The endgame: Afghan opposition says peace hinges on Pakistan
While the Afghan endgame may be a difficult proposition for the Americans and their western allies to handle but for many Afghan leaders the solution is simple — they believe that the road to peace in Kabul is through Islamabad.
According to two influential Afghan political figures – one heading the main opposition alliance and the other representing the Afghan High Peace Council – Pakistan still controls the Taliban.
“The Americans can’t do it, it is only Pakistan which can persuade the Taliban and the Haqqanis to come to the negotiating table,” argued Ahmed Zia Massoud, who heads the main opposition alliance called the Afghan National Front (ANF).
He is also the younger brother of the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, the prominent leader of the Northern Alliance, which fought against both the former Soviet Union and the Taliban rule.
Talking exclusively to The Express Tribune at Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, Massoud said efforts to reach out to the Taliban would remain futile unless Pakistan was part of the process.
His remarks indicate the widely-held perception in Kabul that the Taliban will make peace only if Pakistan asks them to do so. This view was also endorsed by a senior member of the Afghan High Peace Council — a forum mandated to hold direct negotiations with the Taliban.
“Pakistan always plays politics, we know Taliban are still in their (Pakistan’s) control,” said Maulvi Qayamuddin Kashaf, who lived in Peshawar for 20 years during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Kashaf – who is the senior-most figure of the Peace Council after its chief Salahuddin Rabbani – met Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf along with other leaders in Karzai’s presidential palace to seek his government’s help in reaching out to top Taliban leaders.
Pakistan is considered crucial to push for a peaceful transition in post-2014 Afghanistan when most of the US-led international forces leave the country.
‘Misconceptions’
However, a senior security official quashed the impression that Islamabad holds any leverage on the Taliban.
“This is a misperception. We have our stated policy that we will support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process,” said the official insisting that the world must trust Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq said things had changed in recent years over “our role despite certain misperceptions”.
He told The Express Tribune that Islamabad was willing to bury the past and is looking forward to working with all Afghan groups.
“The very idea of shifting our embassy in an area populated by Uzbeks and Tajiks is to send out a clear message that we have no favourites in Afghanistan,” he claimed.
These efforts appear to make headway as many Northern Alliance leaders attended a ceremony when Prime Minister Ashraf inaugurated the new premises of Pakistan’s Embassy in Karte Parwan during his recent trip to Kabul.
Meanwhile, ANF leader Ahmed Zia Massoud also said they were ready to work with Pakistan. “We share a long border and no country can substitute the role of Pakistan,” he stated referring to apprehensions in Islamabad that the Afghan soil might be used by India against Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (31)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@Hassan:
yeah mr. Hassan wht you forget is that Pakistan has to think of its interest.There are 50 consulates of India in Afghanistan. Such responses cannot be tolerated by Pakistan.
Trust me they are not there to give visas to India.
Afghan officials said they believe more than 300 rockets were fired by the Pakistan army stationed near the border, he said. The Pakistani military shelled Afghanistan several times in the past four months. There are militant strongholds on both sides of the border''
Wrong, wrong, absolutely wrong.Pakistan army leadership never committed such act. Under the order of our military and civilian leadership our armed forces always followed the insurgents who after committing a heinous crime in public escaped to Afghan safe havens happened across the border in Kunnar and Noristan,in Afghanistan.
Cross border attacks is a serious matter of the the day, innocent people,including children and women are being killed ,it must be resolved on priority bases .
By diplomacy and power it can be overcome,Three countries, namely United Kingdom Pakistan and Afghanistan, have unique wisdom and enough power,but I am afraid they are still fail to control the situation.
According to my considered opinion,there is a hypocrisy underway which has become stumbling block in the way of success.
Pakistan have done more,countless sacrifices has been offered for In spite of all they looks not ready to accept their own responsibilities.
Self interests is usually the aim of every state,yet Pakistan,seem to be continuously shooting itself in the foot.
Kalchakra, please come to the present.To escape the
nowthe easiest thing is to go too far away; in dreams ofcourse.Independence has been pined with comprehensive solution of Afghanistan. 2014 is far from.....................any time big bang happened.
we should support northern alliance. as they will also support the permanent border between af-pak. and without making durand line a perfect border we can't have peace in these two countries.
@123: Following your logic, Pakistan should always be indebted to the US as the US has done a lot for Pakistan including giving billions of dollars. People appreciate your good deeds, but that doesn't give you the right to take them for granted or do whatever you want to do.
If the Americans with their might couldn't influence Vietnam, Iran, or Afghanistan, what do you think Pakistan can achieve? Nepal, the only Hindu country not long ago, is not being run by the wishes of the Indians.
So, Pakistan shouldn't worry about controlling the Afghans or the Kashmiris from India. Instead, it should let them mind their own business, and focus on its (Pakistan's) own internal affairs, economy, for example.
It is true that the road to peace goes through our country ........ but who holds the real reigns, political leadership or the establishment????????
@Donku:
Thats the point. They used this country to stay when their own land needed them. We accepted millions of their people to live in Pakistan. That affected our businesses, our cities, our culture. It increased crimes in some places.
And they still got this big mouth to bad mouth us!
People who read history know that Pakistan's full blown support for Taliban came after their spontaneous emergence and not having found another player to back. This all happened years after Iran, Russia and China had been supporting their favorite groups and wrecking havoc throughout Afghanistan. It would only be fair to ask Pakistan to pull out when all other powers pull out too. Let me just say that Afghanistan wouldn't be in this mess if Afghanis were peaceful people. For centuries in the past have they invaded foreign lands and now they suffer from warrior syndrome and civil war. Payback.
Are we going to commit suicide as a Nation.Its the time to support Afghanistan for peace.Look if till 2014 there is no settlement in Afghanistan,then there will be(God Forbids) a Huge civil war and You will forget 1990 civil war.This time there will be 50 Lac refugees coming to Pakistan.Are we ready for that??? If we r not ready for that, Then why we don't come up with a clear policy on Afghanistan.Are we willing to see Taliban govt there or a Democratic govt.If we want to see taliban ruling Afghanistan then why not Pakistan.Thats the hypocracy we have as a Nation.
@Khurram: It is your lack of understanding of the current Afghan conflict. The issue is not that simple as you have tried to depict particularly when you can see that there are more than 10 players in the Afghan arena with a wide ranging diversity of national interests. Criticizing establishment has become a fashion of the day.
@123
whats the point??? Hamid karzai, also stayed in pakistan for about a decade during the Soviet invasion.
"The endgame: Afghan opposition says peace hinges on Pakistan" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Real headlines:"The endgame: Afghan opposition says violence and civil war hinges on Pakistan"
Not only Afghanistan, by the Grace of Allah, a day shall come when no country on earth will be able to move an inch without Pakistan's permission. It has been foretold.
What ever the outcome few things are certain- Afghanistan will be chaotic and very violent; and, Pakistan will have to bear the brunt of that chaos. Not only that, Pakistan will be blamed by NATO for ruining the Afghan mission eventually and will be isolated and even sanctioned by NATO countries, except of course Turkey.
Past Pakistani actions have made sure this will happen.
http://peddarowdy.wordpress.com
Why does Pakistan interfere in Afghanistan but objects when US raises the Balochistan issue?
@syed:
All money and weapons were showered by USA and KSA for Afghanistan thru ISI. What did Pakistan do other then inflicting pains by death and destruction in the neighborhood?
Pakistan is doing China's bidding in Afghanistan by further drawing the US into this war and destroying its economy.
Why was Maulvi Kashaf in Peshawar for 20 years?
Pakistan and its people is the only country who help Afghnistan and it people this newly formed goverment needs to not forget past how pakistan been helping afgnistan, they
Pakistan controls the Talibans and the Talibans are killing Pakistanis . . . Am I missing something here?
why why we have milk those afgan leaders who bite's us back,what gonna happen they will give india to settle there base in there land.
This is a known fact. Every nation acts in its own interest & Pakistan also controls Afghanistan. The Afghans always dislike us which is why they did not recognize Pakistan during independence. Also they don't recognize Durand line. They are more closer to Indians, despite pakistan being a islamic republic which is why we can't allow them off the hook. A Government favorable to us can only materialize through Afghan Taliban & Haqqani's.
Afghanistan will end up attacking Pakistan. We won't learn this easy.
The world wants Pakistan to have no role in a post-war Afghanistan, while Pakistan itself seeks to return to the per-war conditions when we more or less controlled the country through the Taliban. Neither of these extremes are possible and all parties will have to compromise to bring an end to the Afghan War.
How typical of the Afghanis to blame their problems on others instead of taking ownership of their own internal issues. We all know that even n the best of times, various Afghani groups and ethnicities fight among themselves. What Pakistan needs to do is work to build a big fence or wall in addition to mining the Pakistan - Afghanistan border so that the movement of Afghanis into Pakistan will be restricted. No nation has suffered more due to the fighting in Afghanistan than Pakistan.
Throughout our short history as a nation our establishment has always played the role of a Troublemaker rather than a Peacemaker.
It's a start, they're getting it through their heads. That Massoud character realizes that Afghanistan has to stop lending itself out to anti-Pakistan forces. However, they're misinformed in that the Taliban don't listen to anybody. They've laid out their peace terms which include an intra-Afghan solution. That means no foreign troops, no Pakistan, no regional solution. Only the Afghans can make this work between themselves.