Pakistan has always advocated for peace
KARACHI: As situations rapidly change in Pakistan’s backyard, the country’s geostrategic shift is prone to multiple arguments. CPEC analysts largely claim that the rapid shift in Pakistan’s geostrategic approach can be attributed to its role in Afghan Peace Process.
Pakistan has always advocated for peace. And since both Pakistan and Afghanistan have shared volatile and hostile relations in the past, a negotiated settlement in the form of an intra-Afghan dialogue is viable for all stakeholders to maintain peace in the region. Moreover, by facilitating dialogues between the Afghan Taliban and the US, Pakistan has moved ahead in fostering its positive image that was marred by a series of trust deficits in the past and revitalised its ties with the US.
Peace in Afghanistan is fundamental for the progression of CPEC that aims to forge regional connectivity and economic growth in these testing times. Therefore, at this point, Pakistan must rectify the loopholes in its foreign policy. It needs to realise that in its efforts to balance its ties with the US it has lost significant focus on CPEC, which seems to be the finest opportunity to strengthen and revive the economy. Analysts have also argued that Pakistan has not played its “Afghanistan card” effectively to strategically harness support for its narrative on Kashmir. However, with the looming and lethal sword of FATF, the options for Pakistan are highly limited in this regard.
Pakistan needs to review the changing geopolitical and geo-economic landscape with a sense of foresight and out-of-the-box leadership. This means that Pakistan needs to evaluate its relationship with the US and China under its respective lens. By moving closer to the US, it cannot afford a standstill with China given the fact that its ties with the latter are forged under different geo-strategic, geo-political, and geo-economic contexts.
Hadia Mukhtar
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2020.
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