As Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appealed to the Taliban and other militant groups in Afghanistan to participate in the intra-Afghan reconciliation process on Friday, Pakistan has plainly conveyed it to the Afghan government and the Obama administration that it could “facilitate” their peace talks with various Afghan insurgent groups, but would not become a “guarantor” for the success of such negotiations.
It is for the first time that Pakistan has called on the Afghan Taliban to start peace talks with the government of President Hamid Karzai, and to many observers it is a clear indication of a major policy shift on part of Pakistan.
“No doubt, the prime minister’s statement is an important development and it shows clearly that Pakistan is willing to play the role of a facilitator in the ongoing reconciliation process in Afghanistan. However, at the same time Pakistan has also made it clear to the Afghan government as well as the United States that it could use its ‘good offices’ to facilitate the talks, but would not play the role of a guarantor, which is to ensure that the talks would succeed,” said a Pakistani diplomat here on Saturday seeking anonymity.
He said Pakistan could facilitate the Afghan government as well as the US authorities to have access to various Taliban groups, but to ask it to play the role of a guarantor would be asking for “too much”, as the Taliban could not be influenced to that extent. “They (Taliban) are not under the control of Islamabad as it is falsely assumed and they make their own independent decisions,” he said.
The Taliban have already set up their office in Qatar for dialogue with the United States as they announced a month or so ago and they have also been engaged in initial talks with the US authorities and that too for the release of their prisoners, who are in American detention.
The Afghan government, however, is finding it difficult to reach out to the top leadership of the Taliban for talks on its own after being left out by the United States in talks with the militants in Qatar.
Another Pakistani official, when contacted, said that talks with the Taliban would be a long drawn exercise whether it was with the US or with the Karzai government, as there were difficult issues to be sorted out such as the form and nature of future ruling setup in Kabul and the share of the Taliban.
“It will be a very hard dialogue with the Taliban no matter if it’s being done by Kabul or Washington, and to play the role of a guarantor on part of Pakistan would not be a wise step and that’s why it is most likely that Islamabad will not take any such responsibility, at least not at such at an early stage,” he said.