Afghan acronyms

On Monday 25th, the Pak-Afghan Track-II initiative welcomed a commitment to bring an end to the circular ‘blame game’

Afghanistan, especially those tiny enclaves engaged however peripherally with a nascent peace process, is littered with acronyms. Great piles of letters that spell nothing and seem to achieve even less beyond perpetuating the think-tank chat circuit. On Monday 25^th of this month, the Pak-Afghan Track-II initiative welcomed — these things are always welcomed — the commitment by the two countries to bring an end to the circular ‘blame game’ and implored spokespersons for both sides to refrain from giving ‘knee-jerk’ reactions every time the artillery or mortars kick off along the mutual border.

The event was the third iteration of the ‘Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Committee Beyond Boundaries’ and the statement was issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies the Pakistan organisation that hosts the moots. Both governments have recently agreed on a new framework for bilateral relations called the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity, and no doubt those that drafted the document did so in the best of faith and sincerity.

If there truly is an improvement in bilateral relations then we truly do welcome it because short of open warfare things could not have got much worse. If it was just another exercise in the creation of alphabet soup then we can do no more than shrug and walk away sighing, having seen and heard it all before on so many occasions. Cynical perhaps but with the rulers of a large slice of Afghanistan — the Taliban, assorted flavours and allegiances — absent from both the table and the process then it is largely meaningless. Dialogues such as this are not dialogues at all in any real sense, they are an opportunity for a revolving cast, and a small one at that, to get together under the acronym umbrella and pelt one another with platitudes before retiring for a satisfying dinner and inquiries as to the health of their respective families. They are perhaps a front for back-channel activity at best, but beyond semi-sweet closing statements that carry absolutely no weight it is difficult to divine much worthwhile about them. Beyond more helpings of alphabet soup we expect no significant outcomes.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2018.

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