Osama is dead; there are possibilities of America going back now. If it goes back, what should Pakistan and Afghanistan do? Afghanistan’s instability is a matter of concern for all the stakeholders in the region, especially Pakistan as a bordering state. With the recent developments, it seems obvious that the US wishes Pakistan to develop a role in Afghanistan as they cannot stay here for long.
The fact remains that Pakistan and its people have always extended their fullest support to their Afghan brethren in every hour of trial and for the peaceful solution of Afghan imbroglio. Pakistan welcomed and hosted for three decades millions of Afghan refugees despite all its limited resources and the ensuing ills plaguing the society.
Last month, on April 15, the civil and military leadership of Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Kabul and agreed to establish a two-tiered Afghan-Pakistan joint commission to work with the Afghan High Peace Council and carry forward the conciliation process, because, as the saying goes, the occupiers have to leave sooner or later, and the peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan have to stay as neighbours. The Afghan government and the US-NATO leadership reportedly have held rounds of secret talks with the Afghan Taliban in a bid to marginalise them. However, it won’t be easy for the Taliban, as Rahimullah Yusufzai observes, to agree to a power-sharing arrangement with Karzai after fighting for 10 long years. Much of the responsibility rests on the shoulders of Kabul government to move forward with concrete steps towards conciliation process, as it is in the best interest of the region.
F Z KHAN
Islamabad
