ISLAMABAD – Some headway has been made in the past few days through patientdiplomacy in improving Pak-Afghan and Pak-US relations. During a meetingheld in Kabul on March 17, 2018, between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani andPakistan National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua, the former extendedan official invitation to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi tovisit Afghanistan “to initiate state-to-state comprehensive dialogue” toresolve differences between the two sides.
At about the same time, in Washington D.C., US Vice President Mike Pencehad a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister Abbasi, who was on a privatevisit to see his ailing sister. There were detailed talks on Afghan peaceprocess. Abbasi was reported as saying that meeting was “positive”. Abbasialso talked to US officials separately at a hotel where Pakistani diplomatswere present.
Later, the White House stated that Pence had told Abbasi that “Pakistanmust do more against the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other terroristgroups operating in their country.” Pence had added that “Pakistan couldand should work closer with United States.”
A few days earlier, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua visited Washington fordetailed talks. Moreover, US officials have also visited Islamabad. AliceWells, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asiastated these talks “could be beginning of a process with the Pakistangovernment.”
The reality is that, in the context of Afghanistan, both Pakistan and theUS need each other. The US still has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan tobolster the Kabul regime.
The logistic supply route for these troops remains through Pakistan. Thoughmore than 16 years have passed since 9/11 and the US invasion ofAfghanistan, the US is nowhere near a victory in the longest war in itshistory.
The Taliban have control over nearly half of Afghanistan and are carryingout raids against military and civil targets with impunity. The need for apolitical solution is growing by the day. The latest offer of PresidentGhani for a dialogue with the Taliban is a step in right direction.Pakistan has officially welcomed this offer and should do everything in itspower to promote it.
Without making it public, Pakistan also needs to hold a dialogue with theTaliban leadership to persuade them to show flexibility in their stancetowards a political solution. They cannot win a “total victory” anymorethan the Americans and Kabul regime.
The non-Pakhtuns in Afghanistan (Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras) will notaccept outright Taliban rule, nor would the international community endorseit. Over time, the Afghan Taliban have benefited from Pakistani hospitalityand aid. They must now understand Pakistan’s security dilemmas and notexacerbate them.
They should realize that their hitherto intransigent stance towards anegotiated settlement merely prolongs the horrific bleeding of Afghanpeople, who have known nothing but warfare and destruction since the 1970s.A political compromise with the Taliban can comprise of a sharing of powerat the centre, with virtual autonomy in provinces which the Talibandominate.
As for US-Pakistan relations, the point in contention is Washington’s claimthat the Haqqani network continues to operate from Pakistani sanctuaries.Pakistan denies it. This does not look like an irresolvable issue thatcannot be tackled by patient diplomacy.
In case the US/Afghan claim is based on solid evidence, the US should shareit with Pakistan, which should offer every possible assistance to eradicatesuch sanctuaries. In case the US is unable to produce any such concreteevidence, Pakistan should persuade Washington not to persist with suchaccusations. Towards this end, strong lobbying would be needed by Pakistanidiplomacy with the Congress, different power centres in USA and the worldmedia. Transparency on our part on the issue of sanctuaries will be moreadvantageous than our frequent official self-righteous assertions.
Another point that our chest-thumping super patriots need to understand isthat Pakistan is at present beset with myriad problems. Internal politicalstability persists and economic indicators are alarming. Foreign exchangereserves are low, balance of payments is adverse, debts are mounting andinternational credit ratings are going down.
In foreign policy, we are becoming friendless. We have a toughneighbourhood: India is bellicose, Afghanistan is hostile, Iran is lessthan friendly and Central Asian countries are unenthusiastic. Even atraditional ally like UAE is showing pro-India leanings.
This is hardly the time to have a confrontational relationship with USA,the sole super power, with which we had a history of close political,economic and military ties. Balancing of relations is all very good but, atpresent, Russia simply cannot be a substitute for USA. Russia continues tohave strong ties with India and is not an aid-giving country.
Commonsense suggests that improvement of relations with USA is in ournational interest, not only for bilateral reasons but also due to itsinfluence in world financial institutions like IMF and in FATF, which mightput us in the Grey List of those involved in money laundering forterrorists.Diplomacy is the method through which states pursue their nationalinterests in international arena.
It consists of formal and informal discussions aimed at resolving mattersof common concern. Professional diplomats are trained for the job and haveyears of experience in dealing with other countries. They are in the bestposition to conduct diplomacy, which is a specialized profession likemedicine and engineering.
Pakistan needs sophisticated and patient diplomacy at this time but PrimeMinister Abbasi has shown poor judgment by naming a novice like AliJahangir Siddiqui as new Pakistan Ambassador to US.
By: Shahid M Amin— The writer served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to SaudiArabia, Soviet Union, France, Nigeria and Libya.