Fence mending a Herculean task
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is making his 20th trip to Islamabad since coming to power in 2002. This time he is visiting at the invitation of the newly- elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who also holds the portfolio of foreign minister. Karzai wants Pakistan to persuade the Taliban to hold talks with the Afghan High Peace Council to revive the inter-Afghan dialogue suspended after the Doha setback. Another demand is that Pakistan set free all the Taliban against whom there are no cases pending in Pakistan. Kabul particularly wants the release of Mullah Bradar.
Friendly ties between the two countries can bring major social and economic dividend to both. The Afghan finance minister who had arrived ahead of Karzai has already held talks with his counterpart Ishaq Dar. Both have discussed mutually beneficial joint ventures that include the 1,500MW hydropower project on Kunar River as a stepping stone for a possible agreement on the Kabul River Basin Management Commission. Peace in Afghanistan is vital for peace in Pakistan. What is more, it opens a window for cooperation that would bring prosperity to all the countries in the region. As things stand a deep-seated mutual mistrust divides Pakistan and Afghanistan. Karzai thinks Islamabad is manipulating the Afghan Taliban in pursuit of its strategic needs. During his two successive tenures, the Afghan president has accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to the Taliban and has at times urged the US to attack these sanctuaries instead of bombing the suspected sites in Afghanistan. Karzai maintains the unrealistic notion that Pakistan is in a position to pressurise the Taliban to call off operations inside Afghanistan if it so desires. The hawks in Pakistan’s establishment on the other hand entertain a highly negative view of Karzai and his administration. He is seen as a man with unconcealed hostility towards Pakistan. How a person who has provided India space to outflank their country via Afghanistan can be forgiven, they maintain. To them Karzai is considered duplicitous, even suffering from bipolar disorder. The situation is further complicated by the antipathy the Afghan Taliban have for Karzai who is seen by them as an ineffectual pawn in the hands of the US. They prefer to hold direct talks with the US rather than their proxy who would in any case be dead wood as he vacates the presidency in less than a year.
In the presence of the daunting backlog of distrust not much is expected from the talks. It is nevertheless highly crucial for the two countries to bridge the gulf. The foreign office is upbeat about the visit, calling it a historical event. The talks pose a big challenge to Nawaz Sharif. It remains to be seen if the new PM manages to succeed where his predecessors failed.
