Generally, it’s unusual for journalists to be out of the bed by seven O’ clock in the morning, and that too in freezing temperature that this part of the country is witnessing in current winter. The reason is obvious: they work till late at night in their respective newspapers and TV channels. Anyhow, the event was an exclusive one for eight of my respectable colleagues other than me.
It was a breakfast meeting with the Afghan President Hamid Karzai who was in Islamabad last week for the tripartite summit between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The interaction was an opportunity rarely available to journalists aspiring to gather the firsthand information from a dignitary of a neighbouring country, which in fact, still remains centre of focus of the entire world.
It was a frank and an open interaction on various vital issues having bilateral, regional and international connotations. The Q & A revolved around bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the light of war on terror, reconciliation process in Afghanistan to achieve lasting peace and security, economic development and prosperity of the people of the two Muslim nations.
President Karzai, when asked how he would comment on the present status of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, replied, “The relations between the two countries have always been overshadowed in the context of the Soviet War and Pakistan’s role in my country. Pakistan accepts that Taliban were supported by it in the past but now it is over and we have nothing against that situation anymore. Today the issue is of peace and stability of the two neighbours.” The Afghan President said, “We should find out who was spreading radicalism in Pakistan and Afghanistan.” He might have been referring to foreign powers busy in destabilising the region for their strategic, commercial and economic interests.
He said our relations were influenced by the “incidents” and “accidents”. Once we are out of that phase the relations would become normal and strong. Here the president might have been referring to the murder of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani after which Kabul dramatically broke all level of contacts with Pakistan and accused ISI of the killing. President Karzai himself immediately rushed to New Delhi to sign various agreements with India sending a message to Pakistan that Afghanistan will have other friends in the region. As an independent nation Afghanistan has all the right to develop relations with any country including India, however, the timing of the visit created doubt in the minds of the public in Pakistan.
On the question of Pakistan Army providing training to the Afghan National Army, for the first time his reply was unexpectedly in positive. President Karzai answered that in principle his country agreed to that offer but that stage would come once peace and stability had been restored in Afghanistan.
When asked about the Indo-Afghan relations and increasing Indian presence in Afghanistan, the Afghan President stated that Pakistan recognised that relation. “Pakistan has no issue on this as it is working to normalise its own relation with India by high-level exchanges in different areas, including Pakistan’s willingness to extend the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.” However, he assured that his country would not allow anything to happen that could be detrimental to Pakistan.
But the visiting dignitary did not give a satisfactory answer about Indian role along the Pak-Afghan border. The way Indians have been allegedly trying to destabilise not only the FATA region, but also the Balochistan region by providing financial, logistic and technical support to terrorists. Pakistan has been raising this issue with both Afghanistan and India but no substantial measures have been taken to address this concern so far.
The Afghan President, without naming USA, was of the opinion that his country wanted a direct relation with Pakistan, free from any influence of any foreign power. That is a wishful thinking because as long as the Americans are sitting in Afghanistan and controlling everything there, an independent approach on bilateral relations and peace in the region would remain a dream.
On the issue of NATO supply from Pakistan, President Karzai wanted it to be restored as, according him, it would benefit the two countries.
He said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan had to work hard to reduce radicalism in the region and that if they wanted the US to leave, they would have to restore peace in Afghanistan. Yes, peace is the vital chip for the US leaving Afghanistan; however, Afghanistan has not stated clearly what it really wants from Pakistan in this regard since the word cooperation is very vague.
The Afghan President showed his objection to the Qatar peace process saying that it was an American effort and his government had nothing to with that. He was of the opinion that the US could not talk to Taliban on behalf of Afghanistan. He stressed on direct talks with Taliban under the Afghan government’s conditions.
It was a surprise to all of us when President Karzai said that Pakistan would not be on the table during his talks with the Taliban. The problem is of distrust and doubts. But it’s the job of the leaders to find out solutions through negotiation. This was what the purpose of the tripartite summit in Islamabad was. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan must understand each other’s concerns by looking at ground realities and cooperating without any hesitation or external influence.
The Iranian President Muhmod Ahmedinejad was partially right in saying that this region had problems from the outside and those could be tackled through internal cooperation and better understanding among the neighbours. Although President Karzai did not answer some questions, we hope and wish that this friendly gesture towards Pakistan and its people would not be changed by any ‘incident or accident’ in future.
The writer hosts a primetime talk show on a TV channel and can be contacted via email: [email protected]
