Urumqi talks

The fence-mending talks between Pakistani and Afghan authorities held in Urumqi have come at an opportune moment. They were made possible under Chinese mediation, wherein all the three countries are part of a tripartite confidence building module. Beijing's eagerness to see peace in the region is evident from its five-point peace plan aimed at brokering a ceasefire in the Middle East. Likewise, its endeavours for regional congeniality are manifested in its leap towards Afghanistan. The Urumqi initiative has, thus, led to some ice-breaking.

Pakistan, fed up of blatant interference from Afghanistan, launched operation Ghazab Lil Haq on February 26, aimed at taking out the terror elements enjoying sanctuaries in the southwest Asian country. While a truce had come into being under the auspices of Turkiye and Saudi Arabia before Eid-ul-Fitr, a mechanism for talks was deemed indispensable. However, Pakistan's largesse to engage Kabul in a dialogue should not be seen as weakness. As stated by the Foreign Office, the onus is on the Afghan Taliban to "demonstrate visible and verifiable actions" so that the terror nexus is exterminated.

The sharing of notes in Urumqi must graduate into a composite dialogue. Kabul must keep its promises made at Doha in 2020, and lend an attentive ear to what the regional states and the UN have been warning about. That Afghanistan is the epicentre of terrorism in the region is no secret. Kabul's continued appeasement of TTP, Al-Qaeda, ISIK and other gun-trotters is an indictment of its complicity, making it a partner in crimes committed inside Pakistan.

Kabul must understand that the regional states are interested in seeing the landlocked country evolve into a hub of geo-economics. That was squarely stated by China too as it pressed for reopening of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, suspended since the outbreak of hostilities in February. It's high time for Taliban 2.0 to act as a sovereign entity and not as a facilitator of terrorism.