At a meeting of the Lahore Forum held under the chairmanship of former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)’s International Relations Advisor Mian Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, the participants were of the view that the economy, energy crisis, internal security, drone attacks and dialogue with the Taliban are critical challenges faced by the government.
The session was attended by prominent intellectuals, analysts and media anchors/columnists including Begum Mehnaz Rafi, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami, Irshad Arif, Saeed Aasi, Amir Khakwani, Prof Rasul Buksh Raees, Prof Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, Brig (r) Farooq Hameed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salim Bukhari, Sajjad Mir, Asadullah Ghalib, Mazhar Qayyum, Salman Abid and Tanwir Shahzad.
The forum was of the view that Pakistan should desist from having favourites in Afghanistan and should try and develop friendly relations with all ethnic groups in Afghanistan including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. The members of the forum said that this would help bring together the key stakeholders including the Afghan Taliban and ethnic groups that in the past supported the former Northern Alliance in the Civil War following the Geneva Accords. They were of the view that it was in Pakistan’s interest to take all steps to prevent another civil war in Afghanistan following the drawdown of US troops by the end of 2014. The members feared that in such an eventuality, besides Afghanistan, Pakistan would be the major sufferer as it was during the last civil war. The participants opined that unless appropriate steps were taken, the neighbouring countries including Iran, China and even Russia might be drawn into the civil war to back their respective allies and that this would be detrimental not just to the interests of Pakistan but of the peace and security of the entire region. The members of the forum were of the view that Afghan Taliban were unlikely to accept US forces remaining in American bases in Afghanistan after 2014. They also felt that the presence of Indian army trainers/ advisors in Afghanistan will add to instability since their presence would not be acceptable to the Afghan Taliban.
