Pakistan expected to put parleys back on the rails
James Dobbins has arrived in Islamabad only days after the talks with Taliban at Doha received a setback – on account of the Taliban opening the mission under the nomenclature, ‘the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ and flying their white Taliban standard. Meanwhile, speaking to the media in New Delhi, the US Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that any political settlement must result in the Taliban breaking ties with al Qaeda, renouncing violence, and accepting the Afghan constitution – including its protections for all Afghans, women and men. The issue is likely to be high on Dobbins’ agenda in Islamabad.
Pakistan needs to work with international community to ensure peace in Afghanistan. It has played a role in making the long-stalled Doha talks possible. It is now likely to be asked to help put the talks on rails. It is in Pakistan’s interest as well as that of the international community to work for a sustainable post-NATO arrangement. To have peace and stability Afghanistan would need a government with an inclusive outlook. It has to be an establishment which is able to create harmony in the country instead of keeping the pot boiling. Afghanistan comprises multiple ethnic and sectarian identities. The new arrangement is thus bound to be a coalition rather than a single party rule. It has to ensure the traditional autonomy that different regions have always enjoyed. Attempts to enforce a centralized system or any attempt by one party to force its will on others could give birth to another civil war which would harm the country and destabilize the region.
Pakistan must not put its eggs in one basket. Attempts to patronize one group in the hope of using it as a proxy have miserably failed in the past and harmed Pakistan. While the supposed client invariably acted independently, Islamabad was blamed for the misadventures undertaken by the group. Be it Gulbudeen Hekmatyar or Mullah Omar, each one acted as it suited him. Pakistan’s religious leaders who claimed of influence over the Afghan groups were found absolutely lacking it when it came to the crunch. Pakistan should let Afghans make their own decisions. It should seek the goodwill of all political forces in the neighbourng country. This might sound difficult and a time consuming exercise. But this alone is in the long term interest of Pakistan. The Taliban should be disabused of the notion that they can rule alone and act in defiance of the world opinion. None among the countries in the region would like the return of a religions militia that defies international laws. Whatever coalition rules the country would in any case have a significant and effective Pushtun presence on account of the peculiar ethnic balance in the country. The Taliban thus cannot be ignored. But the Taliban would be unrealistic to think that they can monopolize power.