Pakistan Thinks It Can Play Nice with Terrorists. It’s Wrong

The start of 2016 has been marked by hope for a peace agreement in Afghanistan, a result of multiple meetings of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) countries of China, the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, to develop a framework for bringing the Afghan Taliban into negotiations with the Kabul government. To achieve a peace agreement, Afghanistan is relying on Pakistan’s help to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. This plan expects Pakistan to engage in a counterterrorism strategy for which it has long been criticized by the same stakeholders now knocking at its door: differentiate the “good” terrorists from the “bad” terrorists, rather than consistently cracking down on all violent groups.