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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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			<title>Bonn conference and after</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/303114/bonn-conference-and-after</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/303114/bonn-conference-and-after#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 11 18:32:20 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Ultimately, the Bonn conference ended up being about empty platitudes, not serious policy decisions.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan decided to boycott the Bonn conference in a symbolic protest against the Nato attack on November 26 that killed 24 of its army personnel. By doing that, it squandered an opportunity to air its grievances on an international platform. That said, the conference ended up being heavy on symbols but low on actual progress. Held exactly a decade after a similar conference in the same city, it chalked out a post-Taliban future for Afghanistan, this one was meant to plan ahead for the country, in light of the American/Isaf withdrawal. Beyond assurances of support, which may ring hollow to those Afghans who remember the US and how quickly it forgot the country once the Soviet threat was eliminated, the 100-plus delegations that congregated in the German city were unable to articulate anything particularly meaningful. The lack of progress in Bonn may end up being blamed on Pakistan’s absence, though that is a bit unfair. Talks on the future of Afghanistan cannot be conducted without bringing up the elephant in the room: the Taliban and their role in a post-US Afghanistan. The international community believes that Pakistan is the only country which has the leverage to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. But reconciliation with the Taliban, which the Karzai government has been trying to achieve for the last seven years, will not to be found at grand conferences like the one at Bonn. Whatever Pakistan’s contribution in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table may be, it will take place in the shadows, away from the glare of the international media. Reconciliation, whatever form it may take, will be found in Afghanistan, not Germany.

Ultimately, the Bonn conference ended up being about empty platitudes, not serious policy decisions. The US and its allies pledged to support the civilian set-up in Afghanistan while Karzai in return said that his country would need at least $10 billion a year in aid for the next decade. But events have a way of overtaking talks at a summit. Nato states will find that once they no longer have boots on the ground in Afghanistan, their ability to influence events there will be greatly diminished. After international forces withdraw, the Karzai government’s survival will be even more precarious and the Taliban will be strengthened. Conferences can try to hide that reality but there is nothing they can do to change it.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Bon(n)fire of the vanities</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/303123/bonnfire-of-the-vanities</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/303123/bonnfire-of-the-vanities#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 11 17:55:51 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[tanvir.ahmad.khan]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Bonn 2 produced no substantial mechanism for reconciliation.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The city of Bonn has just played host to Bonn 2, a huge international conference separated from the initial meeting under that banner by an entire, largely futile, decade. Bonn 1 carried the promise of the international community building a new Afghan state, its polity and economy. Reconvened though in the same stately mansion, the real setting of Bonn 2 was the expanding battlefield of Afghanistan where an inconclusive war rages. While the conference issued an impressive 33-para communiqué, it achieved little success in advancing the process of reconciliation and reconstruction.

Bonn 2 seemed to echo the dissonance that Pakistan itself has experienced with the United States on constructing a viable peace process. Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister said that “we have learnt that there is no military solution”. It is not clear whether he spoke for his own country or for most of the weary European members of Nato. US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, poured cold water on his speech with the mantra that the coalition would “fight, talk and build”. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was not challenged when he repeated his audacious theory that insurgency had no local Afghan provenance but was driven entirely from outside. No wonder Bonn 2 produced no substantial mechanism for reconciliation.

When Karzai complained of the international community’s interference in elections and other internal issues, Clinton read out a homily to him on electoral reforms, accountability and democratic institutions. He also had to endure blistering criticism from the representatives of the Afghan civil society tuned better to international critiques than to the palace in Kabul.

Karzai made urgent pleas for massive economic assistance but with generosity constrained by European and American economic crises, the potential donors did not rise to his expectations. Bonn 2 took the position that it was not a pledging session which would await the Tokyo conference in July 2012.

With the Taliban conspicuous by their absence and Pakistan staying away, the debate on peace-building was generally reduced to clichés. On progress with the Taliban, Karzai again dodged behind Pakistan. He told Der Spiegel, that “as long as we don’t have a phone number or an address for the Taliban, we have to talk to the Pakistanis, because they know where they are. So far, the Pakistanis still have other objectives than peace in Afghanistan and as long as that doesn’t change, I don’t see an environment to have useful talks with the Taliban”.

Three major factors have impeded the movement towards a meaningful dialogue with the insurgents. One, Washington has pursued its Afghan policy with bewildering internal differences on the relative weight of ‘fight’ and ‘talk’. This gap may conceivably be narrowed if President Obama is now seen not as a peacenik but a cunning leader who would gladly ‘do’ a war as long as he can do it ‘from behind’ and who is now visibly embarked upon containing China economically and militarily. Reconciliation in Afghanistan may simply take a back seat while the military tries to grind down the resistance groups opposed to permanent American bases. Two, Washington has almost wantonly knocked out Pakistan as a close ally in the quest for a negotiated settlement. Pakistan would not abandon the quest for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan in its own long term interest but the mindless destruction of the Salala check post may hobble its effort anyway. Third, President Obama has not cared to invest energy and ideas in promoting an equitable regional order and instead focused on India in the interest of his new aggressive Asia-Pacific policy.

In the final analysis, reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan may be eclipsed by its role of providing bases to the great chain of American power projection from North Africa to Darwin and some western franchises for its mineral wealth. Under electoral pressures, President Obama is, paradoxically, prolonging the Afghan war. In the worst case scenario, much of the country may just relapse into another bloody civil war after 2014, with the Afghan National Army itself fragmenting on ethnic lines. Pakistan should note that Bonn 2 was nearly consumed by the historical hubris of Great Powers that compulsively seek only the peace of the victors.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>German FM takes Hina Rabbani Khar into confidence over Bonn outcome</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302998/german-fm-takes-hina-rabbani-khar-into-confidence-over-bonn-outcome</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302998/german-fm-takes-hina-rabbani-khar-into-confidence-over-bonn-outcome#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 11 15:12:52 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302998</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Dr Guido Westerwelle hoped Pakistan would continue to extend support for peace and development in Afghanistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[German Foreign Minister Dr Guido Westerwelle called Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Monday night to take Pakistan into confidence over the outcome of the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan.

(Read: Bonn conference: Afghanistan assured conditional support for another decade)

Pakistan, which had decided to sit out the conference following a border incident in which 24 Pakistani troops were killed, Dr Westerwelle hoped, would continue extending its valuable support for peace and development in Afghanistan.

He hoped that Pakistan would strive towards achieving political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Khar assured him that Pakistan would carefully examine the Bonn declaration, while acknowledging Germany’s valuable contributions in bringing about peace in Afghanistan.

Khar stressed that stability in Afghanistan was essential for peace in Pakistan and the region. It was therefore necessary that all worked together on the basis of mutual respect to attain the shared objective, Khar said adding Pakistan was determined to continue striving for peace and prosperity in the region.

Pakistan and the Taliban stayed away from the Bonn conference, which sought to review progress made over the past decade in Afghanistan and deciding upon a future course of action to make Afghanistan peaceful and stable.

The conference pledged on Monday to sustain support to Afghanistan for another decade, in exchange for clear progress on good governance.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan has role in any talks with Taliban: Karzai</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302978/pakistan-has-role-in-any-talks-with-taliban-karzai</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302978/pakistan-has-role-in-any-talks-with-taliban-karzai#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 11 09:43:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Karzai also condemns attack on a Shia Muslim shrine in central Kabul earlier on Tuesday that killed around 30 people.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan has an important role to play in the Afghan peace process, including in any negotiations with the Taliban, and that is what Kabul is seeking, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Karzai also condemned an attack on a Shia Muslim shrine in central Kabul earlier on Tuesday that killed around 30 people.

"This is the first time on such an important religious day in Afghanistan that terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place," Karzai said.

Earlier, Karzai had telephoned Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to reconsider Pakistan's boycott of the Bonn conference over a deadly Nato strike.

In a special meeting in Lahore, the cabinet had agreed to boycott the conference on the Afghan endgame in protest of Nato’s attack in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 troops in the deadliest assault in a decade.]]>
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			<title>Afghan endgame: Islamabad missed, but no surprises at Bonn</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302867/afghan-endgame-islamabad-missed-but-no-surprises-at-bonn</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302867/afghan-endgame-islamabad-missed-but-no-surprises-at-bonn#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 11 00:01:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302867</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan and Iran acknowledged for bearing the burden of Afghan refugees.]]>
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				<![CDATA[With key players missing, an international conference on Afghanistan’s future in the German city of Bonn wasn’t expected to produce much. And the event lived up to its billing.


All that day-long brainstorming yielded was a commitment from the Western world to not abandon Afghanistan after Nato combat troops leave the country in 2014. But the sustained global support will be conditional to clear progress on “good governance” on the part of Kabul.

Participants, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, vowed to stand by Afghanistan as it struggles to establish security.

“This renewed partnership between Afghanistan and the international community entails firm mutual commitments in the areas of governance, security, the peace process, economic and social development, and regional cooperation,” said a statement issued at the end of the conference.

Afghanistan’s most influential neighbours, Pakistan and Iran, were given a nod of acknowledgement for bearing the burden of Afghan refugees.

“We acknowledge the burden of Afghanistan’s neighbours, in particular Pakistan and Iran, in providing temporary refuge to millions of Afghans in difficult times and are committed to further work towards their voluntary, safe and orderly return,” the statement said.

The global commitment came in response to a passionate call from President Hamid Karzai that his government needed long-term international backing. “We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade” after the troops pull out, he said.

Impact in absentia 

Pakistan, which is seen as pivotal to an end to the bloody strife in Afghanistan, made its presence felt by boycotting the conference in protest against the November 26 Nato air raid that killed over two dozen of its troops.

Most participants missed Pakistan, with Germany calling it a ‘setback’ and the US ‘regretting’ Islamabad’s decision.

“We regret the choice that they made because today’s conference was an important milestone towards the kind of security and stability that is important for Pakistan as well as for Afghanistan,” said Secretary Clinton.

“The entire region has a stake in Afghanistan’s future and much to lose if the country again becomes a source of terrorism – and that is why we would of course have benefited from Pakistan’s contribution to this conference,” she said.

Nonetheless, President Karzai said he was still prepared to work with Pakistan despite its boycott of the Bonn conference. He told reporters that Pakistan had missed a good opportunity to discuss its own issues and the future of Afghanistan. “But it will not stop us from cooperating,” he said.

Pakistan defended the boycott decision but offered its help for stabilising Afghanistan.

“Pakistan wants to see a peaceful Afghanistan but after the November 26 incident it was impossible for us to participate in the conference,” newly appointed Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit said.

“We had made a joint commission with Afghanistan to develop peace in the region and it was Pakistan’s utmost wish to see a result-oriented reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” Basit added.

But Secretary Clinton said “nobody in this hall is more concerned than the United States is about getting an accurate picture of what occurred in the recent border incident”.

Aid to continue 

Secretary Clinton said that the US would resume paying into a World Bank-administered Reconstruction Trust Fund for Afghanistan, a decision that US officials said would allow for the disbursement of roughly $650 million to $700 million in suspended US aid.

However, a top IMF official said that Afghanistan will need to prove to donor nations that it can effectively manage the vast sums of assistance.

Taliban rejects conference 

The Taliban, a key player in Afghanistan, rejected the Bonn conference much before it had started which, it claimed, was aimed to “further ensnaring Afghanistan into the flames of occupation”.

National reconciliation, along with the transition to Afghan sovereignty and international engagement after 2014, had originally topped the conference’s agenda. Karzai called upon Pakistan to help bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Iran opposes foreign troops after 2014

Last month, a grand assembly of tribal elders endorsed a strategic partnership agreement with the US. According to the deal, the US is likely to maintain permanent military bases in Afghanistan.

At Monday’s conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi underlined his country’s objections to foreign troops remaining in Afghanistan beyond 2014. “Certain Western countries are attempting to enlarge their influence in Afghanistan after 2014 with their military presence, which contradicts their efforts to support peace and security,” he said.

‘Land of opportunity’

Foreign governments, however, were determined to try to dispel at least some of the pessimism seeping into the Afghan project.

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna, whose country became the first to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan, pledged India would keep up its heavy investment in a country whose mineral wealth and trade routes made it “a land of opportunity”.

(Read: Bonn minus Pakistan)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>PM Gilani interview: Business as usual?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302832/pakistan-committed-to-peace-in-afghanistan-better-relations-with-us-gilani</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302832/pakistan-committed-to-peace-in-afghanistan-better-relations-with-us-gilani#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 11 20:29:50 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302832</guid>
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				<![CDATA[The PM says Pakistan seeks good relations with the US, which ‘won’t take long’.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday that Pakistan seeks good relations with the US, based on mutual respect and clearly defined parameters, which, he added, “won’t take long”.

“We really want to have good relations with the US … I think that is doable. I think that it won’t take long,” Gilani said in an interview with The Associated Press (AP).

The prime minister added that new ties being negotiated with the US will ensure that the two countries “respected each other’s red lines”, regarding sovereignty and rules of engagement along the border.

Pakistan’s relations with the US took a turn for the worst when, on November 26, Nato launched air strikes in Mohmand Agency killing 24 Pakistani soldiers – the third such incident since 2008.

Following the raid, Pakistan shut down the Nato supply route, asked the US to vacate Shamsi Airbase and called for reviewing political, diplomatic and military ties with the US. Despite pleas from Afghan and Western leaders, Islamabad also stayed away from a conference on Afghanistan, currently being held in Bonn.

“We really want to enhance our strategic partnership [with the US] but at the same time we want to revisit [our cooperation] with US, Nato and Isaf, and that is the reason, we have referred this matter to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security,” Gilani said while referring to the cross-border attack, according to AP.

Expressing Pakistan’s resolve for peace in Afghanistan, Gilani said Pakistan will continue its role in this respect, adding that Pakistani people and security forces have rendered a lot of sacrifices in the war against terrorism.

“I think we have evolved some mechanisms, and we are ready to cooperate,” he said, regarding peace efforts in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has suffered a lot because of the war against terrorism and extremism not only in the form of casualties of 30,000 innocent people but also of 5,000 brave soldiers, law enforcement agencies personnel and also in the form of economy,” he said.

“How can anybody doubt our intention after making so many sacrifices? We are committed,” the prime minister maintained.

About energy shortages in the country, PM Gilani said that Pakistan should also be provided with civil nuclear technology like India and there should not be any discrimination.

“We are a country where there is energy shortage. We have been talking with the US and there have been dozens of meetings,” he said, adding, “we need a civil-nuclear energy deal with the US.”

Boycotting Bonn will have a lasting impact

Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday that boycotting the Bonn conference will have a lasting impact on the country’s diplomatic relations, but stopped short of crediting the government with taking the “difficult decision”.

“The rulers are just trying to extend their rule; they have no concern with the people of Pakistan and their problems,” he said.

Qureshi was addressing a Hussainia conference at Raza hall in Multan.

Talking about the Nato attacks, he said that the government was never interested in resolving or responding to the issue, and added that the prime minister “got involved to set up politics for his son and to frame conspiracies against me in NA 148”.

“The prime minister is never interested in tackling national issues,” said Qureshi. APP

ADDITONAL INPUT BY OWAIS JAFRI IN MULTAN

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Bonn minus Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302576/bonn-minus-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302576/bonn-minus-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 11 17:28:32 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[britta.petersen]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302576</guid>
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				<![CDATA[The Bonn conference would have provided Pakistan an opportunity to explain its position on Afghanistan to the world.]]>
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				<![CDATA[War can be described as a breakdown of communication. When arguments fail, weapons speak their own language. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t. In Afghanistan obviously it didn’t. Thirty years of war without a victor and it seems that we have not reached an end yet.

The second Bonn Conference which took place on December 5th in Germany, is an attempt to correct the various mistakes of the past. At least formally, all parties agree that the Afghan conflict cannot be settled my military means. The German government, as a host, has worked hard to eliminate the mistakes of the first Bonn Conference in 2001 that gave the former Northern Alliance a disproportionate representation in the Kabul government and ignored the various democratic forces within Afghanistan andin exile.

Just a week ago, a delegation of the Taliban representatives including Wakil Ahmad Mottawakil, Mullah Salaam Zaeef, Abdul Hakim Mujahid along with Pakistan’s Major-General Athar Abbas and Pashtun leader Mahmud Khan Achakzai were in the German capital to attend background talks. This was a good step in the right direction.

Although it seems that not much has been achieved between the warring parties, it is quite obvious that the peace process needs to be continued. But nothing will happen until both sides are ready for some concessions. The mistake of the US is that its military still believes that it can shoot the Taliban to the negotiating table and that it just needs to raise the pressure on Pakistan to succeed. This is a gross miscalculation, as the fallout of the Salala tragedy has shown.

Pakistan has several reasons to be upset with Washington. But, by boycotting the Bonn conference, Pakistan is barking up the wrong tree. The relationship between Pakistan and the US is very complex and this has to be solved on a bilateral level. It is dangerous to make the Afghan peace process a hostage to everything that went wrong between these former partners. The Bonn conference is a multilateral attempt to bring all stakeholders together and it would have provided Pakistan an opportunity to engage constructively in the peace process.

Unfortunately, Pakistan’s policymakers suffer from an unhealthy fixation on Washington that prevents them from interacting with other stakeholders. It is true that the European Union and Germany, in particular, are not the main players in Afghanistan. However, they do play a role and they might be more open to Pakistan’s position compared to the currentUS government. But making new friends or engaging old ones (except China), seems to not be a part of Islamabad’s strategy. For now, it seems to be happy having spoiled the game.

This is short-sighted because Pakistan is not strong enough to fight on all fronts. In fact, it cannot even afford the present confrontation as seen by the state of its economic and development indicators. As it is often said, Pakistan is suffering the most from the war on terror. But it is suffering from its own strategy as well. Eating grass in order to uphold one’s national pride is not really a good idea. Who has respect for a country that cannot provide basic goods and services to its people? Economic growth and human development would be a better basis for the sustainable success of the nation.

Pakistan urgently needs to make friends who understand its legitimate interests in the wider security set-up of South and Central Asia. But that needs communication, in fact, a lot of it. My own organisation is constantly engaged in bringing Pakistani speakers to Germany. But much more needs to be done. If Pakistan feels misunderstood by almost everybody, it needs to review its own communication strategy.

The Bonn conference would have provided an opportunity to Pakistan to explain its position on Afghanistan to the world. It is not that there are no arguments. A political process means explaining one’s own position over and over again and sometimes even reviewing it. This holds true for the US as well. But if we increasingly trust the power of weapons more than the power of words, only war can be the result.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Decision to boycott Bonn conference was a difficult one, says Shah Mahmood Qureshi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302557/decision-to-boycott-bonn-conference-was-a-difficult-one-says-shah-mahmood-qureshi</link>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 11 14:59:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[owais.jafri]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302557</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Qureshi says this decision will affect Pakistan’s diplomatic relations.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Newly-appointed vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that boycotting the Bonn conference was the most sensitive and difficult decision taken by the government.

He also claimed that the decision “was not taken by the Prime Minister.”

Addressing the Hussainia conference in Multan, Qureshi said that the people of Pakistan should stand against the “Yazeeds” of the present time, who are “sitting in power corridors” today.

Qureshi also said that the decision to boycott the Bonn conference will affect Pakistan’s diplomatic relations.

Talking about the Nato attacks, he said that the government was never interested in resolving this issue.

“The Prime Minister is busy securing a place for his son in politics and is conspiring against me in NA 148,” Qureshi said.

Pointing out the sensitivity of the Nato issue, Qureshi said that Pakistan has to “move very carefully now as the future will be more difficult.”

Qureshi also said that the present rulers are just trying to extend their stay in power and that they are not concerned with the people of Pakistan and their problems.

“Pakistanis have to now decide about their future. If they want a bleak future, they can remain silent but a bright future only lay in standing up against this government,” Qureshi said.

Talking about the PTI politics in the region, Qureshi said that the party’s central committee will decide the future course and that he will follow the instructions, with mutual cooperation.

Homage to Karbala martyrs

Paying tribute to the mission of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions, Qureshi said that their actions had clearly set an example for everyone to follow.

“Their message is of peace and love without any discrimination,” said the PTI vice chairman.]]>
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			<title>Bonn conference: Afghanistan assured conditional support for another decade</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302502/bonn-conference-us-lifts-hold-on-development-funds-for-afghanistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302502/bonn-conference-us-lifts-hold-on-development-funds-for-afghanistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 11 10:44:15 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Afghanistan told to demonstrate clear progress on good governance for continued support beyond NATO pullout in 2014.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The NATO sponsored Bonn Conference on Monday pledged to sustain support to Afghanistan for another decade, in exchange for clear progress on good governance.

Participants including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon vowed to stand by Afghanistan as it struggles to establish security and stability.

"This renewed partnership between Afghanistan and the international community entails firm mutual commitments in the areas of governance, security, the peace process, economic and social development, and regional cooperation," the conference's final conclusions said.

"The protection of civilians, strengthening the rule of law and the fight against corruption in all its forms remain key priorities."

Afghanistan needs help for at least another decade: Karzai

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the conference that his country would need international help for at least another decade.

Karzai told around 1,000 delegates gathered in the western German city of Bonn for the one-day meeting that his government would battle corruption and work toward national reconciliation but it needed firm international backing.

"We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade" after the troops pull out, he said

The meeting came 10 years after another conference here put an interim Afghan government under Karzai in place after US-led troops ousted the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

However, Pakistan and the Taliban - both seen as pivotal to any end to the bloody strife in Afghanistan a decade on -- decided to stay away from Bonn, dampening already modest hopes for real progress.

Some 140,000 international troops are in Afghanistan, and all NATO-led combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014, when Kabul will assume responsibility for the country's security.

Bonn assures support beyond NATO pull out

The event's host, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, insisted there would be no rush to the exit, even as a looming global recession threatens to distract the West from the enormous challenges facing the strife-wracked nation.

"We send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan: we will not leave you alone, you will not be abandoned," he said, pledging help in comments echoed by Merkel in a brief address.

US ends Afghanistan funds freeze

Clinton announced the United States was ending a freeze on hundreds of millions of dollars in development funds due to financial reforms by Kabul.

"The United States is pleased to announce we will be joining other partners in resuming financial disbursements to the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund," Clinton told a conference on Afghanistan in Bonn.

US officials said that the decision would allow for the disbursement of roughly $650 million to $700 million in suspended US aid.

Officials said Washington took its cue from the International Monetary Fund's decision last month to approve a new loan for Afghanistan after a year of difficult talks stalled by the massive Kabul Bank scandal.

Clinton laments Pakistan's absence at conference

Rage over an air strike late last month by NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers led Islamabad to snub the gathering.

Clinton lamented the boycott in her speech to the conference.

"The entire region has a stake in Afghanistan's future and much to lose if the country again becomes a source of terrorism and instability - and that is why we would of course have benefited from Pakistan's contribution to this conference," she said.

"We continue to believe that Pakistan has a crucial role to play," she told reporters later, adding that she was encouraged by remarks by a Pakistani government official that it will continue cooperation, including in the fight against terrorism.

In a conciliatory gesture, the conference made special note of the strain on Pakistan and Iran in dealing with refugees from the war-ravaged country.

"We acknowledge the burden of Afghanistan's neighbours, in particular Pakistan and Iran, in providing temporary refuge to millions of Afghans in difficult times and are committed to further work towards their voluntary, safe and orderly return," the conclusions said.

Peace process with Taliban to continue despite Bonn absence

The Taliban, leaders of the country's brutal, decade-long insurgency, also stayed away from Bonn, saying the meeting would "further ensnare Afghanistan into the flames of occupation".

National reconciliation, along with the transition to Afghan sovereignty and international engagement after 2014, had originally topped the conference's agenda.

But such hopes soured after tentative contacts collapsed and the September assassination of Karzai's peace envoy, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, which was blamed on the Taliban, derailed any prospects of progress.

Karzai insisted he remained open to talks.

"The political process will continue to be inclusive, open to Taliban and other militants who denounce violence, break ties with international terrorism, accept the Afghan constitution and defend peaceful life," he said.

IMF tells Afghanistan to do more against corruption

Afghanistan will need to prove to donor nations that it can effectively manage the vast sums of assistance it says it requires years into the future, even as foreign troops go home, a top IMF official said on Monday.

"Even under optimistic scenarios, for the next decade Afghanistan will need an extraordinary degree of donor support to meet its financing needs for both security and development," Masood Ahmed, the International Monetary Fund's director for the Middle East and Central Asia, said in an interview.

"As the fiscal situation in many of the partner countries of Afghanistan becomes more difficult, it will become all the more important to be able to demonstrate that the money is being allocated in a way that achieves its intended objectives."

Ahmed spoke on the sidelines of a major international conference in Bonn, Germany, on the future of Afghanistan, which is struggling with a bloody insurgency even as foreign troops gradually withdraw. One of the world's poorest countries, Afghanistan remains heavily reliant on outside aid.

Karzai still ready to work with Pakistan despite boycott

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday he was still prepared to work with Pakistan despite its boycott of an international conference on Afghanistan and urged Islamabad to stop giving sanctuary to Taliban insurgents.

Karzai told reporters Pakistan had missed a good opportunity to discuss its own issues and the future of Afghanistan by not attending the Bonn conference. "But it will not stop us from cooperating together," he said.

Asked what he wanted Pakistan to do to help bring peace in Afghanistan, he said: "Close the sanctuaries [for terrorists], arrange a purposeful dialogue with those Taliban who are in Pakistan."]]>
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			<title>Pakistan says no change in position on Bonn conference</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302470/pakistan-says-no-change-in-position-on-bonn-conference</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302470/pakistan-says-no-change-in-position-on-bonn-conference#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 11 08:13:18 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan says it has no plans to reverse decision to boycott conference on Afghanistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan said on Monday it had no plans to reverse a decision to boycott a conference on the future of Afghanistan in Bonn in protest over a NATO strike, even though US President Barack Obama had expressed regret over the incident.

"There is no change in our position vis-à-vis the Bonn conference," Abdul Basit, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman, told Reuters after Obama spoke to President Asif Ali Zardari offering condolences over the strike.

Media reports had earlier cited diplomats in Washington stating that they were expecting a low level participation from Pakistan at the conference.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier voiced regret over the decision because she said Pakistan had a stake in a secure and stable Afghanistan, but aides travelling with her denied Pakistan’s absence would undermine the conference.

The Nov 26 NATO air raid, which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, has added to strains in relations with Islamabad, whose cooperation Washington views as crucial to helping to stabilize the region before most foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.]]>
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			<title>Clinton at Afghan talks as aides play down Pakistan boycott</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302448/clinton-at-afghan-talks-as-aides-play-down-pakistan-boycott</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302448/clinton-at-afghan-talks-as-aides-play-down-pakistan-boycott#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 11 03:59:03 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302448</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Aides travelling with Clinton deny Pakistan's absence would undermine the conference.]]>
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				<![CDATA[US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived here for international talks Monday aimed at charting a course for Afghanistan after Nato combat troops withdraw, as her aides played down a boycott by Pakistan.

Clinton will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials at a conference in Bonn that is also aimed at ensuring international financial and technical support continues after the troops withdraw in 2014.

The chief US diplomat will also meet her German and other counterparts from 100 countries and international organizations, but not from Afghanistan's key neighbor Pakistan, which announced a boycott after a deadly Nato bombing raid.

Clinton has voiced regret over the decision because she said Pakistan has a stake in a secure and stable Afghanistan, but aides travelling with her denied Pakistan's absence would undermine the conference.

Analysts have said the absence undermines efforts to promote peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban but US officials said neither Washington nor Kabul had current high expectations for reconcilation.

"I don't think it (the boycott) will impact the conclusions of the conference in any way," a senior State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity during the flight to Bonn from Washington on Sunday.

"We're all anticipating they (the Pakistanis) will continue to play an important role moving foreward. I wouldn't read too much into their non appearance tomorrow (Monday)," the official said.

The official instead hailed an Afghan economic strategy which will be unveiled at the conference and which he said shows the Karzai government wishes to take charge of its economic future.

"It's quite sober. It's very clear-eyed. It makes a series of specific commitments that they would like to move forward on, on legal and regulatory reforms," he said.

US officials have long pressed Afghanistan to root out corruption and establish a clear legal and regulatory framework to promote development and boost stability.

The United States plans to distribute in Bonn its own economic strategy for Afghanistan which stresses support for key sectors like agriculture, light manufacturing as well as mining and services, including banking.]]>
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			<title>Nato air raid: No Bonn-homie, just sympathy from Obama</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302395/nato-air-raid-no-bonn-homie-just-sympathy-from-obama</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302395/nato-air-raid-no-bonn-homie-just-sympathy-from-obama#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 11 23:58:43 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=302395</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Absence of Pakistan, Taliban cast the meeting’s usefulness into doubt.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A day before an international conference on the Afghan endgame kicked off in the German city of Bonn, US President Barack Obama called up his Pakistani counterpart to offer condolences over the death of two dozen troops in Nato airstrikes that prompted Islamabad’s boycott of the crucial meeting.

A White House statement said Obama placed a call early Sunday to Asif Ali Zardari expressing his regrets over the “tragic loss” and promising a “full investigation” into the November 26 air raid on Pakistani border posts in Mohmand Agency.

Obama “made clear that this regrettable incident was not a deliberate attack on Pakistan and reiterated the United States’ strong commitment to a full investigation,” the statement said.

Islamabad has so far refused to take part in a US investigation into the November 26 air strikes on the Afghan border.

But the White House said Obama and Zardari nonetheless “reaffirmed their commitment to the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship, which is critical to the security of both nations, and they agreed to stay in close touch.”

In the wake of the strikes, Pakistan decided not to take part in the Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan that opens today (Monday), a decision which, together with the Taliban’s boycott, has cast the event’s usefulness into doubt.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who will attend the conference, expressed his disappointment that Pakistan was not attending.

Taliban no-show

The Taliban’s non-attendance risks making Bonn part of what Britain’s former ambassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles, called the “charade” of international conferences on Afghanistan, dogged by “diplomacy for diplomacy’s sake”.

Their participation seemed a possibility earlier in the year but all hopes were dashed after the assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, was blamed on the Taliban.

“I’m not expecting a huge amount on reconciliation,” Britain’s Ambassador in Kabul William Patey said.

“I’m not expecting much other than an affirmation that the Afghan government, supported by the international community, stands ready to talk peace and reconciliation with the Taliban when and if they’re ready.”

The ‘original sin’

Some argue that decisions taken at the 2001 Bonn conference caused some of the problems facing the country today.

Britain’s former ambassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles wrote this year in his memoirs that the conference had been “a victor’s peace from which the vanquished had been excluded.”

The ‘original sin’ was not to have the Taliban at Bonn, Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid quotes the former UN special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, as saying, in the book “Descent Into Chaos”.

“The tough work on resolving conflicts like these necessarily take place behind the scenes,” Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress think-tank, wrote last month.

Open meetings “are the least likely arenas to address some of the thorniest issues at the core of the conflict, including the role played by neighbours such as Pakistan and Iran and the diplomatic strategy for dealing with (the Taliban).”

(Read: An angry goodbye to Bonn)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Afghans need decade of help, Karzai says before Bonn talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302098/afghans-need-decade-of-help-karzai-says-before-bonn-talks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/302098/afghans-need-decade-of-help-karzai-says-before-bonn-talks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 11 13:03:51 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[&quot;If we lose this fight, we are threatened with a return to situation like that before September 11, 2001&quot; says Karzai.]]>
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				<![CDATA[President Hamid Karzai appealed to delegates at talks on the future of Afghanistan to support his nation with financial and military aid for a decade after troops withdraw to ensure a stable future, in a magazine interview on Sunday.  

The conference in the German city of Bonn, which starts on Monday, takes place a decade after a first Bonn conference on Afghanistan which ended in high hopes for its future.

With concern about security after international troops leave at the end of 2014, poverty a major problem for many Afghans and a drugs trade that is still thriving, the mood is sober.

The conference suffered a blow when Pakistan withdrew from the meeting in response to a cross-border attack by Nato that killed 24 of its soldiers and plunged US-Pakistani relations deeper into crisis.

"Afghanistan will certainly need help for another 10 years, until around 2024; we will need training for our own troops. We will need equipment for the army and police and help to set up state institutions," Karzai told Der Spiegel weekly.

"If we lose this fight, we are threatened with a return to a situation like that before September 11, 2001,” warned Karzai, referring to Taliban rule.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Bonn talks would focus on three areas -security in light of the planned handover to domestic forces, internal reconciliation and long-term support from world nations.

Karzai said his country needed a big financial commitment.

A World Bank study released last month said Afghanistan was likely to need around $7 billion a year from the international community to help pay its security and other bills long after foreign troops leave.

Pakistan in spotlight 

Karzai criticised Pakistan for its lack of help in achieving reconciliation. "Until now they have refused to help with talks with the Taliban leadership," he told Der Spiegel, adding some people wanted the Taliban to remain an influence in Afghanistan.

"If that doesn't change, there won't be talks," he said.

Hopes for an appearance by Taliban representatives at the Bonn talks and a breakthrough on reconciliation have faded.

But Germany's Westerwelle said Pakistan still wanted stability in Afghanistan despite its boycott of the talks.

"I have the impression Pakistan not only wants to cooperate in Afghanistan's stabilisation process but that it is in its own interests," he said in an interview with Deutschland funk radio.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain, said Pakistan wanted peace in its neighbouring country.

"Gilani has reiterated that Pakistan strongly supports stability, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and remains bound by international efforts for Afghanistan's development," he wrote in an email.

Earlier this week, the High Commissioner told Reuters the attack had pushed Pakistan's government into a corner.

"The government and armed forces have been pushed to the wall," he said, adding the attack had outraged the whole nation.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Gilani on Saturday, offering condolences for the loss of life, and stressed the United State's commitment to working together in future.]]>
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			<title>Bonn won’t produce solutions: Musharraf</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301984/bonn-won%e2%80%99t-produce-solutions-musharraf</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301984/bonn-won%e2%80%99t-produce-solutions-musharraf#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 11 05:24:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=301984</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Former president says Pakistan should take action but avoid military confrontation]]>
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				<![CDATA[All Pakistan Muslim League chief and former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said that the Bonn conference will fail to produce any ‘magical’ solutions to the Afghanistan imbroglio.


According to a press release issued by the party from Dubai, Musharraf said in a television interview that the whole world was at a loss as to who was leading the Taliban and who held sway over them.

“Who is the real commander of the Taliban? This is an important question. Is it Mullah Omar or Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or Sirajuddin Haqqani? Who should be talked to? Then there are several other groups in Pakistan. So it is not an easy process,” he said.

About the November 26 Nato air raid on Pakistani outposts in Mohmand Agency, Musharraf said, “Pakistan should take action but avoid military confrontation while getting guarantees from the United States and Nato forces.”

The former military chief claimed that Pakistan had the right to possess nuclear technology as the country had serious security issues and a neighbouring country that had not accepted its freedom and sovereignty completely.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Karzai accuses Pakistan of stalling talks with Taliban</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301862/pakistan-not-backing-efforts-for-negotiation-with-taliban-karzai</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301862/pakistan-not-backing-efforts-for-negotiation-with-taliban-karzai#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 11 05:10:20 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Afghan president calls for world support beyond 2014.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan, which is boycotting an international conference on Afghanistan starting on Monday in Bonn, of sabotaging all negotiations with the Taliban.

“Up until now, they have sadly refused to back efforts for negotiations with the Taliban,” Karzai told Der Spiegel weekly in comments reported in German and due to be published on Monday.

The Bonn meeting will seek to chart a course for Afghanistan after the Nato withdrawal, but a boycott by Pakistan has dealt a stinging blow to hopes for a roadmap.

Pakistan is seen as vital to any prospect of stability in the war-ravaged country a decade after US-led forces ousted the Taliban, which had offered safe harbour to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

But Islamabad pulled out after the killing of 24 soldiers in Nato air strikes on two Pakistani posts in Mohmand Agency a week ago, although sources close to the German foreign ministry said it would be kept informed of progress at the conference.

Karzai also appealed for continued aid to his war-ravaged nation after 2014 – when Nato troops are due to pull out.

Stressing that Afghanistan will be “more than ever on the frontline,” he said: “If we fail in this war, which threatens all of us, it will mean a return to the situation before 9/11.”

The Afghan leader conceded that “sadly we have not been able to provide  security and stability to all Afghans, this is our greatest failure.”

Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul appealed on Saturday for international support for his country after Nato troops pull out.

“After 2014, we will continue to need long-term support from our friends in the international community,” Rasoul said at a discussion forum in Bonn.

His German counterpart Guido Westerwelle vowed at the forum that the world would not abandon Afghanistan, while also stressing the importance of the role of women in the county, where they currently face major discrimination.

In an interview to appear in Sunday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Westerwelle again voiced his regret over the Pakistani boycott of the conference, which will gather delegates from 100 nations. “Pakistan has more to gain from a stable and peaceful Afghanistan than any of its neighbours,” he said.

In Bonn on Saturday, several thousand people – 4,500 according to organisers – demonstrated in protest at the conference and the German army’s role in Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>PM unmoved by Hillary’s call</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301987/bonn-conference-its-still-a-no-gilani-tells-clinton</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301987/bonn-conference-its-still-a-no-gilani-tells-clinton#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 11 04:25:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=301987</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Clinton calls Gilani in a last ditch attempt to get Pakistan to attend the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan may have cleared the last potential hurdle in its decision to skip the Bonn conference: a call from Washington itself.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday evening – a call during which the premier is said to have declined a request to attend the conference on the Afghan endgame, which is to start on Monday.

According to the prime minister’s office, Gilani made it clear to the US that his government was ‘bound to follow’ the parliamentary committee’s decision regarding the conference.

During the call, the prime minister said he had promised to refer the matter of Pakistan’s participation in Bonn to parliament’s national security committee – however the committee upheld the decision to boycott. During the call, Clinton also conveyed her “personal condolences” over the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers as a result of the Nato attack.

“[Secretary Clinton] said that the attack was not intentional and that we must wait for the outcome of the investigation,” the statement said.

She added that the US had the highest regard for Pakistan’s sovereignty and that the incident should not be “allowed to jeopardise” the relationship between Pakistan and the US.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>An angry goodbye to Bonn</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301689/an-angry-goodbye-to-bonn</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301689/an-angry-goodbye-to-bonn#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 03 Dec 11 20:45:44 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=301689</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan was expected to have moral high ground at Bonn, standing better chance of pushing its proposals on peace.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Parliamentary Committee on National Security has also — regrettably — recommended that Pakistan not attend the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan (it opens on December 5). It has thus endorsed the earlier decisions by the cabinet, its defence committee and the Senate, to boycott the conference by removing Pakistan from the gathering of 1,000 delegates reviewing progress on what was decided 10 years ago in 2001. While the nations represented at Bonn still swear by Pakistan’s importance and hope to lure Pakistan in, it has chosen isolation to express its outrage at the attack by US-Nato forces on a Pakistani checkpost on November 26, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers.

It is presumed that Pakistan holds some important trump cards and will be able to achieve the results it wants by this diplomatic device: it sits atop Nato’s supply route and it has liaison with the Afghan Taliban who are required to contribute to the most crucial issue at Bonn, namely, achieving peace and negotiating a political transition in Afghanistan after 2014. It is yet to be seen whether Pakistan has enough leverage on the so-called Quetta Shura of Mullah Omar to deliver what Bonn wants. So far, the Taliban, whom Pakistan presumably supports as its candidate for the post-withdrawal government in Kabul, have rejected American offers for peace talks, saying Nato forces must withdraw first. While Mullah Omar is diplomatic, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, together with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have denounced Pakistan for being “a slave of the United States”. The Pakistani Taliban owe allegiance to Mullah Omar and al Qaeda. A sign of what may be the al Qaeda strategy appeared when the Afghan ‘peace negotiator’ Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed in Kabul. The Taliban were not invited in 2001; they, together with Pakistan, are not going in 2011.

Either way, there is clearly a considered view which thinks that it will be pointless for Pakistan to attend Bonn, given its stance. The conference itself, this view holds further, is unlikely to achieve much. It was convened a decade ago to restore to Afghanistan its representative institutions, by holding elections, giving it a new constitution and installing an elected government. Afghan President Karzai who hardly satisfies the moral and ethical yardsticks of many delegates at the Bonn Conference, is still in power after a decade, and the Loya Jirga he convened in November in anticipation of the conference did not please all the parties in Afghanistan who thought that the jirga was ‘selective’ and did not represent the entire population of Afghanistan.

The national consensus in Pakistan is emotional rather than rational because the military, which is endorsed in its stance by this consensus, has not encouraged the political players to plan an appropriate strategy after the Mohmand attack. As its details came to light, Pakistan was expected to gain the moral high ground at Bonn and stood a better chance of pushing through its own proposals on post-withdrawal Afghanistan, and that is why attending it would have been a better option. The Americans might have been pressured after that to render to Pakistan the apology it needs to assuage its rage.

The West, which was supposed to contribute financially to post-withdrawal Afghanistan’s security and economic development, is today mired in its own economic crisis of historic proportions. The conference will probably end up exhorting the ‘concerned nations’ and Afghanistan’s neighbours to do their best to bring durable peace to Afghanistan on the basis of a peace process involving all Afghan factions. As for Pakistan, it is absenting itself because it is not sanguine about the conference’s outcome. However, the outcome it wants — which is mostly India-centric — has not found favour with the international community. Pakistan will have to face the outcome: it will have to continue to harbour important Afghan players, and the regional states led by India will go on looking at Pakistan as a troublemaker and will see to it that the Taliban don’t ‘conquer’ Afghanistan the way they did in 1996. Isolationism as an expression of anger at this point does not suit Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011. ]]>
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			<title>The Salala tragedy and the Bonn conference</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301700/the-salala-tragedy-and-the-bonn-conference</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301700/the-salala-tragedy-and-the-bonn-conference#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 03 Dec 11 19:21:28 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[najmuddin.a.shaikh]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Bonn conference may be US dominated but is a forum where Pakistan needs to put forward its ideas on Afghanistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The bombing and strafing of two Pakistani border posts, has been termed as unprovoked aggression by the Pakistani military and civilian leadership. The media as always has jumped onto the bandwagon using even harsher terms of condemnation and calling for even harsher retaliatory steps than have already been taken. These steps include the stoppage of all movement of all trucks carrying Nato and Isaf supplies across the two border points of Torkham and Spin Boldak, the cancellation of all visits to and from the US by military personnel, the notice to the Americans to vacate Shamsi base and instructions to all departments to carry out a review of US-Pakistan relations in all spheres.

However, perhaps the most significant step has been the decision not to attend the Bonn conference jointly chaired by the Afghans and Germans. Repeated pleas from President Karzai, Chancellor Merkel and Secretary Clinton to recognise the seminal importance of this assemblage of 85 countries and 15 international organisations for the future stability of Afghanistan and to reconsider the decision have been turned down with the prime minister apparently telling President Karzai that for Pakistan its survival was more important than the stability of Afghanistan.

The Pakistani sense of outrage is understandable. The death of 24 soldiers at the hands of theoretical allies, could not, in our army’s view, be attributed to ‘friendly fire’ in the ‘fog of war’ that every soldier is familiar with. Much has been revealed about the incident in recent briefings. It is to be hoped, however, that the Pakistan military, in keeping with its professional responsibilities and bearing in mind Pakistan’s relatively low credibility, will now put out a chronological record of the incident. Such a record would provide a detailed Pakistani version to serve perhaps as a counterpoint to the American inquiry report of the Americans that is expected only as late as December 23.

So far the Americans have conceded only that the deaths were caused by Nato helicopters and C-130 gunships. In the words of General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, Pakistanis “have reason to be furious, because they have 24 soldiers dead, and the ordnance that killed them was the ordnance of a partner”. He has appealed for patience. It is, of course, difficult for the Pakistanis to exercise such patience particularly when more than three weeks have been allowed to the air force brigadier appointed to carry out the inquiry. The inquiry, given its impact on US-Pakistan relations and the situation in Afghanistan, should be completed and published within a week or 10 days.

Damage has been done to the US-Pakistan relationship and, perhaps, despite American hopes to the contrary, the damage is irretrievable in terms of the trust and confidence that each side has in the motives and ambitions of the other. But this should not lead Pakistan to overlook the vital interest it has in helping to bring about reconciliation in Afghanistan. It should be clear that continued turbulence in Afghanistan affects no other country as much as it does Pakistan. The Bonn conference may be dominated by the Americans but it is an international forum at which Pakistan needs to put forward its ideas on how stability can be brought to troubled Afghanistan because it is certain that to move in this direction, Afghanistan, primarily, and Pakistan, secondarily, will need the support of the international community. Let us not also exaggerate the ‘leverage’ we enjoy. It is rapidly declining as I will try and show in future articles.

Not attending the Bonn conference may assuage chauvinist fervour but it is tantamount to cutting your nose to spite your face. Our inability to influence the deliberations of the 2001 Bonn conference led to what I call the ‘original sin’ — the failure to work out an equitable division of power between the various ethnic groups in Afghanistan. This more than anything else contributed to making the defeated and demoralised Taliban the standard-bearers of Pashtun nationalism in Afghanistan. At that time, our standing in the international community was low and the American hubris was high. Today, our views would have much greater weight but these need to be clearly articulated in Bonn.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011. ]]>
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			<title>Boycotting Bonn: All hail govt’s game face, but wonder if it will last</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301588/boycotting-bonn-all-hail-govt%e2%80%99s-game-face-but-wonder-if-it-will-last</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301588/boycotting-bonn-all-hail-govt%e2%80%99s-game-face-but-wonder-if-it-will-last#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 03 Dec 11 01:19:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[qamar.zaman]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Senate passes a unanimous resolution condemning the Nato attack.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The government’s game face was appreciated and encouraged by friends and foes in the upper house of parliament alike, despite scepticism on how long the countenance would last.


The Senate on Friday condemned the Nato air raid in Mohmand Agency, through a unanimously passed resolution, but most members doubted that if the government could sustain its stance.

The resolution, moved by Leader of the Opposition Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, urged the government “to resist and implement parliamentary resolutions of October 22, 2008 and November 13, 2011.”

“It is an attack on sovereignty and integrity of the country and entire nation is grieved,” the resolution stated, adding that the “barbaric act is intolerable and the excuse of misunderstanding would not be accepted since this airstrike is not the first of its kind.”

Earlier, Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek suspended the agenda of the session when members requested for a debate over the memo scandal and Nato attack. The house started with prayers for the soldiers who lost their lives in the Nato attack.

Shoring support for the govt

Support was also voiced for the president, with Haji Muhammad Adeel of the government’s allied Awami National Party (ANP) saying his party will “fight against the establishment” and conspiracies to derail the democratic system.

“There should be an investigation into the memo scandal, but it should not be used against democracy,” the ANP leader said. “We will support the government and President Asif Ali Zardari to complete their tenure,” he added.

The senator also asked for investigation into the Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s visit to the UK, to meet Mansoor Ijaz, the self-proclaimed whistleblower in the memo scandal: “Did he visit the UK with prime minister’s approval or does a parallel government exist here?”

Adeel also urged the Supreme Court to summon Ijaz and retrieve the record of his alleged Blackberry conversation with former Pakistan’s ambassador to US, Hussain Haqqani.

The senator also called for an investigation into the non-responsiveness of the country’s defence in the face of aggression, including the Abbottabad operation, the PNS Mehran attack, and the recent Nato attack in Mohmand Agency.

Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl urged the government to remain steadfast over its decision of boycotting the Bonn conference.

“We endorse the government’s decision but do not know whether it will maintain the stance,” Haideri said. He demanded the government to ask the US to vacate four other airbases: the Shahbaz airbase in Sindh, the Khalid airbase in Balochistan and two other bases in Dalbandin and Pasni.

Senator Salim Saifullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid Likeminded faction also urged the government to remain steadfast and take the political leadership into confidence.

Decision on Bonn ‘irreversible’ 

In a formal refusal to her German counterpart, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar called her German counterpart Guido Westerwelle to “apprise him of the decision of the government of Pakistan not to participate in the Bonn conference on Afghanistan.”

Khar also spoke to British Foreign Secretary William Hague and apprised him of Pakistan’s decision. Hague expressed UK’s “understanding of Pakistan’s position on the matter,” a foreign office statement said. Earlier, while addressing the media outside parliament, Khar said that the “decision to boycott the [Bonn conference] is irreversible.”

(Read: Nato attack - the boycott and beyond)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Wisdom better than rash bravado</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301187/wisdom-better-than-rash-bravado</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301187/wisdom-better-than-rash-bravado#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 11 17:35:39 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Wisdom demands that we challenge the US realistically, compel it to make amends to the benefit of Pakistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has released the text of a message from Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani pledging ‘crushing retaliation if the US-Isaf forces attacked inside Pakistani territory again, ‘regardless of consequences’. In his message meant for the troops, he said, “Be assured that we will not let the aggressor walk away easily; I have clearly directed that any act of aggression will be responded to with full force, regardless of the cost and consequences”.

The army chief also explained why the November 26 air strike at Salala was not responded to: “Timely decision could not be taken due to breakdown of communication with the affected posts and therefore lack of clarity of situation at various levels, including corps HQ and GHQ”. Now he wants the troops on the border with Afghanistan to take their own on-the-spot decision against any future Nato attacks without waiting for orders from the GHQ. And for that they would be supplied with appropriate weapons. Now they will have to worry about dealing with US-Isaf forces in addition to Taliban terrorists.

This is, by all accounts, a very rash approach to the situation triggered by the November 26 incident, even if it is directed, as a morale-booster, at the troops and meant to be interpreted differently as strategy by civil society, which is obviously not prepared for war on the western front. Moreover, one wonders why what should be inter-army directives are being made public, though it may be surmised that this is due to the perception following the attack that the army was not responding strongly enough to an attack on Pakistani territory.

Meanwhile, the Americans are offering regrets even before their formal inquiry into the Salala incident is completed on December 21. President Obama, too, has expressed sorrow at the death of Pakistani troops, though a formal apology is yet to come. There are, however, statements being issued from Washington saying the attack was unintended and that some fire had come from around the Salala check post.

Pakistan has already taken the crucial step of banning supply trucks taking fuel and equipment to Afghanistan through its territory, in the process cutting nearly half of Nato/Isaf’s total supplies. Add to this the notice on Shamsi base and it becomes a very palpable challenge to the very presence of Nato troops in Afghanistan. Russia, which has offered a northern supply route to the Nato forces since 2009, has also threatened to cut it off because of the deployment by the US of a ‘missile defence’ cordon around Russia. The decision not to attend the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan seems a bit excessive because of its isolationist intent and hopefully will be subject to revision later on.

The nation is already of one mind, a kind of pre-war symptom that Pakistan experienced in 1965 and 1971 when the army painted the country into a corner through the hubris of isolationism. It is not natural that the entire nation be of uniform thinking in favour of conflict, especially if this conflict is against an immeasurably stronger adversary. If after the anger felt in the GHQ — and equally by ordinary Pakistanis on the street — subsides, more realistic decisions are required to be taken, the disappointment among the public will take the shape of an emotional boomerang of self-disgust. We have seen that happen in the Raymond Davis case after the CIA agent was let off on diyat instead of being publicly hanged. If the common man has succumbed to an attack of ‘ghairat’ and is spoiling for a fight with the US, the state cannot afford to indulge in the bravado of an unequal war.

If the pro-war mind is presuming that the Taliban will fight the Nato-US forces side by side with the Pakistan Army, putting an end to the problem of law and order in Pakistan, it is sadly deceived. It will in fact be a two-front war, one front being at the back of the Pakistani troops. The Taliban and their master al Qaeda have an agenda that will be fulfilled only by removing our army chief from his post and then using the military to take over the country and its nuclear assets. Wisdom demands that we challenge the US realistically rather than rashly, compelling it to make amends for the Salala incident to the benefit of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Bonn free: Parliamentary panel endorses govt’s strong stand</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301168/bonn-free-national-security-committee-says-no-to-afghanistan-conference</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301168/bonn-free-national-security-committee-says-no-to-afghanistan-conference#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 11 13:52:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[irfan.ghauri]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Gilani says armed forces instru­cted to respon­d, with full force, to territ­orial infrin­gement­s.]]>
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				<![CDATA[This time, there may be no turning back.

The cabinet’s decision to boycott a crucial conference in Bonn, Germany on the Afghan endgame was endorsed by the parliamentary committee on national security on Friday.  The conference, which has been planned for a year, will be attended by 90 countries on Monday.

The bicameral parliamentary panel was tasked to frame Pakistan’s new terms of engagement in the US-led war against terrorism afterlast week’s attacks in Mohmand Agency that killed 25 troops. The 17-member parliamentary committee, headed by Senator Raza Rabbani had representatives from all parties with presence in either of the two houses of parliament.

The prime minister, foreign minister and director-general of Military Operations briefed the committee in the closed-door session.

“We have been told that the US will be vacating Shamsi Airbase soon. We wanted to know the status of their (US) bases in Jacobabad and Pasni, but no concrete answer was given,” a participant of the meeting told The Express Tribune.

Three committee members from nationalist parties, Asfandyar Wali, Shahid Bugti and Mir Israrullah Zehri did not participate. The absence of Asfandyar Wali, chief of PPP’s coalition partner Awami National Party, raised eyebrows in the meeting.

In a briefing to journalists after the meeting, the information minister said the committee had endorsed the decisions taken by the federal cabinet and defence committee of the cabinet not to attend the Bonn conference. She ducked some specific questions since all information could not be made public.

There was no word if the suspension of Nato’s supply routes was permanent. However, one of the participants said that the issue was part of the committee’s agenda.

“The authorities (military) could not give any satisfactory answers over continued drone attacks,” another member said.

“The committee has been tasked to formulate the overall terms of reference in 10-15 days that would be put forward before the joint session of the parliament,” a treasury member said. He said the next meeting of the committee has been convened on December 8.

Prime minister’s briefing 

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani claimed Pakistan’s ‘red lines’ - including no infringement of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty - have been made abundantly clear to the United States, Nato and Isaf. “We also conveyed, in no uncertain terms, to the US and Nato forces that these attacks will have consequences,” he said.

He said it was regrettable that Pakistan’s willingness to cooperate with the international community on counterterrorism has not been understood properly.

He said Pakistan’s enormous sacrifices and contribution in the campaign against militancy has not been adequately acknowledged. What is worse is the tendency to make Pakistan a scapegoat for the failings of international policies in Afghanistan, Gilani added.

The country’s efforts to improve relations with Afghanistan and support Afghan-led and Afghan-owned efforts for peace and reconciliation have also been misconstrued and actively subverted by certain quarters.

“Clearly, there is a limit to our patience. Cooperation cannot be a one-way street. Under these challenging and difficult circumstances, Pakistan has maintained a principled approach and exercised utmost restraint.” However, he said it would be a grave miscalculation on anyone’s part that stability and peace in Afghanistan can be restored or maintained by destabilising Pakistan.

Gilani said instructions have been issued to all units of the armed forces to respond, with full force, to any act of aggression and infringement of Pakistan’s territorial frontiers.

Our continued cooperation in this regard can only be premised on a partnership that is consistent with Pakistan’s national interests and respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and absolutely zero-tolerance for any transgression against Pakistan’s state frontiers.

“Pakistan does not seek aid or economic assistance from the United States. What we seek, in fact demand, is respect for our sovereignty and territorial integrity, a firm and categorical commitment on “inviolability” of Pakistan’s borders and on non-recurrence of such incidents.”

(Read: Wisdom better than rash bravado)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Kayani’s bold move: ‘Pakistani troops will return fire if Nato attacks again’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301027/kayani%e2%80%99s-bold-move-%e2%80%98pakistani-troops-will-return-fire-if-nato-attacks-again%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301027/kayani%e2%80%99s-bold-move-%e2%80%98pakistani-troops-will-return-fire-if-nato-attacks-again%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 11 01:29:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[US-led Nato forces will now be treated as a ‘potential threat’, say defence analysts.]]>
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				<![CDATA[In a development that pushes US-Pakistan relations further into the realm of uncertainty, the army has authorised its local commanders deployed near the Afghan border to retaliate to any future incursions by Nato forces.


The decision to review the chain of command of security forces stationed at the western border was taken by the army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, after consultations with his top commanders in the wake of Nato strikes at the weekend, said a military official.

The change means that from here on in the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan will also be treated as a potential threat, commented former Federal Administered Tribal Areas secretary Brig (retd) Mehmood Shah.

“Until now the focus of security forces at the Afghan border was to take action against militants and stop cross border infiltration but now they will also be keeping an eye on future Nato strikes,” Brig Shah added.

Defence analyst Lt General (Retd) Abdul Qayum was of the view that local commanders will now not have to seek approval from their chain of command to return fire at the Nato fighter planes if they carry out “hostile manoeuvres on our soil.”

The fresh directives have been conveyed by General Kayani in a letter circulated among the concerned military quarters.

Another military official disclosed that a proposal is under consideration to re-equip the troops along the border with Afghanistan to stop any future violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

If Nato forces refuse to give firm guarantees to stop incursions, the security forces may be deployed on the eastern border (Indian border) where they will have necessary airpower to thwart any misadventure, the official added.

However, the latest move is being seen by many as an attempt by the military brass to pacify the growing anger among the lower-cadre of the army over the Nato strikes and also use it as pressure tactic.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has not completely shut the door to the international conference on the Afghanistan endgame next week in Germany, though Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday reiterated that the decision to boycott the Bonn moot was irreversible.

Parliamentary committee weighs up response

Consultations on whether to send an ambassador-level delegation to Bonn are still ongoing and the final decision is expected today when the bipartisan and bicameral parliamentary committee on national security meets to discuss the fallout of the airstrikes.

The 17-member committee, headed by Senator Raza Rabbani, has been tasked with the responsibility of offering its recommendations concerning the government’s response to the Nato attack.

The key agenda item before the committee is to ponder the government’s decision of staying away from the Bonn conference in protest, said a government official. He said that though the decision not to send Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was final, the chance that Pakistan might send a delegation at ambassador level was very much alive.

Diplomatic authorities are reviewing the earlier decision of boycotting the conference altogether after the US, host Germany and Afghanistan urged Pakistan to soften its stance. The foreign ministry is believed to have backed the idea of sending a delegation headed by the ambassador at the international gathering, to be attended by 90 countries as well as representatives of the United Nations, to draw up a roadmap for Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will brief the parliamentary panel about the decision taken by the defence committee of the cabinet in response to the Nato attack.

(Read: Nato attack - the boycott and beyond)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>‘No threat of judicial or military coup’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301054/%e2%80%98no-threat-of-judicial-or-military-coup%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/301054/%e2%80%98no-threat-of-judicial-or-military-coup%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 11 00:58:53 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[PM says there will only be one reply from the executive authority to the SC over memogate.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Amidst accusations from all sides, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani defended his cornered government yet again on Thursday, playing down “any threat” of a ‘judicial’ or ‘military’ coup.


Both institutions are pro-democracy and do not want to derail the system, he claimed, while responding to callers from across the country in a live programme, ‘Prime Minister Online,’ aired on PTV.

Responding to a question over the memogate case currently being heard in the Supreme Court, the PM said there will only be one reply from the executive authority.

He recalled the first time the issue of memogate was raised in the National Assembly, after which, he said, he took the house into confidence about the position of the government.

He added that he summoned former ambassador Husain Haqqani to Pakistan and asked him to submit his resignation so that a fair trial could be held over the “issue that became a matter of national security”.

“Husain Haqqani should not be condemned unheard,” Gilani remarked.

‘Boycott of Bonn is final’

Gilani reiterated Pakistan’s stance on boycotting the Bonn conference in protest against the Nato/Isaf attack, saying the decision was “final” and was taken collectively.

“How can we attend the conference when our sovereignty came under attack?” Gilani asked. The soil of Afghanistan was used against the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan, he said about the cross border strike in Mohmand that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Saturday.

PM Gilani said the decision of boycotting the talks on Afghanistan was taken after thoughtful consideration and after a meeting of the Federal Cabinet, which also endorsed the Defence Committee of the Cabinet’s decision to halt Nato supplies as well as its demand for the US to vacate Shamsi Airbase.

“If we sit at the Bonn Conference and another attack takes place, who will be responsible for that?” he said

The premier further said that, in his opinion, the decision to not attend the conference was in line with “national honour, self-respect and dignity”.

He also denied reports that the government was considering sending Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to Bonn.

‘New rules of engagement with the US’

Gilani said that Pakistan can work with the US, Nato and Isaf under a new agreement and by devising new rules of engagement. He said that it was up to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security to give recommendations for a decision on ties with the US and Nato, adding that the committee will hold a meeting in this regard on Friday, which will be attended by him.

The recommendations of the parliamentary committee will then be put before a joint session of the parliament. Gilani also stated that the military government of Pervez Musharraf had first decided the rules of engagement with the US and Nato.

(Read: Our civil-military contradictions)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2011. ]]>
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			<title>Bonn conference boycott: Gilani unmoved by Merkel’s gentle nudge</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/300418/bonn-conference-boycott-gilani-unmoved-by-merkel%e2%80%99s-gentle-nudge</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/300418/bonn-conference-boycott-gilani-unmoved-by-merkel%e2%80%99s-gentle-nudge#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 01 Dec 11 00:06:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=300418</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[US, Germany, Afghanistan push Pakistan to attend conference on Afghan endgame.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The prime minister has simmered down, but not enough to confirm Pakistan’s attendance at the Bonn conference.


Hints of flexibility came after much insistence from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Pakistan to reconsider boycotting the meeting on the Afghan endgame.

However, the only assurance that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani gave Merkel was that Pakistan’s ambassador to Germany could attend the conference, but only if the parliamentary committee on national security approves.

He turned down Merkel’s request that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar attend the conference, while Khar herself told a Senate foreign relations committee that Pakistan’s decision was final.

In a special meeting in Lahore on Tuesday, the cabinet had agreed to boycott the conference on the Afghan endgame in protest of Nato’s attack in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 troops in the deadliest assault in a decade.

The calls from the international community to attend the conference were led by Washington. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pakistan should reconsider its decision, but stopped short of apologising for the deaths of the 24 soldiers.

“Nothing will be gained by turning our backs on mutually beneficial cooperation. Frankly it is regrettable that Pakistan has decided not to attend the conference,” Clinton told a news conference in South Korea.

Clinton voiced regret over Pakistan’s decision, pledging an investigation “as swiftly and thoroughly as possible” into the “tragic incident” and hoping it would find a “follow-up way” to take part in talks on Afghanistan’s future. “What is most important I think is that we learn lessons from this tragedy because we have to continue to work together,” she said.

Afghanistan has also asked Pakistan to reconsider its decision. Speaking to journalists in Karachi about his conversation with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Gilani said, “I replied that the territory of Afghanistan was being used against Pakistan and he said it was done by Nato and I told him to talk to the US about it.”

“I told him that we have to protect our country and work for its security and defence. If we go to Bonn for you, then who will guarantee our security?  We cannot just go like this,” he added.

Meanwhile, news from Kabul indicated that Pakistan had resumed some cooperation with US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Nato said Islamabad communicated with the alliance to prevent an exchange of artillery fire late on Tuesday from turning into another international incident. German Brig Gen Carsten Jacobson, a Nato spokesman in Kabul, expressed hope that Pakistan’s cooperation in resolving the incident in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province signaled the two sides could recover from the recent tragedy.

Meanwhile, Gilani said the government has asked the US to evacuate the Shamsi airbase by Dec 11.

Speaking to journalists after inaugurating the UAE expo 2011 ceremony, Gilani said: “We have given the Nato forces a deadline and asked them to stop drone attacks because we cannot play a significant role in a war which damages our sovereignty. We need a guarantee that such attacks will not happen again, otherwise we cannot cooperate.”

In Lahore, Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan put the blame on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for leasing the base to the US and said the Shamsi Airbase was leased in 1998 when the PML-N’ government was in power.

(Read: Do away with this charade)

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AGENCIES)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>NATO attack: No means no Gilani tells Merkel</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/300123/nato-attack-no-means-no-gilani-tells-merkel</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/300123/nato-attack-no-means-no-gilani-tells-merkel#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 11 15:07:32 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=300123</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[German Chancellor says Pakistan's participation in the Bonn Conference essential to making it meaningful.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday that Pakistan would not be reconsidering its decision to boycott the upcoming Bonn Conference after NATO airstrikes killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers, while injuring 12 more last weekend.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani in an attempt to reach out to Pakistan and convince the Pakistani leadership to at least send an ambassador to attend the conference after Pakistan had announced its formal decision to boycott the Bonn Conference over the ‘unprovoked’ attack.

(Read: Pakistan says decision to boycott Bonn conference is final)

Merkel expressed her personal and her country’s solidarity and friendship with the people and Government of Pakistan. The German Chancellor expressed her condolences to the families of those who lost their lives during NATO/ISAF strikes against the border posts in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Gilani thanked the German Chancellor and said that he was touched by her sentiments and Pakistan valued the love and friendship expressed by Germany.

Merkel expressed her desire to see Pakistan participate in the Bonn Conference, terming it of utmost importance to Germany, stressing that Pakistan’s representation was essential to making the conference meaningful.

(Read: Bonn conference: How significant is Pakistan’s absence?)

The Prime Minister assured her that Pakistan holds Germany in the highest esteem and attaches highest importance to peace, stability and sovereignty of Afghanistan. However, Gilani said that in light of the current scenario, in which Afghanistan’s soil had been used against Pakistan, both the Cabinet and the Government had decided that Pakistan’s attendance in the Bonn Conference was no longer possible.

The Prime Minister said that Pakistan had suffered the largest number of casualties in the war on terror and had rendered greatest sacrifices in its endeavours to support and secure a sovereign Afghanistan.

The German Chancellor requested the Prime Minister to reconsider Pakistan’s participation in the Bonn Conference adding that Pakistan’s seat should not be left vacant. The German Chancellor insisted that Pakistan’s Foreign Minister should attend the Conference.

The Prime Minister regretted that he would not be able to oblige the German Chancellor in this regard.

The German Chancellor suggested that at the very least, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Germany should be permitted to represent Pakistan in the Conference.

The Prime Minister said that since Germany and Pakistan had excellent relations in the past and also the German Foreign Minister was the first to express solidarity with Pakistan, he would refer the matter to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security to take a decision.]]>
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			<title>'Asked Karzai to speak to US on Pakistan's Bonn participation'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/300004/asked-karzai-to-speak-to-us-on-pakistans-bonn-participation</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/300004/asked-karzai-to-speak-to-us-on-pakistans-bonn-participation#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 11 11:06:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=300004</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Gilani says Karzai told him NATO and US had carried out the attack, responded by asking him to speak to US.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday that he had asked Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to speak to the United States (US) regarding Pakistan’s participation at the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan. The conference is scheduled to be held on December 5.

Speaking to the media at Karachi Expo Centre, Gilani said that he had informed Karzai about Pakistan’s decision to boycott the conference and the Afghan president had said that it was not his country but NATO and the US who had carried out the attack. Gilani said he asked Karzai to speak with the US on Pakistan’s participation at Bonn.

(Read: Bonn conference: How significant is Pakistan’s absence?)

The prime minister also said that Karzai had been informed that Afghan soil was being used against Pakistan.

Karzai had earlier telephoned Gilani to urge him to reconsider a boycott of the Bonn conference over the deadly NATO strike.

Karzai’s deputy spokesman Siamak Herawi had told AFP that Pakistan was an important participant in the conference aimed at bridging peace after 10 years of war against the Taliban, and had expressed hope that they would ultimately attend.]]>
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			<title>US urges Pakistan to reconsider Bonn talks boycott</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299976/us-urges-pakistan-to-reconsider-bonn-talks-boycott</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299976/us-urges-pakistan-to-reconsider-bonn-talks-boycott#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 11 05:17:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299976</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan decides to boycott the Bonn conference on Afghanistan, scheduled to be held in Germany next week.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The United States urged Pakistan on Tuesday to reconsider its decision to boycott a conference on Afghanistan in Germany next week, saying it plays a key role in the future of its war-torn central Asian neighbour.

Pakistan decided earlier Tuesday to boycott the December 5 Bonn conference as it widened its protest over lethal cross-border Nato strikes on Saturday that have exacerbated a deep crisis in US ties.

"It's important to note that this conference is about Afghanistan, about its future, about building a safer, more prosperous Afghanistan within the region," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

"It's very much in Pakistan's interest to attend this conference," Toner said.

Toner, who declined to be drawn on whether the United States regretted the decision in Islamabad, said Pakistan had not informed Washington directly of its decision because Germany is the host of the conference.

But he repeated that "it's in their interests, so we think it's important that they be there."

He added: "Pakistan has a crucial role to play in supporting a secure and stable and prosperous Afghanistan.

"It's absolutely critical that Afghanistan's neighbors play a role in its future development," Toner said. "Its relationship with Pakistan has been critical in that regard."]]>
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			<title>Germany hopes Pakistan will still attend Afghanistan meeting</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299968/germany-hopes-pakistan-will-still-attend-afghanistan-meeting</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299968/germany-hopes-pakistan-will-still-attend-afghanistan-meeting#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 11 04:50:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299968</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[German Chance­llor Angela Merkel is sorry about Pakist­an's announ­ced boycot­t of the Bonn confer­ence next...]]>
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				<![CDATA[German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was "very sorry" about Pakistan's announced boycott of  the Bonn conference next week on the future of Afghanistan and would try to convince it to attend.

Merkel said Germany would "see what could be done to change" Islamabad's decision to stay away from the meeting in the western German city, taken in protest at NATO air strikes which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

"We are both interested in constructive development of Afghanistan," Merkel, who will open the Bonn conference, told reporters flanked by visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan.

"Which is why I consider the conference hosted by the (German) foreign minister to be very important. We always said that conflicts can only be resolved in the region and Pakistan is part of this region which is why we are very sorry that this cancellation came today."

Merkel said Berlin still hoped Islamabad would attend the Bonn meeting, which will draw delegations from around 100 countries to discuss commitments to the war-ravaged country after the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014.

Among the invited guests is US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I understand Pakistan's concern about the loss of human life due to NATO troops but this should not distract from the fact that this Afghanistan conference is a very, very important conference," she said.

"There was a loya jirga (grand assembly) in Afghanistan and there is now a very, very good chance for a possible political process. On the one hand I can understand (the boycott) but on the other, we will see what still can be done."

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who is organising the conference, said later that Berlin was "of course" in contact with the Pakistani government over its pulling out and said it would be a "setback" if Islamabad did not attend.

"The success of the Afghanistan conference is not only important for Afghanistan but also for the entire region, for all neighbouring countries and of course and in particular for Pakistan," he said.

Westerwelle added he understood Pakistani ire over the NATO bombing on Saturday and urged a speedy probe by the alliance to get to the bottom of how it occurred.

"You can imagine for a moment if something so horrible had happened to us and our country were mourning such a large number of victims -- I ask that to be always be considered in judging decisions taken."

US-led investigators have been given until December 23 to probe the attacks, threatening to prolong significantly Pakistan's blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan implemented in retaliation for the killings.

Islamabad has vowed no more "business as usual" with Washington in the wake of the strikes. In addition to shutting its Afghan border, it ordered Americans to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and a review of the alliance.]]>
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			<title>Bonn conference: How significant is Pakistan’s absence?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299848/bonn-conference-how-significant-is-pakistan%e2%80%99s-absence</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299848/bonn-conference-how-significant-is-pakistan%e2%80%99s-absence#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 11 00:37:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299848</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Officials believe decision will not be a major setback as few tangible results were expected at Bonn.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan has already agreed to the draft of the Bonn conference, even though it is boycotting the key international gathering to be held in the German city from December 5.


However, Islamabad’s decision to stay away from the conference, which has been a year in the planning, is being seen as a setback to international efforts that seek to stabilise the war-torn country before Western forces pull out from Afghanistan by 2014.

A senior government official, who was supposed to be part of the Pakistani delegation at the conference, said Islamabad’s absence will only have a symbolic value. “We have already agreed to the draft of the Bonn conference,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous. He maintained that Pakistan initially voiced concerns on certain points of the proposed draft but those reservations had been addressed.

Without going into details, the official pointed out that the government’s main area of concern was that the conference not be used as a forum to point fingers at Pakistan. “We have been assured that no such thing would be part of the final draft,” he said.

Conference not expected to yield major breakthroughs

Pakistan’s decision will also not be a major setback because few tangible results were expected at Bonn, despite the attendance of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other government ministers.

The conference was organised with the expectation that Washington and Kabul would have pinned down by then what their strategic relationship would look like after the departure of foreign combat troops, but talks on this have dragged on inconclusively.

Foreign ministry officials opposed boycott

Sources have said that senior foreign ministry officials were in favour of attending the Bonn conference. The officials were of the view that Pakistan must attend the conference at least at the ambassador-level, sources added.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was to lead the Pakistani delegation at the conference to be attended by 90 countries as well as representatives from the United Nations to finalise a roadmap for post-war Afghanistan. “We should have attended the conference and used it to convey our concerns on the Nato attacks,” said a foreign office official while speaking on condition of anonymity.

It is believed that the security establishment has pushed for the boycott after the inadequate response from the US over the Nato air raid. The decision to boycott the Bonn conference was originally taken in the emergency meeting of the cabinet committee of defence just hours after the Nato attack. However, the announcement was delayed for a couple of days in the hope that Washington might come up with a convincing response to pacify the anger.

(Read: Aftermath of NATO air strike)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Aftermath of NATO air strike</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299571/aftermath-of-nato-air-strike</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299571/aftermath-of-nato-air-strike#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 11 17:54:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299571</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Both countries have to immediately cease threatening each other, handle frayed relationship in a more mature manner.]]>
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				<![CDATA[At a recent Republic presidential debate in the US, all the candidates decided to aim a rhetorical shot or two at Pakistan. Pakistan was accused of everything, from lying, to supporting terrorism and was declared unworthy of US aid. Even front runner, Mitt Romney, in what was meant to be a defence of US assistance to Pakistan, mockingly declared that aid was needed to “bring Pakistan into the 21st century, or the 20th century for that matter”. The Obama administration has been slightly less colourful in its description of the faltering US-Pakistan relationship, but not by that much. Obama rode a populist wave to the White House by waxing lyrical on the “audacity of hope”. It takes audacity of a more sinister kind to deflect blame, as Obama’s administration has now done, for the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a cross-border raid in Mohmand agency on the soldiers themselves. The US narrative seems to be that this was not a case of friendly fire; rather that the soldiers themselves were either shooting at the Americans or allowing Taliban militants to do so. A charge as serious as this cannot be made without presenting a shred of evidence, and hurling accusations rather than offering humble apologies will only deepen the rift between the two countries.

Given the callous US reaction, it comes as no surprise that the mood in Pakistan, both from the government and the public, has become increasingly threatening. The government has halted all Nato shipments from operating on Pakistani territory and ordered the US to vacate Shamsi airbase, which is reportedly used to launch drone attacks. It has also announced that it will boycott the upcoming Bonn Conference which it could have instead use to express its anger. Enraged citizens have also taken to the streets to protest the killings of the army personnel. As tempting as it would be to blame the anger on just this one incident, the reality is that the killings were merely the latest reason for outrage. Starting with the protests over the Kerry-Lugar Bill, moving on to the Raymond Davis saga and peaking with the May 2 Abbottabad raid, there just doesn’t seem to be much that the two countries agree on. Finally, the governments seem to have caught up with its citizens and realised that this is an alliance that exists only on paper.

In all the post-mortems that are written about the demise of the US-Pakistan relationship, there is sure to be a lot of mourning and anger. But it may just turn out to be a good thing that reality has intruded on the wishful thinking that defined the partnership. Just because both countries have come to the conclusion that their interests are not aligned, especially in Afghanistan, does not mean that they have to constantly be at each other’s throats. Rather, the two countries can continue to work together on those issues where common ground exists and, otherwise, go their separate ways. Such a path will be even more plausible once the US begins its drawdown from Afghanistan and, as it did in the 1990s, gradually lose a bit of interest in the region.

For Pakistan, of course, this means having to get by without being bankrolled by the US. No one was ever under the illusion that US aid to Pakistan was being given in a spirit of benevolence. Now that the two countries seem to be going on divergent paths, that aid may well dry up. If we want to be masters of our own destiny, we will have to find the financial means to do so. This implies that we need to pay our fair share of taxes, for if we did, we perhaps wouldn’t need to be so dependent on foreign aid. Should we decide that the US billions are too tempting to forgo, then we will have to accept that we cannot argue against taking military action vis-a-vis the Haqqani network and may even have to stew silently rather than vent publicly when our own soldiers are killed by US forces. What both countries will have to do immediately is cease threatening each other and handle their frayed relationship in a more mature manner.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Tribune Take: Pakistan's boycott handicaps Bonn conference</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299595/tribune-take-pakistans-boycott-handicaps-bonn-conference</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299595/tribune-take-pakistans-boycott-handicaps-bonn-conference#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 11 15:57:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[mahawish.rezvi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299595</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Without Pakistan, peace in Afghanistan and negotiations with the Taliban is not possible.]]>
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				<![CDATA[In today’s episode of the Tribune Take we look at Pakistan's decision to sit out the Bonn conference on Afghanistan.

Naveed Hussain, The Express Tribune’s national editor, says the boycott sends a significant message to the international community. Pakistan's refusal to attend the conference signals the common sentiment in the country over the breach of sovereignty by the Nato attack over the weekend.

Hussain says Pakistan's absence makes the conference lose its effectiveness, although significant results were not to be expected from the talks.

He also adds that without Pakistan, peace in Afghanistan and negotiations with the Taliban is not possible.

Read Naveed Hussain's articles here.

The Tribune Take daily news web show will appear on the tribune.com.pk home page.

The Take will feature in-depth interviews and analysis with editors and reporters who are covering the major stories, exploring front page events and major ledes. The news analysis covers the way The Express Tribune examines a story, how we cover it and why.

_________________________________________________________

[poll id="578"]]]>
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			<title>Karzai urges Pakistan to reconsider Bonn boycott</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299507/kabul-says-pakistan-important-to-bonn-conference</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299507/kabul-says-pakistan-important-to-bonn-conference#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 11 13:40:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299507</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Afghan President telephoned Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to urge him to reconsider the boycott.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Afghan President Hamid Karzai telephoned Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday to urge him to reconsider a boycott of the Bonn conference over a deadly NATO strike, officials in both countries said.

Karzai's deputy spokesman Siamak Herawi told AFP that Pakistan was an important participant in the conference aimed at bridging peace after 10 years of war against the Taliban, and expressed hope that they would ultimately attend.

"President Hamid Karzai called Prime Minister Gilani and officially asked the Pakistan government to participate in the Bonn conference," said Herawi.

"We regard Pakistan as an important country and are optimistic they will attend the Bonn conference".

Gilani's office issued a statement confirming that Karzai had asked the prime minister to reconsider.

Gilani "said that Pakistan had been extending complete cooperation for peace and stability in Afghanistan" said the statement.

"However, he further added that how could a country whose own sovereignty and territorial integrity was violated from Afghan soil play such a constructive role?"

Also, Afghanistan foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai told AFP that "we regard Pakistan as an important country in the region, we hope our Pakistani brothers will be there."

Merkel 'very sorry' about Pakistan boycott 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she was "very sorry" about Pakistan's announced boycott of the conference next week on the future of Afghanistan and would try to convince it to attend.

Merkel said Germany would still "see what could be done to change" Islamabad's decision to bow out of the meeting in the western German city, taken in protest at Nato air strikes which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

"We are both interested in constructive development of Afghanistan," Merkel told reporters at a joint press conference with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan.

"Which is why I consider the conference hosted by the (German) foreign minister to be very important. We always said that conflicts can only be resolved in the region and Pakistan is part of this region which is why we are very sorry that this cancellation came today."

Merkel said that Berlin had not given up on convincing Islamabad to reverse its decision and attend the Bonn meeting, which will bring together foreign ministers from around 100 countries to discuss commitments to the war-ravaged country after the withdrawal of Nato troops in 2014.

"I understand Pakistan's concern about the loss of human life due to Nato troops but this should not distract from the fact that this Afghanistan conference is a very, very important conference," she said.

"There was a loya jirga (grand assembly) in Afghanistan and there is now a very, very good chance for a possible political process. On the one hand I can understand (the boycott) but on the other, we will see what still can be done."

A Pakistani official told AFP that Islamabad would boycott Monday's conference in Bonn over the deadly Nato air strikes at the weekend.]]>
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			<title>Cabinet weighs up formal UNSC complaint over NATO strike</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299350/cabinet-weighs-up-formal-unsc-complaint-over-nato-strike</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299350/cabinet-weighs-up-formal-unsc-complaint-over-nato-strike#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 11 04:07:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zia.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299350</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Attending Bonn moot on Afghanistan also under review after the air strike.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan is considering lodging a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against Saturday’s airstrike by NATO forces on check posts in the Mohmand tribal region.


The proposal will be at the top of the agenda when the federal cabinet meets in Lahore on Tuesday morning (today) for an emergency session, amid growing anger across Pakistan over what officials here have called a “gruesome” attack.

Scheduled to be chaired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, the cabinet will also decide whether to participate in an international conference on the future of Afghanistan planned in the German city of Bonn for next week, top officials said.

“We will use all the available national and international forums to condemn the attack…we won’t let it go easily. The blood that spills is ours,” said a federal minister, confirming that approaching the UNSC is among the options on the table.

The pre-dawn multiple strikes by NATO gunships has sparked fresh tensions between Islamabad and Washington with Pakistan halting supplies to international forces based in Afghanistan and ordering the closure of a key air base allegedly being used by the US to operate drone predators.

Another official, who is privy to the decision likely to be taken at the cabinet meeting, said that since the Afghan war was sanctioned by the UNSC and any hot pursuit or surgical strikes inside Pakistan were not allowed, Islamabad believed the move would put “legal and moral” pressure on the US.

Last week an adviser to the prime minister told Parliament that Pakistan was collecting figures for casualties caused by US drones in the country’s tribal areas, with which Pakistan would approach a UN human rights panel.

Bonn conference

Officials said that the cabinet would also take a decision regarding its participation in the Bonn conference, a planned gathering of world leaders on December 5 to discuss the decade-old war in Afghanistan.

A cabinet committee on defence that met immediately after the attacks maintained that Pakistan can pull itself out of the reconciliation process in Afghanistan and there were reports that Islamabad might boycott the conference. A final decision, however, is still pending, and officials confirmed that the cabinet would ponder the matter at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said in a press briefing that Pakistan has indicated that it is reconsidering attending the conference but it was in that country’s own interest to participate.

“The US-Pakistan relationship has weathered many storms. We’re stressing on this relationship and this relationship is in our shared national security interests,” Toner said.

Confirming that there will be two investigations into the incident, he referred reporters back to the department of defence on when this will be completed.

Security during Muharram

According to a spokesperson for Gilani, the meeting was also set to discuss the security situation during Muharram and Interior Minister Rehman Malik might brief cabinet on possible threats from extremist organisations.

Malik on Sunday said there were credible intelligence reports that hardline outfits including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi might strike in major cities such as Karachi and Lahore.

(With additional reporting by Huma Imtiaz in Washington)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Obama sees Pakistani deaths as tragedy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299205/obama-calls-nato-airstrike-deaths-tragic-vows-continued-relations-with-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299205/obama-calls-nato-airstrike-deaths-tragic-vows-continued-relations-with-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 11 19:03:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299205</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[US State Department hopes that Pakistan would attend Bonn Conference as it was in its interest.]]>
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				<![CDATA[President Barack Obama sees the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) raid as a “tragedy”, the White House said on Monday, but argued that crisis-wrecked US-Pakistani ties were vital to both sides.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama believed Saturday's attack, which threw US-Pakistani ties into turmoil, was "a tragedy," adding that "we mourn those brave Pakistani service members that lost their lives."

"We take this matter very seriously," said Carney, adding that two inquiries by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and US Central Command would examine what took place.

"As for our relationship with Pakistan, it continues to be an important cooperative relationship that is also very complicated," Carney said.

"It is very much in America's national security interest to maintain a cooperative relationship with Pakistan because we have shared interests in the fight against terrorism," Carney said.

Pakistan earlier in the day vowed that there would no more be "business as usual" with the United States but stopped short of threatening to break the troubled alliance altogether.

(Read: No more business as usual between Pakistan and US, says Gilani)

To attend or not to attend the Bonn Conference

US State Department reacting over Pakistan’s indication to reconsider attending the Bonn conference on Afghanistan, says the conference is in Pakistan’s interest as well.

Addressing the press briefing at the State Department, spokesperson Mark Toner said that it was in Pakistan's interest to attend the conference as the conference’s objective was to have a stable and secure Afghanistan.

In response to a question, Toner said "the US-Pakistan relationship has weathered many storms." He added that the US was continuing to talk to Pakistan, "we're stressing on this relationship and this relationship is in our shared national security interests."

Toner added that there would be two investigations carried out into the incident, but referred reporters back to the Department of Defense on when this inquiry would be completed.

He said that the US is showing its seriousness of purpose into investigating the incident. Toner said that the US was taking this very seriously.

The State Department spokesperson said that the US was concerned about the impact of this incident on the US-Pakistan relationship. He said that the US “recognizes that our cooperation with Pakistan has yielded tangible results. There have been challenges in this relationship and we want to work through it."

On Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, Toner said that both countries had a critical relationship and had a common enemy. He said that the real goal was to create a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan that isn't threatened by extremists.

In response to a question on the new Pakistan ambassador to the US, Toner said that many at the State Department knew her and that the United States was looking forward to working with her.

Afghanistan sticks with “self-defense” theory on NATO airstrike

NATO and the United States are trying to limit fallout from the attack but Islamabad has shut vital supply routes to the 140,000 foreign troops serving in Afghanistan.

Pakistan called the strike "unprovoked," worsening US-Pakistani relations which were already in crisis after the killing in May of Osama bin Laden north of Islamabad by US special forces.

The Wall Street Journal, following a similar report by Britain's Guardian newspaper, cited three Afghan officials and one Western official as saying the air raid was called in to shield allied forces targeting Taliban fighters.

NATO and Afghan forces "were fired on from a Pakistani army base," the unnamed Western official told the Journal. "It was a defensive action."

An Afghan official said the Kabul government believes the fire came from the Pakistani military base - and not from insurgents. Afghan-Pakistani relations suffer from routine mutual recriminations.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>No more business as usual between Pakistan and US, says Gilani</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299052/no-more-business-as-usual-between-pakistan-and-us-says-gilani</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/299052/no-more-business-as-usual-between-pakistan-and-us-says-gilani#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 11 15:56:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=299052</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Gilani says Pakistan can only work with US on mutual respect, mutual interest.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Following the ‘unprovoked’ attack by NATO forces on Pakistani border checkposts, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani warned the United States, that their relations had gone south and that 'business as usual will not be there’ now.

Talking to CNN on Monday, Gilani dodged the question of whether relations with US had gone past a point of return, said that the only scenario in which the two countries could continue their relation was if they worked on the principles of mutual respect and mutual interest, which he was not getting from the Americans at the moment.

“If I cannot protect the sovereignty of my country how can I say it is on mutual respect.”

Asked about a solution to continue the stumbling, yet vital alliance, Gilani said that there needs to be bigger assurance from the US, though he did not specify the nature of that concession from the Americans.

“We need to have something bigger to satisfy my nation,” he said, pointing out that the war could only be won by winning the fast souring hearts and minds of the Pakistani people, “for that I have referred to the leadership of my government, members of the parliamentary committee to advise.”

The Prime Minister also said Pakistan is yet to decide, whether to boycott next month's Bonn conference.]]>
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			<title>Afghanistan worried about regional security, relations with Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/298866/afghanistan-worried-about-regional-security-relations-with-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/298866/afghanistan-worried-about-regional-security-relations-with-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 11 08:48:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=298866</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Afghan foreign ministry officials urge Pakistan not to boycott conference on Afghanistan’s future in Germany.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Afghan officials worry about a long-term damage to relations with Pakistan and regional security after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) attack on two military outposts located in Mohmand Agency on Monday.

Afghan foreign ministry officials urged Pakistan to not follow through on threats to boycott a conference on Afghanistan’s future that is scheduled for December 5 in Bonn, Germany.

An Afghan foreign ministry spokesman said that the Bonn Conference is the most important event of the year for Afghanistan and that it considers Pakistan’s participation as vital, given the leverage it has over some Taliban factions.

However, the Pakistani foreign office has said the government has not yet decided on whether or not to boycott the conference.

An early Saturday morning attack by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) helicopters killed at least 24 security personnel and injured 12 soldiers on a Pakistani check post in Salala, which is located in the Tehsil Bayzai area of Mohmand Agency on the Pak-Afghan border.

The United States has been told by Pakistan’s military leadership to evacuate a logistically key airbase it operates in Balochistan – Shamsie Airbase – within 15 days. In addition, Pakistan’s fury was driven home with an official statement that it will shut down Nato supply routes operating through its territory – something that has happened for the first time, though supply routes have previously been temporarily blocked unofficially following similar attacks.]]>
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			<title>NATO raid upshot: Angry Pakistan threatens to derail Afghan endgame</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/298790/nato-raid-upshot-angry-pakistan-threatens-to-derail-afghan-endgame</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/298790/nato-raid-upshot-angry-pakistan-threatens-to-derail-afghan-endgame#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 27 Nov 11 23:42:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=298790</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Islamabad warns of ‘huge implications’.]]>
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				<![CDATA[As Pakistan buried its dead from Saturday’s attack on a border check post by Nato troops, the government looked for more ways to express its anger against Nato and the United States for the incident. On Sunday, it threatened to review its role in facilitating talks with insurgents and re-think its participation in next month’s Bonn conference.


Revisit engagement

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told Express News that Pakistan “will revisit its engagement with the US, Nato and the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf)” while an unnamed Pakistani official said that the country’s security establishment has already halted “all efforts to persuade the Afghan Taliban to come to the negotiating table.”

On Saturday, Pakistan decided to shut down key Nato supply routes, ask the US to vacate a remote airbase in Balochistan and review ties with Washington. Pakistan has also protested to Afghanistan over the attacks. It said that the use of Afghan territory against Pakistan was a violation of Isaf’s mandate for operations in Afghanistan.

For its part, the US Central Command said that it will conduct its own investigation into Nato’s involvement. General James Mattis, who heads the command, is expected to appoint an investigating officer by Monday. Nato officials privately insist that their troops were attacked first, a charge that the Pakistan military strongly denies.

A Pentagon spokesman said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta were closely monitoring reports of the incident. Spokesman John Kirby added: “Both offer their deepest condolences for the loss of life.”

Clinton, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and of US Forces in Afghanistan, each called their Pakistani counterparts, the Pentagon spokesman said. Cameron P. Munter, US ambassador to Pakistan, also met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad.

Clinton and Panetta both stressed “the importance of the US-Pakistani partnership.” Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasumussen, however, fell short of a formal apology, and instead tweeted that the airstrike was a “tragic unintended incident,” adding “the death of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel.”

Pakistani stance

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that decisions of the defence cabinet committee (DCC) on the Nato forces’ attack would be implemented. Talking to the media in Islamabad, he said Nato supplies (through Pakistan) “had been stopped permanently.”

Pakistani officials also warned that the attack will have “huge implications” for the Afghan endgame.

Process halted

When Secretary Clinton led a delegation last month to Islamabad, authorities in Pakistan had agreed with the US to convince certain insurgent groups, including the Haqqani network, to enter the meaningful talks for seeking a peaceful end in Afghanistan. “That process has now come to a halt,” said the official.

Republican Senator Jon Kyl called for “tough diplomacy” with Pakistan and urged Islamabad to cooperate to maintain its financial aid. “We do need their support in the region,” he acknowledged.

So furious are the authorities that the government has put on hold its decision on attending a key international conference on Afghanistan slated for December 5 in Bonn. Foreign ministry spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said the decision to attend the Bonn conference “was being examined.”

It is believed that Islamabad will now set certain pre-conditions before resumption of cooperation with stakeholders. Demands include a formal public apology, a thorough investigation, action against those responsible, compensation for the families of victims and firm guarantees that such incursions are not repeated.

FM Khar called her counterparts from key Nato countries on Sunday.  Khar spoke to Clinton on the decisions taken by the DCC after the Nato attack. Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu assured that as a member of Nato, Turkey would ask for an impartial inquiry.

(Read: Attack on border post)

with Additional input from agencies

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Afghanistan: the place ‘in-between’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/295865/afghanistan-the-place-%e2%80%98in-between%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/295865/afghanistan-the-place-%e2%80%98in-between%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 11 18:40:07 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[juan.miranda]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=295865</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rail link connecting Afghanistan to Central Asia holds promise of better life, increased stability for Afghan people.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[It is only 75 kilometres long, but its impact could be enormous. The rail link that is scheduled to open early next month between Mazar-e-Sharif and Hairatan on the Uzbek border marks a significant milestone in Afghanistan’s journey toward peace, progress and prosperity.

Without a doubt, Afghanistan faces some daunting challenges. Scarred by decades of insurgency, the country must build a sustainable economy while grappling with weak governance, rampant gender inequality, few jobs and endemic poverty.

Afghanistan today is, in many ways, a place in-between.

Geographically, it sits at the crossroads of vast markets to the west, east and south, representing billions of dollars worth of trade. Historically, it stands on fragile ground between a violent past and a future of opportunity. Its rich mineral and hydrocarbon deposits and strategic location at the heart of the ancient Silk Road hold the promise of a better life for the Afghan people and increased stability for the entire Central Asian region.

Such a future is critical for global stability and widely shared prosperity. But this will not be achieved without significant investment to turn this landlocked and isolated economy into one that is land-linked and integrated with its neighbours. For a sustainable future, Afghanistan needs to build a modern infrastructure, sound basic services, good governance and efficient institutions in order to expand trade within the region and beyond.

Transport infrastructure and energy supply are the backbone and lifeblood of any economy. For Central Asia, transit through Afghanistan is a vital lifeline to critical global markets. For the world at large, an integrated Central Asia represents both increased stability and a more vibrant, diverse and economically interesting investment proposition.

The new rail link connects Afghanistan to Uzbekistan’s expansive rail network and to regional markets in Europe and Asia — boosting regional trade and facilitating the flow of humanitarian assistance. Future links are planned to connect to other parts of the region, including Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

What’s more, the rail line is part of a more extensive transport plan in progress across the region. The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme — which this week will hold its 10th ministerial meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan — has laid the groundwork for this effort.

This partnership consisting of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, promotes economic development through cooperation among member countries.

The reconstruction of Afghanistan’s ring road network has already eased access to southern markets. Many other transport projects are under way or have been completed to improve the region’s road, rail, air and sea connections. The US Silk Road Initiative proposal and the forthcoming Bonn Conference on Afghanistan confirm the desire of the international community and Afghanistan’s neighbours to cooperate in supporting the country’s ongoing development through greater regional cooperation. With a proven 10-year track record of delivering mutually beneficial regional projects, the CAREC programme offers a practical vehicle for doing so.

After decades of chronic dislocation and conflict, Afghanistan is experiencing a transformation that is redefining its role in the region and the world. Beyond its strictly practical purpose, the new rail line is symbolic of a vision for a better life for the Afghan people. By remaining engaged and fully committed to the country’s development, the international community can help transform Afghanistan from ‘the place in-between’ to a vibrant crossroads of culture and commerce.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Afghan endgame: No ulterior motives in Kabul, Germany told</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/294270/afghan-endgame-no-ulterior-motives-in-kabul-germany-told</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/294270/afghan-endgame-no-ulterior-motives-in-kabul-germany-told#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 19 Nov 11 04:51:56 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[qamar.zaman]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=294270</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[German foreign minister holds meetings with top civil and military leadership.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Germany and Pakistan on Friday called for a political settlement of the Afghanistan imbroglio ahead of a crucial gathering of world leaders in Bonn next month to seek a solution to the decade-old conflict. 


“We seek a political solution to the issue of Afghanistan as we know a military solution is not possible, but armed forces’ presence is necessary to protect political solution”, said German Foreign minister Dr Guido Westerwelle at a joint press briefing with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar held after a meeting at the foreign office.

The visit by the German foreign minister and interaction with country’s top civil and military leadership ahead of the December 5 Bonn conference, is meant to draw a roadmap for the Afghan endgame.

During the briefing, Khar spelt out Pakistan’s stance by making it clear that Islamabad was committed to peace and stability in the region and did not have any ulterior motive in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has no hidden agenda. We are committed to pursuing peace in Afghanistan and the region,” Khar said.

While appreciating Pakistan’s stance for not having any
hidden agenda, Westerwelle said both countries (Pakistan and Afghanistan) have to work together to fight the menace
of terrorism.

The visiting minister said that leaving Afghanistan without stability and peace would neither be in the interest of the region nor of the world. The international community, he added, is committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan as well.

Giving reference to his meeting with foreign minister Khar, he said that they discussed and agreed to the point that there should not be any vacuum after the withdrawal of Nato troops.

“The commitment of the German government and the international community is crystal clear: we will not forget Afghanistan and this region. We have learnt from past and prefer cooperation to confrontation”, Westerwelle said.

He also said that the world would remain engaged with Afghanistan and the region in terms of development and security. “Security and development are two faces of the same coin,” he added.

Responding to a question, Khar said that Pakistan should be provided with the space to play a positive role. “We are committed to following good relations with Afghanistan, and pursuing peace and stability in the region but the same signal should come from Kabul,” she added.

Meetings with Zardari, Kayani

Westerwelle also held meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari as well as Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

In his meeting with the COAS at the General Headquarters, issues related to the upcoming Bonn conference and the peace process in Afghanistan were discussed, according to an ISPR statement.

In his meeting with the German foreign minister, President Zardari said that time has come to transform the existing broad-based equation with Germany into a comprehensive and substantive partnership based on shared values of democracy, economic liberalism and common interests said a statement issued by the President house.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Karzai reportedly did not invite any delegation from Islamabad to the Loya Jirga</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/293332/rocket-hits-near-major-afghan-meeting-officials</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/293332/rocket-hits-near-major-afghan-meeting-officials#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 11 05:54:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zia.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=293332</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Karzai report­edly did not invite any delega­tion from Islama­bad to the Loya Jirga.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[It’s winters in Islamabad and Kabul, and the frost is manifest on their bilateral relationship.

Diplomatic channels between the neighbouring capitals are frozen ahead of a crucial conference next month in the German city of Bonn to decide the future of Afghanistan.

There isn’t any bilateral meeting planned between Pakistan and Afghanistan before the gathering in Germany early December, officials here told The Express Tribune on Thursday.

“It looks like there will be no consultations before that,” a foreign office official said. The Bonn conference is three weeks away.

From warm to cold

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul saw a remarkable improvement early this year when the two countries formed a high-level bilateral commission to settle disputes and come up with a joint strategy on the future of Afghanistan.

But the killing of former Afghan president and top peace broker Burhanuddin Rabbani in September this year triggered fresh tensions between them.

Kabul alleged that the attack by the Taliban was planned in Quetta with the help of elements from within Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Islamabad denied the allegations.

Snubbed at Loya Jirga

Sources said Afghan President Hamid Karzai did not invite any official or unofficial delegation from Pakistan to a Loya Jirga (grand council) of tribal leaders he inaugurated in Kabul on Wednesday.

Pakistan has been participating in all jirgas in Afghanistan in the past.

Wednesday’s jirga was held to evolve a consensus on the future of US military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a decision Pakistan would be keenly interested in.

A Pakhtun parliamentarian, who has been attending such gatherings in Afghanistan in the past, said Karzai and other Afghan officials were ‘frustrated’ with lack of clarity in Pakistan’s policies towards their country.

Spokesperson for the Foreign Office, however, attempted to play down the lack of communication with Afghanistan, saying the jirga was Kabul’s internal matter.

“Our ambassador will participate in the inaugural session,” Tehmina Janjua said, when contacted.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan visit: German FM to arrive on Thursday</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/292545/pakistan-visit-german-fm-to-arrive-on-thursday</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/292545/pakistan-visit-german-fm-to-arrive-on-thursday#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 11 04:46:05 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=292545</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Westerwelle’s trip is part of the effort to win Islamabad’s support in the Afghan endgame.]]>
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				<![CDATA[To ensure the success of the upcoming international conference on Afghanistan, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will be arriving in Islamabad on Thursday as part of efforts to win Pakistan’s support.


During his three-day trip, the German foreign minister will hold consultations with Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership on the Bonn Conference which seeks to draw up a roadmap for the Afghan endgame next month.

The conference scheduled for December 5 in the German city, will be attended by 1,000 delegates from 90 countries besides representatives of the UN and other international organisations. However, success of the much-talked-about moot on Afghanistan centres on Pakistan because of the influence its powerful security establishment is believed to have over the Afghan Taliban.

That is the main reason that the German foreign minister will not only meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani but also Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

“Germany is mindful that Pakistan has a crucial role to play in any future settlement of Afghanistan,” said a senior foreign ministry official.

The main item on the agenda of his visit is to garner Pakistan’s support for the Bonn conference, said the official, asking to remain anonymous.

Unlike the US, Germany understands Pakistan’s sensitivities and hence, has a more pragmatic approach towards Afghanistan, he added.

“Germany has always been more receptive to our position on Afghanistan,” the official pointed out.

Meanwhile, the German ambassador to Islamabad met with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday to finalise the agenda.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>An uneven road to Chicago</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/291251/an-uneven-road-to-chicago</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/291251/an-uneven-road-to-chicago#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 13 Nov 11 17:31:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tanvir.ahmad.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=291251</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan’s diplomacy would be tested in the coming months as the West regards it as a reluctant and unreliable partner]]>
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				<![CDATA[The best of strategic plans depend, for their success, on the outcome of tactical manoeuvres made to launch them in full force. The decade-old conflict that began with the American intervention in Afghanistan has entered a phase where the US-led international community, the immediate neighbours — Pakistan, Iran, the states of Central Asia — and the secondary neighbours —like India, Russia and China — are positioning themselves to ensure that the Afghan denouement remains compatible with their respective national interest. The matrix that no stakeholder can ignore is provided by western ambition to ensure a permanent strategic gain — and military presence — in a vast energy-rich and geopolitically vital swath of Asian landmass. If Afghanistan is the hub of ‘The New Great Game’, the West should be in the driving seat by virtue of its physical possession but, in reality, the last decade has witnessed dispersal of power not seen since the end of World War II.

China, an economic superpower; Russia, resurgent under Vladimir Putin; and India, basking alike in economic success and American support, are writing themselves into the script for a future regional order. Despite groaning under the crippling cost of the global war on terror, as well as its own colossal misrule, Pakistan, a nuclear weapon state with more than half a million men under arms, would not give up its core interests.

Washington and its Nato allies have so far pursued a policy of militarily degrading the Taliban while carrying out limited probes to identify interlocutors from their ranks for a peace process, the outcome of which is predetermined. The central motive is the withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014 and establishment of military bases in Afghanistan. The plan is being refined and made globally acceptable through a carefully choreographed sequence of conferences that began with Nato’s Lisbon Conference and would end with the Nato summit in Chicago (Spring of 2012) with the essential building blocks provided by the Istanbul Conference that has recently taken place and the second Bonn Conference scheduled for early December. The uncertainty about the Taliban response to the core western objectives and the inflexibility of western aims clearly entail the risk that the plan may not make linear progress. The Istanbul Conference revealed differences on the modalities of Afghan reconciliation as well as on the proposed regional architecture of peace and security — the western-backed Istanbul ‘mechanism’. Washington’s strong support for a New Silk Route connecting Central and South Asia under that security mechanism was seen by many states, including China, Russia and Iran as a thinly disguised project of American dominance and Nato’s perennial presence in a contested area. The Istanbul meeting has not offered a template for reconciling the geopolitical and geoeconomic interests of regional states. The difference in the perspectives on the future of the region may lead to greater divergence in the current policies of concerned states. The region may face a long period of instability if the much larger Bonn Conference (90 states plus 15 international organisations) does not come up with a fair solution to ethnic and ideological divisions in Afghanistan as well as the strategic rivalries of major powers and if the Chicago Nato Summit remains entrenched in a hegemonic posture.

The western plan considers Afghanistan and Pakistan as the ‘co-hub’ of the great design. Pakistan’s diplomacy would be sorely tested in the coming months as the West regards it as a reluctant and unreliable partner. Pakistan is suspected of working for a larger share of power for an ethno-religious group (Taliban-Pashtun) than the West would like. It is also perceived as the only obstacle in linking the American-backed New Silk Route and the India-backed South Silk Route. This is an oversimplification, a kind of typecasting. At the end of the day, Pakistan would accept any government freely chosen by the Afghans and the Pakistani hiatus in the merger of the silk routes is not a theological dogma. The heart of the matter is the deployment of foreign military and economic power in the region, an issue on which Pakistan should hold urgent consultations with all the major stakeholders, including India.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Regional countries should play supportive role in Afghanistan: Khar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/286011/regional-countries-should-play-supportive-role-in-afghanistan-khar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/286011/regional-countries-should-play-supportive-role-in-afghanistan-khar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 01 Nov 11 10:03:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=286011</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Khar says Pakistan to support all initiatives aimed at protecting and promoting sovereignty of Afghanistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Tuesday that neighbouring countries should only have a supportive role in ensuring peace, security and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and the Istanbul Regional Conference would help further this objective.

Speaking with APP in Istanbul, Khar said the conference was being attended by immediate and extended neighbours and other countries with stakes in Afghanistan.

The foreign minister said the conference would lead to different peace processes, including the Bonn Conference to be held next month and the Chicago conference.

She said the conference will give confidence to Afghanistan that all important players were supporting its initiatives for peace and stability.

Khar said Pakistan would support all initiatives aimed at protecting and promoting sovereignty of Afghanistan.

Commenting on proposals being floated by some countries aimed at creating a new security structure in the region regarding Afghanistan, Hina Rabbani Khar pointed out that there was no dearth of mechanisms in the region.

“We have so many mechanisms including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in which Pakistan has an observer’s status, SAARC and ECO,” she added.

She said instead of proposing new mechanisms, efforts should be made towards the implementation of existing mechanisms for peace, security and development in the region.

Khar said any new structure would not benefit Afghanistan and any process for the solution of the Afghan problem should be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.

The foreign minister said it should be for the Afghans themselves to decide their future. Being an important neighbour, Pakistan would support its efforts in this regard, she added.

Replying to a question about the inclusion of India in the conference, Khar said all countries that can help promote peace in Afghanistan are welcome and Pakistan has no problem with any country.

(Read: Pakistan, India and Afghanistan)

She said, “Pakistan is an important and responsible state committed to peace and security in Afghanistan.”

About the inclusion of Afghan resistance forces in the peace process, she said it is for the Afghan people and the government to decide on this issue.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan and the Silk Road project</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/284064/pakistan-and-the-silk-road-project</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/284064/pakistan-and-the-silk-road-project#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 11 17:27:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=284064</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[One can say with some certainty, the project will benefit Pakistan through co-dependencies with its neighbours.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Leaders from 12 nations are meeting in Istanbul on November 2 to plan a stable and independent Afghanistan after American withdrawal. Countries who will discuss regional economic cooperation in this context are: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, USA and the United Kingdom. This will be a prelude to the Bonn Conference, where delegations from 90 countries will discuss post-2014 developments in the region.

Some commentators in Pakistan are looking at this development as a strategy to cut China off from Central Asia and bring the United States into the region ‘by other means’. Pakistan therefore is being presented as a victim of an either/or situation: join the Northern Silk Road Project and ditch China or keep out of the project and prove its strategic loyalty to China who is presumed to be an outsider opposed to the project. This is a wrong assumption because China is very much there in Central Asia and any Silk Road Project will redound to its regional advantage. The project may at best be negatively described as a plan to diversify the rapidly developing economic domination of China in the region.

A former foreign secretary was right when he said on these pages: “It would be in Pakistan’s interest to become a partner in any regional arrangement, better sooner than later”. China has economic presence in Afghanistan after buying copper deposits in Central Afghanistan and winning the contract to prospect for oil along the Amy Darya River in Northern Afghanistan. It has completed the project of constructing an important ‘gateway’ to Central Asia — of which China is a part — at Gwadar in Pakistan. It can be said that it was Pakistan in tandem with China who thought of the Central Asian connection in the early 1990s. It is perhaps in answer to this move that America began researching the Northern Silk Road project in 2004. But organisations like the World Bank were thinking of the Pakistan-China plan when they took notice of it. In October 2008, an official of the World Bank in Islamabad said the bank was ready to lend Pakistan $2.25 billion for a trade and energy corridor focusing mostly on Gwadar Port and its land link with China: “The trade and energy corridor would serve as a gateway for commerce and transport between South Asia, Central Asia, China and the Gulf countries. Pakistan will set up a big oil terminal at Gwadar together with refineries, with Chinese help, because most of the oil will be transported to China from there.”

The Americans were already moving ahead with research. Scholars from 16 countries gathered in Kabul in 2006 at the First Kabul Conference on Partnership, Trade and Development in Greater Central Asia. Also present were the Kazakhstan Institute, the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute of Johns Hopkins University, foreign minister of Kazakhstan, and the then US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia.

Pakistan is negotiating a Turkmen gas pipeline project through Afghanistan, which will serve both India and Pakistan, but China, beginning late on the project, has already got the Turkmen gas through one of the longest gas pipelines going to China. China is also the dominant buyer of Kazakhstan’s natural resources. Meanwhile, Pakistan has expressed readiness to allow India to take its exports to Afghanistan through a land route, a pledge in line with the ‘connectivity’ agreements signed by Pakistan as a member of Saarc. India and Bangladesh recently already agreed to allow a Myanmar gas pipeline to pass through Bangladesh to India.

Contrary to the myth of America-grabs-oil-through-invasion, the Iraqi oil contracts have gone to China and India. The latest ‘scandal’ of giving China the contract to dig for oil in Northern Afghanistan seems to be a case of America making a silent deal with China over Afghanistan in return for support to the Northern Silk Road Project. One can say with some certainty that the project will benefit Pakistan through the development of co-dependencies with its neighbours. No doubt, Islamabad will move after consulting with China. By the same token, Pakistan becomes an important participant at Istanbul.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>The Istanbul conference: Washington’s vision for the region</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/283828/the-istanbul-conference-washington%e2%80%99s-vision-for-the-region</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/283828/the-istanbul-conference-washington%e2%80%99s-vision-for-the-region#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 11 04:23:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Rana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=283828</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Economic integration envisaged, but Pakistan hesitant to grant India access to Central Asia.]]>
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				<![CDATA[As key world and regional players gear up to meet in Istanbul to push forward a Washington-backed regional integration plan for an ‘economically stable Afghanistan’, Pakistan stands at a crossroads. The question Islamabad is grappling with is whether it’s time to become a partner, or whether it should maintain its historical position – keep India away from resource-rich Central Asia.


As part of a broader economic integration strategy, Washington is selling the “New Silk Roads” concept- a network of roads and rails to connect Far East Asia and South Asia with Central Asia and then the West.

Leaders from 12 nations are to meet in Istanbul on November 2 with the stated objective of persuading regional players to commit to a stable and independent Afghanistan and to discuss regional economic cooperation. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, USA and United Kingdom are to attend.

Political pundits have termed the Istanbul Conference a prelude to the Bonn Conference, where delegations from 90 countries are expected to formulate a practical roadmap for 2014 – the year the US has said it will withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

Defence, economic and geostrategic experts say the broader objective of the strategy is to consolidate gains made in Afghanistan and strengthen the US grip on Central Asian resources to be used either by Americans or preferred partners like India. One of the objectives is to create hurdles in energy-hungry China’s bid to get unrestricted access to Central Asian resources, they add. Pakistan is now left with the choice of either aligning themselves more closely with China, or preferring to work with the New Silk Roads as the dichotomy grows stronger.

According to the United States Institute of Peace,  a Congress-funded think tank, there are hopes that the New Silk Roads concept of an integrated trade and transportation network through Afghanistan can bring regional players and interlocutors together and attract new sources of investment.

Long time coming

A senior government functionary said that the US has been working on the proposal for a longer time. He said that the reorganisation of the US State Department in 2004 when it merged its Central Asia and South Asia desks was an important step towards this direction.  Robin Raphael, former US ambassador to Pakistan on civilian assistance, has been assigned the New Silk Roads project.

Pakistan’s options

“Americans want to consolidate gains in Afghanistan whether Pakistan readily becomes partner to the new concept or not,” said Tanvir Ahmed Khan, former secretary of foreign affairs. On the other hand, Washington will be displeased if Pakistan refuses to give India access to Afghanistan, fearing the possibility of an alternative India-Iran nexus, envisaged by New Delhi as the “North silk route”.  Khan maintains that it would be in Pakistan’s interest to become partner in any regional arrangement, better sooner than later.

A senior official of the foreign office, however, took a cautious line on whether Islamabad would support the initiative. Without commenting on the New Silk Roads, the official said: “Regional connectivity is a centuries-old concept and Pakistan would appreciate any effort towards that objective”.

Another official said that Pakistan wanted a greater role in economic development of Afghanistan, and did not want caught in the uncomfortable position of being isolated while sandwiched between India and Afghanistan.

But for the US, he added, the New Silk Roads is an integral part of a three-pronged strategy designed to exit and integrate post-US Afghanistan with the rest of the region. Keeping this in mind, Pakistan will have to mend its ways and make up its mind in the next two years, he said.

Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also spoke on the matter hesitantly, saying “Pakistan will have to see both the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a partner in the New Silk Roads concept,” he added.

Pros and cons

The obvious advantage is that regional economic integration would bring economic benefits – but then, there’s the issue of Indian involvement and New Delhi’s subsequent access to Central Asia, he added. Qureshi said that the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement was signed on the condition of excluding India from the treaty.  However, Tanvir Khan said Pakistan will ultimately have to give India access. He was of the view that eventually, even China will have to be taken on board.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Khar meets Munter: US-Pak ties inch towards normalcy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/275861/khar-meets-munter-us-pak-ties-inch-towards-normalcy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/275861/khar-meets-munter-us-pak-ties-inch-towards-normalcy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 17 Oct 11 13:30:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=275861</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Khar, Munter both say US and Pakistan should make the most out of Hillary Clinton's upcoming visit.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar vowed to bolster Pak-US ties, Express 24/7 reported on Monday.

Both the officials said that the two countries should make the most out of the forthcoming visit to Pakistan by the US Secretary of State.

(Read: “Improving relations: Pak-US tensions ease through ‘quiet diplomacy’”)

Munter called on Khar at the foreign office in Islamabad today.

Both dignitaries discussed details of the forthcoming visit of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to Pakistan.

Sources said that the issues related to regional security and peace process in Afghanistan also came under discussion among the two leaders.

Agendas of the Istanbul and Bonn conferences were also discussed during the meeting.

Both the leaders acknowledged that Clinton’s visit should ease tension between Pakistan and the United States.

As reported earlier, Munter met with Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to convey an ‘important message’ from the Obama administration concerning the Haqqani network.

(Read: “US-Pakistan relations: Munter-Kayani meeting served to cool rhetoric”)

The meeting was believed to have played a key role in cooling the rhetoric between the two sides following weeks of fiery statements on one of the most influential Afghan Taliban allied insurgent groups.

US officials confirmed the meeting, saying Ambassador Munter’s message from Washington was very clear: “The US wants to remain engaged with Pakistan.”

Correcetion: Hillary Clinton is the US Secretary for State, not Foreign Secretary. The error is regretted.]]>
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			<title>At the UN: US insists Pakistan get tough on Haqqanis</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255511/in-lengthy-talks-us-presses-pakistan-on-haqqanis</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255511/in-lengthy-talks-us-presses-pakistan-on-haqqanis#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 20 Sep 11 03:00:54 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[huma.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=255511</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Meeting between Clinton and Khar dominated by discussion of the militant group’s alleged ties to Islamabad.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The United States appears to be losing its patience with what many in Washington view as Pakistan’s ‘double game’ on Afghanistan.


A three-and-a-half hour meeting between Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reportedly dominated by discussions over the Haqqani network, with the US insisting that Pakistan take action against the group of militants that operates on both sides of the Durand Line.

Clinton and Khar met in New York ahead of the United Nations General Assembly session. US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani were also present.

The attack on the US embassy in Kabul appears to have been the impetus for the shift in tone from Washington. US officials said that the Kabul attack changed “the nature of the meeting.” A senior US State Department official said that the Haqqani network was the first and last thing that was discussed in the meeting.

A statement released by the Foreign Office in Islamabad described the meeting as being characterised by ‘candour’, though it made no mention of the Haqqani network or even any specific terrorist attack, though it spoke of both sides’ need to cooperate in the war on terror.

While no commitment was given by the Pakistani side, a senior US State Department official said that the Pakistani delegation understood Washington’s concerns.

However, senior Pakistani officials said that the foreign minister said Pakistan strongly condemned the Kabul attacks, reiterating that Pakistan too was a victim of terrorism.

A senior Pakistani official, when pressed on the Haqqani network, did not answer the question directly. However he mentioned that there were also attacks on Pakistan that were being carried out by insurgents based across the border, in Afghanistan.

The meeting comes at a time when relations between Pakistan and the United States have been strained again after the attack in Kabul last week near the US embassy and NATO headquarters.

Khar also raised the subject of anti-American sentiment in the country, and according to senior US State Department officials, said that people in Pakistan believe that the United States does not do anything for them, apparently reinforcing Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s decision to use the US’ own refrain of ‘do more’ in talks with Washington.

US officials said that while they needed to work on the United States’ image in Pakistan, they reminded the Pakistani delegation of initiatives that they had taken for the Pakistani people – including their assistance during last year’s epic floods.

Other topics that were reportedly discussed in the meeting included the Istanbul and Bonn conferences, Afghanistan reconciliation process and the role of Pakistan and the US in what the officials said should be an Afghan-led initiative. Khar will be addressing the UN General Assembly session later this week.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Bonn conference on Afghanistan: German ambassador invites Khar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/252661/bonn-conference-on-afghanistan-german-ambassador-invites-khar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/252661/bonn-conference-on-afghanistan-german-ambassador-invites-khar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 11 07:52:50 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=252661</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Khar informed ambassador that Pakistan was committed to a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Pakistan Dr Michael Koch called on Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday and extended her an invitation to attend the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, scheduled to be held in Bonn, Germany, on December 5, 2011.

Khar informed the ambassador that Pakistan was committed to a stable and peaceful Afghanistan and would continue to play its role to achieve this objective. She also said that stability and development of the region were Pakistan’s priorities and that the country strongly believed in the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and undiminished security for all states of the region, said a press release issued by the foreign ministry spokesperson.

Khar also highlighted Pakistan’s support for the Afghan reconciliation process. She also noted that any initiative undertaken by the international community for the stability, peace and security of Afghanistan, should have regional ownership.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan and Afghanistan reconciliation — V</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/245324/pakistan-and-afghanistan-reconciliation-%e2%80%94-v</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/245324/pakistan-and-afghanistan-reconciliation-%e2%80%94-v#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Sep 11 17:51:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[najmuddin.a.shaikh]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=245324</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan's interest lie in a stable Afghanistan with balanced ethnic structure, and Taliban need to renounce al Qaeda.]]>
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				<![CDATA[If we support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation and if we are part of the solution and not part of the problem, then it is logical for the Afghans to expect us to use our influence with the Taliban to persuade them not only to negotiate, but also to adopt a stance in the negotiations that would lead to peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Who should we talk to? To date we have denied, or at least been ambivalent about, the existence of a Taliban shura on our soil but the fact remains that the Taliban presence in Balochistan — be it in the refugee camps along the border, in Chaman or the Kharotabad and Pashtunabad areas of Quetta — is well-established. (That this presence has contributed to the sectarian and ethnic strife and to upsetting the demographic balance in Balochistan is also indubitable). These are the people we have to address.

I think we should be clear in our own mind about the degree of influence we do have. I recall that a Taliban movement in power in Kandahar and Kabul, but largely beholden to us, refused to listen to our advice on the Bamiyan status and refused point-blank to hand over the Pakistani sectarian extremists — like Riaz Basra — who had taken or been given shelter in Afghanistan. There are allegations that this happened because the Taliban felt that those who made the demand were not those who determined Pakistan’s policy on Afghanistan or on relations with the Taliban.

Whatever be the truth, now we must be clear about what levers we have and what levers all centres of power in Pakistan are agreed should be used. Bearing these caveats in mind, what should we tell such of the Taliban as we are able to influence?

First, we should be clear that we cannot and must not maintain that we have a right to determine the nature or composition of the government or administrative structure that emerges from the reconciliation process. We may suggest an interest in seeing an ethnically balanced structure, not because we believe this is owed to the much larger number of Pushtuns living on the Pakistan side of the border but because all parties are aware that it was the exclusion of the Pashtuns from the Bonn Conference that fuelled the insurgency and the resurrection of the Taliban.

By the same token, we must counsel the Taliban that demanding more than this would be detrimental to the goal we support — a stable and united Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours. This is so not only because it is just but also because bitter experience has taught us that if the ethnic balance is not maintained, other ethnic groups will look for and find support from Afghanistan’s other neighbours and near neighbours. The result then would be continuing strife, the fallout of which Pakistan can no longer sustain.

Second, we are sympathetic to the insurgent demand for the withdrawal of all foreign troops and for renouncing any agreements on granting bases. For the moment, however, it appears that the Karzai administration is intent on concluding such an agreement to prolong the stay of the Americans after 2014 when all other Nato forces will withdraw. It would seem that such demands would be more easily met in the present condition when reconciliation has been achieved. The insurgents can make it a condition for reconciliation that withdrawal will be completed and bases vacated within a specified period after reconciliation.

Third, we must convince the Taliban that while renouncing al Qaeda may serve as a negotiating point, they should know that this is what Pakistan, in the interest of its own security, also desires. Pakistan, as it fights extremism within its own borders, would not want al Qaeda to have a safe haven in a reconciled Afghanistan.

We must make it clear that willingly, or unwillingly, Pakistan has been the external sanctuary and conduit of support without which no insurgency has survived in recent times. Pakistan has paid a heavy price. Day after day, suicide bomber attacks on civilian and military targets continue at a rate which rivals and many times exceeds the number of such attacks in Afghanistan. These are attributable to the Afghan situation as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on July 28. The realisation has now grown that the consequences for Pakistan’s internal security have been extremely adverse and can no longer be sustained. While it is for the insurgents to work out solutions with their Afghan partners, they cannot expect indefinite sanctuary.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan and Afghan reconciliation — II</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241785/pakistan-and-afghan-reconciliation-%e2%80%94-ii</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/241785/pakistan-and-afghan-reconciliation-%e2%80%94-ii#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 11 17:14:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[najmuddin.a.shaikh]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Based on press reports, my own estimate is that about 25,000 Americans will remain at Afghan bases.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Continuing from my previous piece, third, it seems that before the Bonn Conference in December and, perhaps, even before the meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbours and near neighbours in Istanbul, in November, the Karzai administration will conclude a strategic partnership. According to Marc Grossman, 85 per cent of the work on the document has been completed. Dafdar Rangin Spanta, Afghanistan’s national security adviser has, in an interview with the Telegraph, said that Afghanistan had proposed an agreement for 10 years and that the Americans would not have independent bases but would be guests at Afghan-manned bases. He also said that for the training mission, thousands would be needed and that the Americans would also provide air support for Afghan operations. Based on earlier press reports, my own estimate is that there will be about 25,000 Americans at bases in Bagram, Shindad, Kandahar, Mazar and Jalalabad. It is my further conjecture that while the Americans may withdraw earlier than the 10 years, from these bases — in the event of a reconciliation — they will try very hard to retain a presence at Bagram, the listening post for Central Asia.

The Telegraph report says that Iran will publicly and Pakistan will privately object to this extended American stay. Whether this reflected Spanta’s view or the correspondent’s own assessment is not known. Speculation about Pakistan’s reservations may flow from reports appearing earlier that in top-level Pakistan-Afghan meetings, Pakistan had proposed to Afghanistan that it should abandon the alliance with the United States and look to China and Pakistan instead for assistance. This report had been unconvincingly denied in Pakistan and, as far as I know, it had elicited no comment from China but received a great deal of play in Afghanistan.

According to the report, the Russian ambassador in Kabul has already made his country’s objections known, arguing that Afghanistan needs development assistance not military bases. It is apparent that while the insurgency continues, the Karzai administration will feel, despite the reservations of its immediate or far neighbours, that it has no choice but to enter into some such agreement with the Americans. They will argue that by limiting the term to 10 years and by not giving the Americans independent bases, they have done as much as they could to satisfy the nationalist fervour of their own people and to allay the apprehensions of their neighbours. Were they to turn down the agreement, the Americans and Nato would still withdraw by 2014, leading to the collapse of the present regime, a drastic cut in foreign aid, a Taliban offensive to take over and then the onset of civil war as the ethnic minorities resisted Talibanisation. Pakistan has to understand that Afghanistan will enter into this agreement. Opposing it will only add another layer of distrust to Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, particularly when there is no viable alternative on offer. It cannot afford the collapse of the Karzai administration. Pakistan, of course, will recognise that in seeking a prolonged military presence in Afghanistan, the American objective is not only to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for al Qaeda or al Qaeda-minded groups, but also to “disrupt and dismantle al Qaeda and its support networks that it believes exist in Pakistan”.

Pakistan can be sure therefore that, failing successful reconciliation or action on Pakistan’s own part, the bases in Jalalabad and other Afghan cities will be used to maintain the ongoing barrage of drone attacks on the hideouts in Pakistan of al Qaeda or groups such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and the Haqqani network, which they believe support and provide safe havens to these militants and to attack the routes by which they enter into the famous P2K (Paktia, Paktika and Khost, the Afghan provinces which in addition to North Waziristan in Pakistan are regarded as the stronghold of the Haqqani network). But Pakistan should also calculate that while it will be more difficult, the Americans, in the absence of Afghan bases, will negotiate new usage rights at the base they currently operate in Kyrgyzstan and perhaps gain access to the base in Tajikistan (where the Indians had stationed aircraft) to continue these attacks. They may become somewhat less effective since the longer flying time may make it difficult for the drones to hover over the targets for long enough and targeting may therefore become less accurate but it should be regarded as certain that the American campaign against al Qaeda safe havens will not stop.

(To be continued)

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2011.]]>
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