THE good news is that the civil and military leadership are working together once again to address matters of national security. The NSC meeting on Friday was the third in six weeks, with Afghanistan dominating the agenda, according to official statements. The less welcome news is the message that has been honed and, after Friday`s meeting, hardened: Pakistan will continue to work towards peace and stability in Afghanistan, but the Afghan government must progressively re-establish the state`s writ over swaths of the country lost to insurgent forces. With Afghanistan and the US continuing to insist that Pakistan needs to do more to prevent the Afghan Taliban from consolidating their gains, Pakistan is effectively telling Kabul and Washington that the problem lies inside Afghanistan a rhetorical stalemate. In the past, when seemingly incompatible descriptions of the war in Afghanistan have been offered, the on-ground situation in that country has worsened and the regional climate deteriorated. Could Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US be headed for another downslide in ties? A fair reading of the situation suggests that all sides must shoulder some of the blame for the current impasse. Pakistan appears to want to switch the world`s attention to the fundamental shortcomings of the Afghan security forces and the self-defeating internal squabbling of the National Unity Government. But that argument has not worked in over a decade and is unlikely to win sympathy today. Even if it is true, the problem is the open secret that the Taliban leadership have been shielded on Pakistani soil in the past and that Pakistan continues to enjoy a degree of influence over them. After all, if Pakistan does not have continuing influence with them, what is its relevance to an eventual intra-Afghan peace process? Far better, then, for Pakistan to indicate the conditions in which it believes a peace process can be restarted and, in the meantime, to demonstrate that it is taking steps to prevent the Taliban from taking sanctuary in Pakistan with impunity.

Of course, where Pakistan`s official approach may be problematic, Afghanistan and the US are hardly free of contradictions in their joint approach. The most recent example was the US Senate delegation that first came to Pakistan and then travelled to Afghanistan. Here, the Senate delegation led by John McCain was positive in its public statements and appeared to be supportive of Pakistan`s efforts in the fight against militancy. In Kabul, it was more critical of Pakistan an approach that raises hackles here and makes possible cooperation between the three countries all that more difficult. Certainly, the revival of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group and Russian diplomacy are other important facets of the Afghan riddle. However, it is Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US that are central to a durable peace in Afghanistan.