Former foreign affairs minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said Pakistan should change its course in neighbouring Afghanistan, a recommendation which comes amid the deteriorating relations between Kabul and Islamabad, against terrorism.
In a media interview on Sunday she urged Islamabad to revive their administration’s foreign policy approach of maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries.
In response to a question regarding Kabul’s stance against Pakistan, accusing it of harbouring the Afghan militant groups, Khar said, “That is the most disheartening thing to see. It causes me personal grief because we had literally poised Pakistan within the region.
“When I was foreign minister, we tried to concentrate on relations closer to home. And I, as well as my prime minister at that time, have categorically said that Kabul is the most important capital for Pakistan.
“We invested a great deal of energy and effort to make Kabul as the most important capital for us. As foreign minister of Pakistan, I visited Kabul three times in two years. In contrast, I visited Washington only once. It was because we thought Kabul is more important.”
Hina Khar further added, “What this government has been able to do is let the opportunity that came with President Ashraf Ghani go by. We lost that window of opportunity that opened when Ghani came into power. He gave Pakistan a pretty reasonable deal. He offered pretty much everything that Pakistan was asking for.
“I do not know the internal dynamics of the current government to be able to say what they should do to make amends, but I can say for sure that this government has not been able to sustain its relationship with Afghanistan, India, and Iran.”
I think the problem with us at all levels is that we look at things purely from our own angle without giving any weight to other persons point of view.
The fact is that despite strong anti-Pakistan feelings among top Afghan leadership, Dr. Ashraf Ghani went out of his way and displayed warmest feelings towards Pakistan. Remember frequent visits by both Afghan and Pakistan top civilian/military leaders in early days!
However, when after creating an illusion of sufficient control over Taliban – which actually was non-existent – we failed to persuade/pressure Taliban to make peace with Afghan government, this was naturally seen by Dr. Ashraf Ghani and others as unwillingness, rather than our inability to do the needful. And this obviously re-created hard feelings even among Afghan leaders including Dr. Ashraf Ghani who had approached us with an open mind, which sentiments further worsened with time due to actual or implied failures on our part to help Afghan government.
It is also a fact that we first messed up Afghanistan (and Pakistan) by needlessly jumping into the US revenge war with Soviet Union – more to gain strategic depth than to help Afghans – and later, after 9/11, under US pressure, took a 180-degree turn and facilitated US onslaught on Afghanistan. Ignoring diplomatic norms, we even handed over Afghan ambassador to Pakistan to the US soldiers who started beating the gentlemen in public view. Despite all this, Dr. Ashraf Ghani approached us with a warm heart and an open mind, but we lost the opportunity as stated by our former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
Karachi
This is our own doing. We degrade ourselves by electing the same Prime Minister and then complain!
Ashraf Ghani is not the president of free Afghanistan but a puppet of Occupied forces.Occupation is alway an illegal act whether performed by the Hina Khar's darling US or any one else. As long as Afghanistan's Ashraf Ghani is ready to be poodle of India and US, Pakistan is unable to do any thing for Afghanistan. The ball is Ashraf Ghani's hands and we Pakistanis must stop to blame Pakistan irrespective of who is ruling it. This country is for us and must defend it together and also our security lies protecting our values and security. We just cannot spread a red carpet for our enemies who want us to be servant of India against China on the will of the Americans. Independent we were, independent we were and independent we will with the help of Allah Almighty.
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