‘Persistent talks’: Zehra says Pakistan is paying for its own bad decisions

Naseem Zehra said Afghanistan’s stability is not only important for us, but is essential for the region’s stability

ISLAMABAD:

This is our payback period for all the bad decisions we have taken in the past, Nasim Zehra an expert on national security said in a session discussing Pakistan’s relation with Afghanistan and the Taliban.

Zehra stressed that Islamabad needs to understand that Afghanistan is in the middle of Pakistan’s dreams of being an economic corridor. “Afghanistan’s stability is not only important for us, but is essential for the region’s stability,” she said.

In the same vein, Riaz Mohammad Khan, Pakistan’s ex-foreign secretary, said there was a lack of trust between the Afghan and Pakistani governments, and the only way to overcome the deficit was to be open to each other in what role each of them could play to bring Taliban to agree to their terms.

“There needs to be openness about what we can do and what we cannot do,” he said.

Khan said that ungoverned places in Afghanistan have left our policies in shambles. “Zarb-e-Azb started at a time when the NATO forces had withdrawn from Afghanistan. With NATO forces around, the military operation could have created a greater impact”.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2016.