IN an erratic move, Afghan government has walked away
from the second round of the peace talks with mediation of any second country,
and has asked Pakistan to take action against Taliban leadership in its
territory instead of bringing them to the negotiation table. The former
President, Hamid Karzai, who recently opposed Ghani’s soft stance toward
Pakistan has supported the new change in the strategy of Afghan government.
However, taking a pragmaticposition, the United States has reiterated that
bilateral talks and cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the only
way for stability and security in the region. US State department had praised
Afghanistan-Pakistan talks following the deadly attacks in Afghanistan Kabul.
John Kerby, spokesman of US State department had said, “Bilateral talks between
Afghan-Pakistan governments are commendable”. John Kerby further added that
America is committed to cooperate and helpAfghan forces and will not abandon
Afghanistan in any way.
Taliban insurgents have killed scores of people in
suicide and other bombings in Afghanistan during the past few days. The
violence has picked up since the disclosure of the death of Mullah Omar, and is
likely to continue till amicable resolution of leadership related irritants,
which is indeed a tall order. Spike in deadly attacks across Afghanistan
underscores the capacity and capability of insurgent elements, hence the need for
peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. A recent UN report
indicates that civilian casualties in Afghanistan since January 2015 have
reached record levels.
On August 07, the insurgents launched a flurry of
attacks in Kabul; a truck bomb in residential blocks; a suicide bombing at the
national police academy; and a ground assault on a coalition base. Taliban
spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, reportedly claimed responsibility for the
bombing. He said the bomber had “targeted occupying foreigner forces” and that
all of those killed were foreigners.
Reacting to the spike of violence, in an abrupt shift
from his fence-mending outreach with Pakistan, a visibly angry AfghanPresident
Ashraf Ghani lashed out at Pakistani leaders. He said on August 10, that the
Afghan people are in urgent need of long-lasting peace in their country and
closure of terrorist sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan. “The doors of
government are open for peace, peace with those who are Afghans and believe in
humanity and renounce terrorism”. Taking the cues, CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah has
also started firing anti-Pakistan salvos; much of the difficulties in
Pak-Afghan relationship owe their initiation to Dr Abdullah’s erratic foreign
policy initiatives during the Karzai era.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to
Afghanistan months ago had categorically stated that “the enemy of Afghanistan
is the enemy of Pakistan, “Ghani told the press conference, adding that it is
the time to act upon word…We hoped for peace but we are receiving messages of
war from Pakistan…In my telephone call with Pakistan Prime Minister (on August
09), I told Pakistan to see terrorism in Afghanistan the same way it sees
terrorism in Pakistan,” he said.
Since coming to power Ghani has courted Pakistan,
expending substantial domestic political capital in the process, his comments
on August 10 are the strongest yet against Pakistan. “Since I took office,
Afghans have been waiting for Pakistan to show their tangible commitment” to
peace, Ghani said. “But attacks in the past two months and now in Kabul have
shown us that it is still the same as the past.”
Response by Pakistan’s foreign office was measured:
“Having been the biggest victim of terrorism itself with human losses exceeding
60,000, the people and the government of Pakistan can feel the pain and “in the
past 10 months we have shown a strong will on peace and discussed with Pakistan
that both sides should fight terror,” “The reality is that Pakistan is busy
holding gatherings to discuss its undeclared war in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan’s National Security Adviser, Sartaj Aziz,
dismissed Ashraf Ghani’s charges, saying there are “all kinds of (militant)
factions” operating in Afghanistan, making it difficult to ascertain who is
behind the bloodshed.
“We very much
condemn all the terrorist attacks in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan and
we have constantly worked with the Afghan government to try to restrict
movements across the borders so that no terrorist goes from here to commit any
act there,” Aziz said. Pakistan can persuade the Taliban to re-engage in talks
with the Afghan govt only after the group resolves its leadership problem.
Pakistan has been urging the Taliban to talk rather than fight because
ultimately fighting is not a solution, “Aziz added.
Taliban have ceded phenomenal space and have come to
negotiating table. Ashraf Ghani should reciprocate and start sharing political
power with them, a fairly elaborate framework in this regard was agreed upon
during Karzai era. Political incentives would broaden the constituency of
moderate factions of Taliban, and they will be able to attract extremist
splinters to join the dialogue process. President Ashraf Ghani should do
background homework and hint about his political intent at the earliest.
Moreover, as long as Afghan leadership continues to mix-up militancy based
political struggle—insurgency— with terrorism, no durable head-way is likely to
come-by.
The silver-lining is that after the outburst by the
Afghan President, a delegation led by Afghan Foreign Minister has visited
Pakistan to discuss the contentious issues, especially the ‘non-paper’ earlier
communicated by the Afghan side, demanding of Pakistan to take action against
Afghan Taliban on its soil. During Afghan Foreign Minister’s visit, Afghan side
conveyed its concerns over the spate of recent attacks in Kabul and sought
cooperation. Pakistan pledged full cooperation against terrorism and emphasised
that the two countries should have trust in each other and “discourage spoilers
and detractors”. Premier Nawaz assured the Afghan delegation of all-out support
but also suggested that implicating Pakistan’s security institutions in the
attacks was regrettable. PM’s adviser informed the delegation that the
Pakistani government had serious concerns about Afghan soil being used against
Pakistan. “But we believe in using appropriate channels to convey our concerns
instead of going public with allegations,” Aziz said. However, the delegation
did not report back to its boss positively.
President Ashraf Ghani’s frustration is
understandable, but his approach to resolve the issues is unfortunately getting
more and more erratic. More than a decade long Pakistan bashing neither did
help Americans, nor Ashraf’s predecessor; it is not likely to help him either.
Americans have corrected their course, and it would serve Ashraf well, if he
follows the suite. Afghanconflict needs a professional handling. President
Ghani should have done his calculations before signing the Bilateral Security
Agreement with America that a very powerful component of Taliban is not likely
to compromise on presence of foreign troops on American soil. Despite stern
tone in his comments on Pakistan, Ghani failed to come up with something
concrete to achieve desired objectives.
Afghan leadership should comprehend that it is an
exercise in futility to assume that Pakistan has compelling influence on
Taliban. Bad experience of cobbling together a broad based Mujahedeen
government in the wake of Soviet withdrawal from Kabul in the 1990s is not a
distant memory; and ever since, Afghan insurgent leadership’s psyche has not
changed much.
