Kabul assured of support on its path to reconciliation

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan assured the head of Afghan High Peace Council Dr Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday of Pakistan’s full support for the post-conflict Afghanistan on its path to reconstruction and economic development, as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made it clear that Pakistan wanted to be “friends, not the masters” of Afghanistan.

Abdullah, who is leading a high-powered delegation on a three-day visit to Pakistan, revealed that the senior Afghan leadership had directed its negotiating team to show flexibility in their talks with the Taliban in order to seize “this historic opportunity” for peace.

Dr Abdullah Abdullah held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday. He also met other officials as well as delivered a keynote address at the Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

His visit, just days after the Afghan government and the Taliban formally began negotiations in Doha, is aimed at seeking continued support from Pakistan, which has played a central role in facilitating the peace efforts.

The visit also reflects improved ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which in the past were often marred by mistrust. Kabul has long accused Islamabad of harbouring Afghan Taliban on its soil, a charge always strongly rebutted by Pakistan.

When Dr Abdullah spoke at the IISS, his tone was visibly reconciliatory as he acknowledged Pakistan’s positive role in brokering the deal between the US and the Taliban that eventually paved the way for intra-Afghan talks.

This was the first visit by Dr Abdullah to any country in his capacity as the head of the High Peace Council. “I’m visiting Pakistan at a time when a new future, indeed a peaceful future, is on the horizon,” he told the audience at the IISS.

As Afghan government and Taliban negotiators struggle to agree on the agenda and rules of engagement, Dr Abdullah indicated that his side was willing to be flexible in order to take the process to its logical end.

“We’ve asked our own delegation, President Ghani and myself, to be patient, to be ready to make compromise, and not to miss any other opportunity, not to lose any opportunity, or waste time,” the Afghan leader said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan in his meeting with Dr Abdullah expressed the same sentiments. Supporting the ongoing peace efforts, the prime minister told the visiting Afghan leader that there was no military solution to the Afghan war. He urged all sides to seize this historic opportunity to put an end to the decades of unrest in their country.

Foreign Minister Qureshi, who also addressed the IISS gathering, said Pakistan had brought about a paradigm shift in its policy and now wanted to be “friends, not masters” of Afghanistan.

Pakistan has long been accused of pursuing a so-called “strategic depth” in order to control Afghanistan. However, Qureshi made it clear that Pakistan fully supported “sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan”.

“My message is, we do not have favourites (in this conflict),” Qureshi said, addressing the Afghan delegation and the Afghan public. “A sovereign, independent, democratic country, with people with diverse ideas, maintaining their ideas and competing for, and contesting for the implementation of their ideas but only peacefully, and without using violence.”

An official handout said the prime minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support for the post-conflict Afghanistan on its path to reconstruction and economic development, saying that Pakistan would support whatever the Afghans agree upon about the future of Afghanistan.

He expressed the hope that Dr Abdullah Abdullah’s visit will help open a new chapter in the bilateral relationship.

Describing the US-Taliban peace agreement as a major step forward, Imran reiterated his longstanding position that there had been no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and that a political solution was the only way forward.

He noted that the international community had come to recognise his stance and also acknowledged Pakistan’s positive role in facilitation of the Afghan peace process.

Commending the start of the Intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha on September12, Imran expressed the hope that Afghan leadership would seize this historic opportunity to work together constructively and secure an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement. He underscored that all Afghan parties must work for reduction in violence leading to ceasefire.

In the bilateral context, Imran highlighted that Pakistan and Afghanistan had immense trade complementarities and emphasised the need for optimally utilising these capacities for mutually-beneficial trade and transit.

He assured that Pakistan would continue to undertake all efforts to facilitate Afghan transit trade and “deepen our bilateral trade and economic ties and people-to-people exchanges”. He also said that he was looking forward to his visit to Afghanistan at the invitation of President Ashraf Ghani.