Intra-Afghan dialogue vital to advance peace
Tasked by US President Donald Trump, a hard taskmaster, with fast-tracking an end to the US’s no-win Afghan involvement and bringing the boys home ASAP, US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, living on a hope, a smile and a firm handshake, is on another prolonged regional jaunt. Over the past year, in comprehensive, concerted efforts, various permutations and combinations have been tried out for Afghan peace, but all endeavours have stalled at one stubborn constant, the Taliban unwillingness to talk with representatives of the ‘puppet’ Afghan regime. The Moscow Format, a Russian initiative that brought together top Afghan opposition figures and other segments of society on February 6 to debate the peace process, made the activity even more Afghan-owned and Afghan-inclusive, but the rightly grumpy Afghan leadership was again left out in the cold. Compounding this last formidable obstacle to peace is the intense North-South Afghan governmental divide, based on sectarian and ethnic fissures, personal rivalries, and the desperate quest to win the Presidency in the September 28 election. Few would want to be in Dr Khalilzad’s shoes at the moment, with the unpredictable Number One presently residing in the White House breathing down his neck.
But with typical Afghan endurance, he persists. On his latest Islamabad visit, he made the dutiful pilgrimages to the Foreign Office and the GHQ, met the Foreign Minister and COAS, and it would appear that the main thrust of his argument was to ensure that the anomaly of THE Afghan government’s exclusion from peace talks was finally removed, which in effect meant that the influential Pakistani establishment must press the Taliban towards this goal; in other words, ‘do more’ in another guise. Last week in Kabul, the special envoy also spoke along similar lines regarding an ‘inclusive’ Afghan negotiating team, comprising the government, opposition, women, youth and civil society. Intra-Afghan dialogue now tops the list of ‘to do’s’ for moving forward. Pakistan is genuinely committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan in its own national interest, and has contributed its share, as acknowledged by the US. But the recent over-reaction in Kabul at Prime Minister Imran Khan’s well-meant but misinterpreted remarks regarding ‘neutral interim government’, highlighted deep, still-lingering distrust and ill-founded doubts about otherwise sincere intentions.
