Mian Sanaullah
When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fueled the debate as to who will sign the peace agreement with Taliban on behalf of the Afghan government, members of the Afghan delegation, attending the 17th round of Track II Dialogue under the Beyond Boundaries project of CRSS (22-23 August), have extended full support to the signing of the Doha agreement. According to them, 90 percent of the issues on the table have already been finalized. They affirmed that a majority of Afghan citizens would not mind postponing the impending presidential elections if the election process delays or obstructs early finalization of the agreement.
However, they apprehended that mere finalization of the Doha deal might not be good enough to ensure lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan. A lot would depend on Taliban, their attitude towards power-sharing, women and institution-building issues, etc. They appreciated, nonetheless, the positive developments in the context of bilateral relations with Pakistan. The trend augured well for implementation of Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidary (APAPPS). President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to Pakistan helped remove some critical misgivings in Afghanistan about Pakistan’s intentions.
The 13-member Afghan delegation appreciated the tangible assistance Pakistan had extended to facilitate the Doha US-Taliban peace negotiation. They noted that Pakistan was a major player but the role of other countries like Russia, China, Iran and India could not be minimized if the aim were to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan. They welcomed the reassuring message of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that Pakistan would continue supporting “the Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process”. It was up to Afghans to decide what kind of government they wanted to establish in their country. Pakistan does have any favourite and would be at ease to talk to the government elected by Afghan people. Pakistan would work with the government for improved bilateral relations including trade and visa facilitation.
Highlighting shared responsibility towards peace and stability in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Qureshi said that he had invited his counterparts from Afghanistan and China to hold a Tri-party ministerial meeting on Afghanistan in September. He said that the two countries had to work jointly for a win-win situation. In view of provocative actions of the Modi government in Indian occupied Kashmir, Pakistan has stopped trade with India but did not stop the Afghan transit trade to India. This was a mark of Pakistan’s commitment to Afghanistan. He emphasized the need to remove the existing mistrust between the two countries. His recipe to transform mistrust into trust was to build people-centric bilateral relations between two immediate neighbours. This is also important because Pakistan is a natural trading partner of Afghanistan and vice versa.
Robust indications from Washington and Doha tend to support the Afghan delegation’s view that the evasive Afghan-US Peace Deal may finally be signed. Even Foreign Minister Qureshi sounded very optimistic about the success of the Doha peace negotiation. He felt that the negotiations had entered “the last of the last phase of finalization”. With peace in Afghanistan, all the stalled opportunities would become achievable. Development of economic zones along the CPEC and participation in the ongoing projects in Gwadar city, where Pakistan wants to develop modern facilities, could serve as an additional avenue for productive cooperation for Afghanistan.
The consensus at all consultations that included interaction with universities and media was that the two countries needed to tread the path of cooperation and avoid falling prey to old accusative politics. People in both countries have suffered too much. They cannot afford that the governments in Islamabad and Kabul let the spoilers and their proxies rob them of the peace dividends. It is a difficult challenge, but small steps backed by solid resolve in the right direction often take the wanderer to his destination. Regional prosperity and peace is a lofty goal for both countries and this objective is difficult but higher than the two-point US agenda “to see if we can reduce our costs” and to “ensure that we maintain a posture that can reduce the risk” as spilt out by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in a TV interview on the onset of the Doha round.
The author Mian Sanaullah is a former Ambassador, political analyst and Advisor to Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). He can be reached at mian.sana@gmail.com.
