Afghan Taliban urged to work for inclusive govt

Speakers say Afghan soil should not be allowed for attacks against other countries

ISLAMABAD:

Speakers have urged the Afghan Taliban to create an inclusive government to accommodate various ethnic, sectarian and gender groups to get international recognition and take the war-torn country forward.

They were speaking at a one-day conference titled “Future Prospects for Afghanistan and the Region”, organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) in Islamabad.

“The inclusive government, as well as a focus on ethnic, sectarian and gender inclusivity, is important for the Afghan government to match its pace with the developed and the developing world,” said ISSI Director-General Aizaz Chaudary.

He that good governance and international recognition was major challenge for the Afghan Taliban-led government.

Pak Afghan Youth Forum Director-General Salman Javed said that there exists a resented mindset among Afghans against Pakistan that the latter was a British legacy. He asserted that such propaganda hindered good relations between the two neighbours and that it was imperative to them into account to remove misconceptions. He also said that Pakistan had increased trade with Afghanistan which was good for bilateral relations.

Senior journalist Hassan Khan shed light on the economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan stating that people in the neighbouring country were struggling to buy basic commodities whereas, women and children were specifically deprived of food, which would be impacting the next generation as well.

He also added that with brain-drain, people were also taking money out of the country leading to a shortage of currency in Afghanistan.

Director CAMEA at ISSI Amina Khan said that the Taliban’s performance despite their claims had been debatable, particularly in the realm of human rights.

“The extraordinary situation of humanitarian crisis and weak institutions was exacerbated by the global financial sanctions,” she said adding that the biggest threat to the region was the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan. “Taliban must counter the terrorism otherwise, the frustration in the region including within Afghanistan and its immediate neighbours would accentuate further, as the region has already expressed its uneasiness about militant activities there."

Assistant Professor at Quaid-e-Azam University Dr Salma Malik said that SAARC, as a regional body, has been rendered dysfunctional not due to infrastructural deficits but because of the fault lines lied within the DNA of the region as states were not willing to cooperate.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2022.