Karzai reportedly did not invite any delegation from Islamabad to the Loya Jirga

ISLAMABAD: It’s winters in Islamabad and Kabul, and the frost is manifest on their bilateral relationship.

Diplomatic channels between the neighbouring capitals are frozen ahead of a crucial conference next month in the German city of Bonn to decide the future of Afghanistan.

There isn’t any bilateral meeting planned between Pakistan and Afghanistan before the gathering in Germany early December, officials here told The Express Tribune on Thursday.

“It looks like there will be no consultations before that,” a foreign office official said. The Bonn conference is three weeks away.

From warm to cold

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul saw a remarkable improvement early this year when the two countries formed a high-level bilateral commission to settle disputes and come up with a joint strategy on the future of Afghanistan.

But the killing of former Afghan president and top peace broker Burhanuddin Rabbani in September this year triggered fresh tensions between them.

Kabul alleged that the attack by the Taliban was planned in Quetta with the help of elements from within Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Islamabad denied the allegations.

Snubbed at Loya Jirga

Sources said Afghan President Hamid Karzai did not invite any official or unofficial delegation from Pakistan to a Loya Jirga (grand council) of tribal leaders he inaugurated in Kabul on Wednesday.

Pakistan has been participating in all jirgas in Afghanistan in the past.

Wednesday’s jirga was held to evolve a consensus on the future of US military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a decision Pakistan would be keenly interested in.

A Pakhtun parliamentarian, who has been attending such gatherings in Afghanistan in the past, said Karzai and other Afghan officials were ‘frustrated’ with lack of clarity in Pakistan’s policies towards their country.

Spokesperson for the Foreign Office, however, attempted to play down the lack of communication with Afghanistan, saying the jirga was Kabul’s internal matter.

“Our ambassador will participate in the inaugural session,” Tehmina Janjua said, when contacted.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2011.