Is everyone finally on the same page?
Almost a month back at the international peace conference in Kabul Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to reset relations with Pakistan. This initiative was necessary given the tumultuous situation in war torn Afghanistan and the increasing trust deficit between the two countries. Improvement in Pak-Afghan relations is imperative if Kabul is to successfully execute its plan to bring the Taliban to the talking table for unconditional talks.
Pakistan has always favored talks with the Taliban and as such sees this is an opportunity to not only achieve that objective but improve the security situation at home by engaging and gaining the support of Afghanistan from where cross border attacks are carried out. Last month senior military and foreign office officials led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua were in Kabul to discuss the same issues.
Yesterday National Security Advisor Nasser Khan Janjua was on a one-day visit to Kabul on the invitation of his counterpart to hold high-level talks with Afghanistan’s senior leadership including President Ghani, Chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and the NDS chief. This displays a new level of commitment and seriousness towards working with the Afghans rather than remain at loggerheads with them and playing a perpetual blame game against each other.
COAS Bajwa adopted a similar tone while speaking to tribal elders at Landikotal army garrision yesterday as well as he reaffirmed that both the Afghan and Pakistani governments were continuously coordinating with each other to resolve security issues in both countries.
Seemingly everyone is on the same page on both sides of the border. This really is the best way forward to achieve peace in the region. Too many times in the past however similar progress has been short-lived with either side reacting in an undiplomatic and aggressive manner in wake of heightened tensions. Hopefully this time around better sense prevails and the peace effort is taken to its logical end.
