- And Pakistan’s crucial role
It’s still not clear whether it was just a gambit on Pakistan’s part, to invite Afghan Taliban and the Americans for talks in Islamabad, or some planning and coordination has gone into the initiative, but this is the first time that the insurgents from across the border are, from the looks of things, going to hold official talks with the Pakistani government as part of their peace process. Clearly Pakistan is going the extra mile to make sure everybody, especially Washington, notices its part in ending the war. Across the Atlantic the Trump administration will, sooner or later, claim this as vindication of its policy of squeesing Islamabad. While here the government will sell its commitment to peace, etc.
Yet there are important things for the Pakistani government to consider. True, there is no alternative to ending the war in Afghanistan. Once that happens, everybody can go back to nation building, trade, investments, and everything that makes people’s and countries’ lives better. But the PTI government will realise, when it talks to the Taliban, that the militia is still in no mood of taking the Durand Line seriously. And it has also said it will raise the issue of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. That, again, is a problem, since refugees have upset national demographics, especially in Balochistan, for far too long and much to the discomfort of the local population. These are very sensitive issues that will need deep deliberation. They should not be set aside simply to grab more headlines than other players in the game.
Then there is the matter of the Afghan national government. So far the talks, whether in Qatar or Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, have not even made mention of President Ghani’s government in Kabul; except when the Taliban call it a puppet not even worth noticing. Surely nobody expects a final agreement just to be shoved down Ghani’s throat. And what about the presidential election due in Afghanistan? It seems there are still a lot of questions to be answered. But anytime the Taliban are engaged in talks should still be counted as a success, no matter how small. It’s from these negotiations that a solution will finally come, not the war on the ground.
