Kabul’s indifference delaying key strategic pact with Islamabad

The proposed Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) between Pakistan and Afghanistan is likely to hit the snags owing to the lack of interest by Kabul for an early conclusion of the vital pact.
The pact is intended to strengthen defence and strategic relations between Islamabad and Kabul and institutionalise the whole peace process.
Although the Afghan government has verbally announced time and again its willingness to conclude the pact with Pakistan, diplomatic sources say that Afghanistan persists with its reluctance when it comes to taking practical steps on signing the agreement with Pakistan.
“This lack of interest on part of the Afghan government was evident during the recent trilateral summit in London between Pakistan, Afghanistan and UK in which President Asif Ali Zardari, President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister David Cameron represented their respective countries,” said a Pakistani diplomat seeking anonymity. He said that Kabul was showing lack of interest in the significant pact despite the fact that the agreement was of great advantage to both the countries and especially Afghanistan, which was rebuilding its defence capabilities after the decades’ long war. He did not comment on the reason behind Kabul’s reluctance to conclude the strategic pact with Islamabad.
However, another diplomatic source said the Afghan president and his government wanted progress and movement forward on peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, and particularly a vibrant role by Islamabad for its success. The strategic partnership pact was proposed by no one else but the Afghan president in September 2012 during a trilateral summit in New York on the sidelines of UN General Assembly’s session. Before that, in October 2011, Afghanistan had signed the same agreement of strategic partnership with India. In October last year, the Afghan president said Pakistan should stop its alleged backing to terrorists while dubbing it as a precondition to conclude the SPA with Islamabad. It was in November last year that Pakistan and Afghanistan began formal negotiations on the pact. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar presented a draft of the SPA to her Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul during his visit to Islamabad. Both the foreign ministers told a joint news conference that they would like the pact to be signed as soon as possible. Another Pakistani diplomat said that under the proposed agreement, Pakistan would deepen its strategic relations with Afghanistan. He said that Islamabad would like to impart military training to the Afghan National Army (ANA). “Pakistan has always been for the strengthening of bilateral ties with its western neighbour and efforts for the conclusion of SPA are being made in this regard,” he said. He hoped that the two countries would soon reach this important accord that would bring them further close to each other.