A stable Afghanistan is going to be in the country’s interest while a destabilized Afghanistan can potentially hurt Pakistan more than any other country, Pakistan’s former Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan said on Monday during the launch of his book “Afghanistan and Pakistan: Conflict, Extremism and Resistance to Modernity” at the Forman Christian (FC) College Public Policy Center.
Giving detailed insight into his book, Khan argued that the Taliban cannot return to Kabul like they did in the 90s and the country is going to be controlled by different power groups after the NATO troops withdrawal.
The authorities should treat the Durand line as a legal border. While NATO’s presence has made the issue ‘controversial’; the problem is not the drone strikes but the “boots” present on the other side of the border.
He said that clarity of approach is important: any arrangement should be Afghan led and it was also in Pakistan’s interest to disallow our territory’s use for operations in Afghanistan. Pakistan should respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty.
Further, he held that there was a possibility that the Americans would consider a residual presence post NATO’s withdrawal to prevent the country’s collapse.
He also said an intellectual crisis in Pakistan was the major impediment to growth. “We should not exaggerate the Chinese concern about US presence because the Chinese are used to the US presence in Japan and Cambodia among other places” he maintained.
To a question, he said that the foreign policy was not fashioned everyday, it has phases and the ISI’s view does not necessarily always prevail.
He also felt that it was foolish to believe that we could stop India from stepping into Afghanistan. “The Tajiks and Hazaras are favourably disposed towards India and they would want Indian investment in their country. Pakistan has myriad interests in Afghanistan and if we want to preserve them we should let the Afghans decide their route for themselves,” Khan said.
He also said that the Pakistani authorities should not fear any other country’s participation in Afghanistan’s development because a peaceful Afghanistan would benefit Pakistan more than any other country.
To questions on the probable troops’ withdrawal, he said that the American public was exhausted with a war that had seemed to accomplish nothing for them. “President Obama revisited the Afghan doctrine and removed the earlier announced initiatives to build a democratic welfare Afghanistan upon realising the difficulties present in the land,” he added.
Renowned journalist Khaled Ahmed, Hussain Naqi, former Ambassador Khalid, Public Policy Center Director Dr Saeed Shafqat and many faculty members, students and journalists attended the talk.
