Post-ISAF region: ‘Put house in order first, meddle in neighbour’s affairs later’

Participants agree dealing with Pakistan takes primacy over dealing with Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD:

Participants of dialogue on drawdown of foreign troops from Afghanistan urged Pakistan to get its own house in order while keeping an eye on unfolding developments in its war-torn neighbour.

The dialogue on ‘post-ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan: Impact on Pakistan’ was organised by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) at a local hotel here on Tuesday.

Discussants included former Joint Chief of Staff Committee (JCSC) chairman General (retd) Ehsanul Haq, journalist Zahid Hussain and SAFMA Secretary-General Imtiaz Alam, while journalist Ejaz Haider moderated the session.



According to the former general, although Pakistan does have interests in Afghanistan, it has never taken a hegemonic discourse towards the war-torn country, “unlike some countries”.

“Pakistan is looking forward to a responsible and smooth transition and not one which will land us in a quandary akin to the one in the late 1980s,” he stated.

The former general, who according to the SAFMA secretary general was representing the military’s views, was of the opinion that strategic depth is considered to be an abusive term in Pakistan and “There was no country in the world that, somehow, has not adopted a policy of strategic depth to promote its political influence,” he added.



He also denied the drafting of any policy by the security establishment that might have supported non-state actors in the country during his tenure as Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) director general or the JCSC chairman, but at the same time, he said, “Disassociating from non-state actors will take time. One does not simply jump off a roof and knowingly breaks his legs,” he added.

Meanwhile Hussain was of the view that Pakistan could lose control over the tribal belt to militants if they do not bring the area in line with the rest of the country. “We need to support dialogue, but most importantly, we should keep in mind that we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes we made in the past,” he said.



Although the state has rejected terrorism on paper, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) still has many sympathisers in the corridors of power, according to Alam, who added that we still have a hand in Afghanistan’s affairs in one way or the other. “What we need now is a clear-cut strategy that is reworked according to the developing scenario in the neighbouring country,” he added.

As the moderator of the gathering, Haider took the discussion forward and noted that the notion of the conflict has changed from a civil-military clash to a tug of war between progressive and obscurantist mindsets. “We Pakistanis are still supporting Taliban despite the fact that by now even the Afghan urban elite do not want them,” he concluded.

When questioned why Pakistan was so interested in Afghanistan while the law and order situation inside the country itself was in tatters, Gen Haq said, “The concern was because of the soft stance of hosting over three million refugees in Pakistan and the lack of surveillance and proper border keeping on the Af-Pak border.”

He summed up the debate by saying that Pakistan needed to put surveillance on border, empower police, and organise its intelligence system.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2013.