Imran in Kabul

Peace talks in Doha are showing no significant progress. Security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating fast with both the IS and Taliban carrying out major attacks. And White House is all set to welcome a new incumbent, with the outgoing one in a hurry to pull more troops from the war-torn country, threatening a civil war-like situation, similar to the one that happened in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. Amid all that, Prime Minister Imran Khan undertook his maiden official visit to Afghanistan. The objective of the visit – first by a top Pakistani leader since the intra-Afghan dialogue in the Qatari capital began, in February – was to look for ways and means to rid the bilateral ties of the mutual mistrust and work in tandem for a peaceful, prosperous and all-inclusive Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Imran pledged Pakistan’s fullest cooperation for reduction in violence in Afghanistan. He assured President Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan’s major concern remained “peace in Afghanistan” and that “we will do whatever is within our reach” towards this end. The PM’s assurance forms part of an official communiqué titled “Shared Vision between Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Support Peace and Stability in Both Countries and the Wider Region” aimed at “advancing a forward-looking cooperative partnership between the two countries for political, economic and people-to-people exchanges”. The two leaders agreed to constitute committees to pursue matters related to peace and security. 

That Pakistan’s peace and prosperity is linked to Afghanistan is not something that our leaders don’t realise. And Pakistan’s efforts in pursuit of peace in the war-ravaged neighbouring country cannot be denied either. In the recent setting, Pakistan facilitated months-long talks between the US and Taliban, which culminated into what is called the Doha Peace Agreement. The February 2020 agreement paved the way for intra-Afghan dialogue that continues in Doha, with Pakistan helping the various Afghan leaders to settle their differences and come to the dialogue table.

Alongside that, Pakistan reached out to important stakeholders in the Afghan peace process in its bid to allay their concerns over the “strategic depth” narrative. Pakistan last month hosted Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Mujahideen leader and two-time prime minister during the 1990s, as well as Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation of Afghanistan, in the month of September. The two leaders returned to Afghanistan convinced that Pakistan only meant to play the role of a facilitator in the Afghan peace process – something that helped soften the rocky relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And it was on the back of these high-level exchanges that Prime Minister Imran’s visit to Kabul took place. The official communiqué – which features a shared vision for peace – has come following up on these confidence-building measures “aimed at creating a conducive environment for transforming the Pak-Afghan relationship into a cooperative one”. The Prime Minister, while underscoring the importance of an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement, handed out an assurance that Pakistan would respect the decisions made by Afghans in the peace process.

As the PM reaffirmed, Pakistan is for a “peaceful, stable, united, democratic, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan”. It’s for the Afghan stakeholders now to bury their differences and avail themselves of this rare opportunity for peace.