What Pakistan and Afghanistan need
Former Afghan Intelligence Chief Amrullah Saleh wrote an opinion piece for Aljazeera in which he placed all the blame for Afghan misery on Pakistan. He seems to lack understanding of Afghan history and tradition. He forgot that Afghans don’t tire telling the world that it is a graveyard of Empires. Was it Pakistan that was helping them get rid of empires or whether it was their own sense of independence, dignity and pride? From his article it seems that Mulllah Omar and his supporters are not Afghans and he is advising the government to disown them. If they are Afghans whose responsibility is it to talk to them so that there could be peace in their country and our region? And if they are terrorists, why did the Afghan government not tell the Americans not to approach them for negotiations that allowed them to open an embassy in Qatar and initiate exchange of prisoners as a precondition for talks? Is it also Pakistan’s responsibility that corruption of historic proportions is uncovered by international donor agencies in Afghan reconstruction contracts? Isn’t it the failure of people in power like him that under their watch officials deprived poor Afghans of basic necessities and his intelligence department did not apprehend any of these corrupt officials? It was this failure to deliver which provided recruitment tools for anti-government forces to gain their sympathy.
Is it also Pakistan’s responsibility that Afghans that are excellent fighters are not willing to serve in the Afghan National Army (ANA)? There must be corruption, bad leadership and other administrative issues that compel these soldiers not to protect their country and abandon their national army. I would also like to ask Amrullah when he will give the call to his over three million Afghan brethren living in Pakistan to return to their country and rebuild it? This will relieve Pakistan of billions to provide social services to them. We would prefer to spend this money on our citizens.
In his article Amrullah has laid the blame of recent terrorist attacks squarely on Pakistan without providing any proof. For any crime there has to be a motive
Amrullah also seems to be deprived of the basic common sense of foreign policy. All neighbours around a country have a strategic interest in it. Pakistan has strategic interests in Afghanistan, so does Afghanistan in Pakistan. A good relation can only result from mutual respect for each other’s strategic interests. The same is true for others in the region including Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Tajikistan who share borders with them. Afghans always look towards Pakistan whenever they are in crisis and there are many cultural, historic and geopolitical reasons for it. When it comes to international policy they have allowed other powers to use their territory for. In multinational forums, Afghan governments have sided with India, ignoring the policy position of other neighbours. It was Afghans themselves who invited Russians to enter their territory and make it a centre stage of the Cold War. Pakistan was brought into the conflict when large numbers of refugees sought help. We are proud to help our neighbours in distress and will do it again if needed on humanitarian grounds.
In his article Amrullah has laid the blame of recent terrorist attacks squarely on Pakistan without providing any proof. For any crime there has to be a motive. Newly elected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has opened a new diplomatic chapter in the bilateral relations during his recent visit to Pakistan. This diplomatic thaw is detrimental to the aggressive government of India, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Why can’t Afghans investigate and find out if there is hand of Indian RAW in these attacks which has substantial presence in their territory. Even Indian think tanks have advised Indian policy makers that ignoring Pakistan’s strategic interest in Afghanistan will destabilise the region and their government should devise a regional policy recognising this realty.
Pakistani media, military establishment and political parties have reached a consensus that a peaceful, stable, united and prosperous Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan
Pakistani media, military establishment and political parties have reached a consensus that a peaceful, stable, united and prosperous Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan. Operation Zarb-e-Azb is continuing to destroy all terrorist sanctuaries at the cost of precious lives of our soldiers. All powers including US, China, Russia and EU have appreciated and recognised these efforts. Pakistani civilian government has taken a foreign policy posture that we will not allow our lands to be used by foreign militants. Pakistan has also made it categorically clear that a political solution to Afghan crisis should be Afghan led and Afghan owned.
A better approach, however, would be pushing for an extensive diplomatic agenda. This should include international recognition of the Durand Line; economic cooperation, trade improvement; and finally intelligence and security cooperation. Pakistan has on numerous occasions offered training of Afghan army. President Ghani has expressed interest in this, which will improve collaboration between the two forces. Afghan transit trade not only helps the two countries, but can be extended to include Central Asia and Europe as well. Energy export from Central Asia via Afghanistan to Pakistan, China and India is another area that has tremendous potential. Pakistan provides basic commodities to its western neighbour including cement, sugar, flour and other staples. Afghanistan can benefit from Pakistani civil services training institutes to build capacity of its bureaucrats. NADRA can help Afghans digitise their citizen information, which will be an important step to contain terrorism and check infiltration of foreign militants.
But as a first step, Afghans must stop blaming Pakistan blindly for all their troubles and failures. A more prudent approach is to work together as friends and allies to introduce much needed stability to this region.
