Participants of a roundtable discussion, organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), on Tuesday expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan; however, they expressed optimism over the improvement in relations between Pakistan and India.
George Perkovich, who is the director of the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, maintained that India was eyeing a global role for itself, which had made it more inclined to talk peace with Pakistan.
In this, he saw an opportunity for Pakistan to build a peaceful future for the region. He advised the Pakistani decision-makers to resolve internal problems which, according to him, are a bigger threat to the country than the external ones, says a press release.
IRS Senior Fellow Brig Bashir Ahmed enumerated the destabilising influences in the region as volatile Pak-US relations, the equally unstable situation in Afghanistan, the US relations with Iran and the presence of armed non-state actors in the region.
IRS Senior Research Analyst Dr Shaheen Akhtar was of the opinion that for a long-term stability in Afghanistan, the NATO forces would have to plan their withdrawal in a very responsible fashion. IRS Research Analyst Aarish U Khan was of the view that the understanding of stability and the parameters for success and failure were rather exaggerated, and that NATO needed to align its aspirations with respect to Afghanistan and the ground realities.
Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani said Indian could never substitute Pakistan in Afghanistan, adding that the interdependence of Afghanistan and Pakistan was too deep to be replaced by any other country. Commenting on the Indo-Pak ties, defence analyst Lt Gen (r) Saleem Haider said the civil nuclear deal between India and the US had a destabilising influence in the region.
Foreign policy analyst Qurban said by signing a similar agreement with Pakistan, the US could offset some of the threatening influence of the Indo-US agreement. He added that India and Pakistan no longer needed any foreign involvement for the resolution of their disputes. Gen Asad Durrani argued that from the past combat experiences of India and Pakistan, in which they carefully avoided attacks on one another’s civilian targets, the two countries had proven themselves to be careful adversaries. This, he asserted, was reason enough not to get too concerned about the prospects of a nuclear conflict in the region.
Durrani also appreciated the progress made by India and Pakistan in the composite dialogue and their return to it after crises. He also questioned the US sincerity in promoting stability in the region. IRS President Ashraf Azim appreciated the visit of the Carnegie Endowment delegation and hailed it as a positive step in the direction of creating greater understanding in the US decision-making circles about Pakistan.
