Kabul’s new preconditions

Petulance is increasingly becoming a fixture of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s politics. And it is not endearing him to anyone in Pakistan. In published remarks, the Afghan leader has for the first time said that his country would not be a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as long as his country is not given transit trade access to India’s Attari region via Pakistan’s Wagah border. Ghani’s threat to block Pakistan’s access to Central Asia is hardly a friendly gesture and needs to be taken up immediately by Islamabad along with other measures taken by Kabul, including a recent ban on Pakistani trucks. The latest remarks by Ghani were made at a gathering at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi within days of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s meetings in India.

Let us see for how long Ghani can continue his bluster. Beijing is unlikely to be amused by a blockade of the CPEC path to Central Asia. Whatever Ghani says CPEC offers a bonanza of opportunities for Kabul and it would be detrimental in the long run to miss out on any of these.

Some serious explanations would also be expected from Afghanistan by peace-building representatives who attended last week’s meetings in Oman. Whether or not the Trump administration’s South Asia strategy serves as a “game changer” in the region, the Afghan president risks making a huge mistake by glossing over the role of Pakistan — and singling it out for all the ills in his country.

India unfortunately does not hold the key to the peace process — no matter what the new South Asia policy of the US says. Rather than reassure Pakistan as to the motive of his country’s growing defence cooperation with India, Kabul ought to be more upfront about its engagements with Delhi. At least, Ghani is prepared to accept that his country does not want a Pakistan-managed peace process with the Taliban.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2017.

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