Uneasy neighbours: Aziz says tension won’t overshadow Kabul trip

PM’s adviser avoids comment on Kabul’s claim about Taliban power-sharing proposal.

ISLAMABAD:

Despite a slew of public accusations by senior Afghan officials, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s adviser on foreign affairs and national security Sartaj Aziz has no plans to cancel his upcoming visit to Kabul.

Amidst heightened diplomatic tensions, Aziz says the visit will go ahead as planned and that the dates for his trip are expected to be finalised “after both sides reach a consensus on issues for discussions.”

Talking to The Express Tribune, Aziz said officials from the two countries were discussing the agenda for his visit and while the Afghan government had shared some details of the issues they wanted to take up during the visit, Pakistan had also conveyed its proposals for discussions.



The proposed visit is being seen by both Afghan and Pakistani diplomatic sources as a means of achieving a ‘breakthrough’ to ease diplomatic tensions. Afghan sources reveal that their ambassador to Pakistan Umer Daudzai is presently in Kabul to coordinate Aziz’s visit.

Pakistan agreed to send Aziz to Kabul this month following Prime Minister Nawaz’s second phone call in a week to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The back-to-back contacts between the two leaders are seen as a positive development which may lead to a revival of high-level contacts between the two neighbours.

In Kabul, the official Afghan news agency had earlier reported that Premier Nawaz had invited President Karzai to visit Islamabad and had proposed to send his advisor Sartaj Aziz, to work on a wide-ranging agenda for Karzai’s visit to Pakistan.

According to sources, the understanding was that Aziz would proceed to Kabul after Nawaz Sharif’s first official visit to China concludes on Monday (today).

Tense Relations

The already tense relations between the two countries touched their lowest ebb after Kabul claimed that Pakistan had allegedly proposed the cessation of some provinces to the Taliban.

Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister, Ershad Ahmadi had claimed that Aziz had floated the power-sharing concept between the Taliban and the Afghan government during his meeting with the Afghan ambassador. Aziz avoided comment on the Afghan claims, saying instead that the foreign office had already issued a statement in this regard.

The alleged proposal was seen by Afghan officials as an interference which, according to them, could stoke the tense diplomatic relationship already strained by cross-border attacks, alleged construction on the Afghan side of the border by Pakistan, complaints about Islamabad’s failure to help in the reconciliation process, and Pakistan’s role in the opening of the Taliban’s Qatar office.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2013.