Afghan peace process

A Taliban spokesman said the delegation would also discuss the relaxation of border rules for the movement of people

Pakistan hosted a delegation from the Afghan Taliban’s political office in Qatar in an attempt to nudge forward the impending peace talks between the group and the Afghan government. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met the delegation, led by Taliban’s deputy emir Mullah Baradar. According to the Foreign Office the talks focused on the current status of the Afghan peace process and ways forward. Qureshi pushed for the US-Taliban peace deal to be fully implemented by the Taliban to help pave the way for peace talks with the Afghan government to begin at the earliest. Baradar confirmed the Taliban were looking forward to peace, security, and development in Afghanistan. The rest of the statement was boilerplate — Pakistan urges peace in the region, takes credit for hosting Afghan refugees, highlights its role in the US-Taliban peace deal, and asks the world to invest in Afghanistan’s recovery, while the Taliban acknowledge the same.

It was in the ensuing press talk that some interesting details — though slightly veiled — came up. Qureshi said the delegation told him some obstacles remained for the full implementation of the peace deal with the US, but added that they were confident these could be addressed through dialogue. It was also interesting that the Foreign Office did not mention one of the major topics of interest that the Taliban had shared with the public. Before the meetings, a Taliban spokesman had said that apart from the peace process, the delegation would discuss the relaxation of border rules for the movement of people. This is an important but divisive issue in Pakistan because of the manifold attached issues. The stricter border rules that have come up over the years have been a major headache for hundreds, if not thousands of families with cross-border ties. They also make it difficult for gainfully employed Afghans in Pakistan to come and go. At the same time, terrorists hiding out in Afghanistan remain a threat, and relaxation of border rules may work to their advantage.

Pakistan has a direct role to play in intra-Afghan talks, and the fact that the Foreign Office was unwilling to discuss such an important Afghan demand is concerning.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2020.

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