Any improvement of ties between New Delhi and Islamabad will automatically improve the situation in Afghanistan, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins said on Thursday.
Dobbins, who arrived in New Delhi to brief Indian officials on the proposed talks with the Taliban as part of stabilising war-torn Afghanistan, also said there was no prospect of any agreement with the Taliban unless they decided on severing ties with all terror groups, including al Qaeda.
“We certainly agree that there is no prospect of improvement in relationship with the Taliban or any agreement with the Taliban unless they assure terrorism is…addressed,” the US diplomat said, adding that the Taliban had to do much more before an agreement was reached.
“In an agreement, they need to improve on cessation of hostilities, respectfully attend the constitution and go about severing of all ties with al Qaeda and similar terrorist organisations,” Dobbins said.
“Any improvement in Indo-Pak ties will almost automatically improve the Afghanistan situation,” he said.
Dobbins added that he had gathered an impression during his two meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that “improvement in relationship with India is very high on his (Nawaz’) list of priorities”.
Maintaining that India had an important influence in Afghanistan, Dobbins said, “It is important that India understand our views and we understand India’s views.”
The US ambassador had met Nawaz on Wednesday and discussed developments in Afghanistan, including the proposed peace talks to be held in Qatar.
He said there was certainly “no pre-condition” for the peace talks and the US did not expect that the Taliban will stop hostilities just because they were talking.
“Certainly there is no pre-condition. We do not expect them to stop firing just because they are talking. The objective of the talks is the diminishing of violence and ultimately an enduring peace. But that is not going to come quickly. So there is certainly no pre-condition for just talking.”
“Frankly, I anticipate that the Taliban will continue to try and negotiate from a position of strength. They will continue to mount attacks. Probably the Taliban want the pressure to continue. They want to continue to make it look like the US is retreating as a result of that pressure,” he said in response to a query about continuance of attacks by the Taliban in the recent months.
Emphasising the importance of the peace talks for a lasting peace, Dobbins noted that while the Afghan forces were leading in combat operations for some time and performing well, he did not think that it was “going to lead to an immediate diminishing of violence”.
To a question about the possibilities of peace amid the Taliban continuing attacks, Dobbins said, “I don’t anticipate that the beginning of negotiations will end the war. I do hope that the negotiations will automatically contribute to the end of the war. But that is by no means certain. That is simply something that we are trying.”
The Afghan Taliban had opened an office in Qatar last Tuesday in a step towards talks as the US-led NATO combat mission prepares to leave Afghanistan in 2014 despite a resilient Taliban insurgency 12 years after they were ousted following the 9/11 attacks.
