created a stir by appearing to advocate for military strikes into Pakistani territory in pursuit of militants targeting Afghanistan. In a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on 15 June, soon after his return from the Paris donors' summit on Afghanistan, President Karzai asserted that his country had a right to strike back at Pakistan-based militants engaged in crossborder attacks. At first reported as signifying a direct threat to Pakistan, the president's statement began to be read as an angry response arising from fast-dwindling patience. But his words were surely far more calculated than mere emotional rhetoric. Indeed, it is beginning to look like a carefully calibrated exercise, laying the ground for military strikes inside Pakistan by international forces stationed in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has traditionally blamed Pakistan for the violence within its territory, arguing that Islamabad's support to militants was largely responsible for the ongoing conflict. The Kabul government has used this argument time and again to deflect criticism of its inability to curb escalating violence, and to paper over the gaping holes in the government's 'reconciliation strategy'. Headed by the former president, Sibgatullah Mujadidi, the national reconciliation programme has barely managed to chip away at the fringes of the insurgency, bringing in Taliban footsoldiers through surrender or by co-opting arrested leaders. All the while, Kabul has failed to dent – much less break – the backbone of the insurgency.