Pakistan and Afghanistan
The new year greetings from COAS Bajwa to the Afghan leadership have been reciprocated by an invitation to visit Kabul. This provides a chance to both sides to bring down the high level of hostility that prevails since Mullah Mansur’s death in December last year. The distrust is harmful as much for Pakistan as for Afghanistan as it helps terrorist networks to launch attacks inside both countries. While it might take a long time to restore the trust, the exercise needs to be undertaken as mutual cooperation alone can ensure security in the region. Both sides however need to review why earlier attempts in the direction initiated by them failed.
The assurance given by former COAS that he would bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, which he finally did in July 2005, gave birth to a perception that Pakistan was in full control of the Afghan Taliban and was to be blamed if they continued the attacks. The perception should have been immediately removed. As this was not done, Pakistan was held responsible for a series of deadly attacks inside Kabul in August. President Ashraf Ghani accused Pakistan on TV of being the source of violence in his country. However in December Ghani attended the Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad disregarding the advice from his intelligence chief. In February 2016 there was another attempt at rapprochement, facilitated by the US, when chiefs of the Afghan NDS and Pakistan’s ISI met in Islamabad. The exercise failed when Mullah Mansour died in an attack inside Balochistan. That he possessed Pakistani passport and ID card further strengthened the perception that the architect of terrible terrorist attacks was being handled by Pakistan’ agencies.
Pakistan must tell the Afghan government plainly, which it has never done before, that it believes as do China and Russia, that there is a need on the part of Kabul to hold talks with Taliban. Further that while with the help of China and Russia it might succeed in bringing them to the negotiating table, it cannot force its will on them.
