Expert Comment
Pearl Pandya on the attack on an Afghan university
ACLED’s Pearl Pandya comments relations between on Afghanistan and Pakistan as fighting enters its third month.
On Monday, a university campus was hit in Afghanistan's Kunar province, killing at least seven and injuring 75, many of them students.
Pearl Pandya, South Asia Senior Analyst at ACLED, said:
“These attacks violated an informal understanding reached between Pakistan and Afghanistan during peace talks in early April to avoid further escalation. But our data show that these Urumqi peace talks had limited effect on the fighting: even before Monday's attacks, ACLED recorded at least twelve incidents of mortar, rocket and artillery fire from Pakistan into Afghanistan's border provinces.
The continuation of hostilities is not surprising. The Urumqi talks were limited to negotiations with lower-level officials, as Pakistan’s diplomatic and political focus was tied up in mediation with Iran.
As long as the Afghan Taliban fails to address Pakistan’s concerns over rising Islamist militancy, I expect the violence to continue.”
