Rebuilding: US asked to address concerns in Afghanistan

Indian influence, attempts to undermine Islamabad’s role in Afghanistan given top priority in talks.

ISLAMABAD:

With ties between Islamabad and Washington slowly getting back on track, Pakistan’s top leadership held separate meetings with visiting US special envoy Marc Grossman to convey to the United States that it could only enter meaningful dialogue on the Afghan reconciliation process and effectively deal with the Haqqani network once its ‘legitimate concerns’ were addressed.

In meetings with US special representative grossman, the country’s top civil and military leadership voiced a host of concerns, which included growing Indian influence in Afghanistan and deliberate attempts by certain international and regional players to undermine Pakistan’s role in the reconciliation process, said a Pakistani official familiar with the development.

(Read: Pakistan welcomes US initiative for peace in Afghanistan)

This was Grossman’s first visit to Islamabad since Washington accused the country of backing the Afghan Taliban allied insurgent group, the Haqqani network. He began his day-long trip by meeting with Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

A statement issued by the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) said the two discussed measures for a “Pak-US cooperative framework for peace in the region.”

Grossman also met President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and held talks with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss a host of issues, including the row over the Haqqani network and the upcoming international conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul next month and in the German city of Bonn in December.

Official sources say Pakistan’s top leadership told the US envoy that the wide-ranging strategic pact signed between Afghanistan and India should not be allowed to have negative implications for the region. “Unless these legitimate concerns are taken care of, it will be very difficult for Pakistan to play the kind of role the US would want it to,” said an official source.

(Read: A warning to Afghanistan)

However, even as the countries attempted to narrow their differences over the ‘deadliest’ Afghan insurgent group, they failed to show any signs of progress on the issue of the Haqqani network in their official announcements.

“The positive public statements you saw today are the reflection of a truce the two countries have achieved privately,” said an American diplomat without giving more details.

Later, at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Khar, Grossman sought to play down the hype over the strain in ties by claiming that the US is committed to a long-term and enduring partnership with Pakistan. “We tried to think about the future and a way to keep our strategic dialogue going,” Grossman told the joint press conference.

“We also talked about how we can continue in a systematic way to identify the interests that we share with Pakistan, and there are many, and then find ways to act on them jointly,” he added.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari, in his meeting with Grossman, expressed Pakistan’s displeasure over what he dubbed ‘verbal assaults’ by senior US officials questioning Islamabad’s commitment in the fight against terrorism.

(Read: Pak-US ties to be based on mutual interest, respect: Zardari)

“This approach only helped the cause of terrorists and undermined bilateral ties,” the president was quoted as telling Grossman by presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar.

Separately, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told Grossman that Pak-US relations must go beyond the security cooperation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2011.