Sartaj Aziz. PHOTO: FILE
Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday agreed to restore the ‘mutual trust’ after weeks of hostilities that had threatened to unravel relations between the two neighbours.
The agreement to defuse tension was reached during a meeting between Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz in Kabul, officials said.
Aziz met Ghani at a presidential palace in Kabul against the backdrop of strained ties between the two neighbours after Afghanistan accused Pakistani security establishment of being behind the recent wave of terrorist attacks in the war-torn country.
He travelled to Kabul to attend the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA). On the sidelines, besides meeting Ghani, he held talks with Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani as well as the country’s national security adviser.
In an interview, Aziz confirmed that the Afghan president agreed to stop the blame game and work towards restoring ‘mutual confidence and trust’ between the two countries.
A senior foreign office official told The Express Tribune that Aziz told Ghani that Pakistan was ready to facilitate the resumption of stalled reconciliation process with the Taliban but that Kabul had to make the first move.
The PM’s adviser, who was also accompanied by Pakistan’s director general military operations (DGMO), conveyed Islamabad’s ‘serious displeasure’ over the ongoing anti-Pakistan campaign in Afghanistan, said a senior official familiar with the development.
The official, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Aziz had ‘frank and candid’ discussions with the Afghan president on all issues.
Aziz informed the Afghan president that Pakistan was committed to helping Kabul in all possible ways to establish peace and stability in the war-torn country. “However, this cooperation is only possible in an environment free from the blame game,” the official quoted Aziz as telling Ghani.
The adviser also said it was wrong to lay the entire blame on Pakistan for the situation in Afghanistan. The Afghan president was told that the hiccup in the relationship between the two neighbours would only benefit those who never wanted a peaceful end to the long-running conflict in Afghanistan.
There was no reaction yet from Afghanistan about the latest offer by Pakistan to facilitate the dialogue.
Earlier speaking at the RECCA forum, Aziz spelt out Pakistan’s priorities and commitment to support Afghanistan in building its economy and infrastructure.
“Pakistan is working on a number of cross-border and trans-regional connectivity projects, including infrastructure, energy and promotion of trade and investment,” Aziz, the Pakistan prime minister’s top aide, said. He lauded President Ashraf Ghani for sharing his vision to make Afghanistan a development- and regionally-integrated country. “Pakistan fully supports this forward-looking and progressive vision, and the plans for regional connectivity.”
He said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could also play a transformative role, not only for Pakistan but for the region as a whole.
Kabul to continue peace quest
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has that Pakistan’s leaders express the desire for peace but face the “challenge of controlling those forces that believe that an unstable and weakened Afghanistan is better than a strong and confident neighbour.”
“Nevertheless, the quest for peace will continue and we are confident that an accommodation can be reached that lets both Pakistan and ourselves develop the economies that we need to provide prosperity to our people,” he told senior officials late Friday.
“The path forward will not be smooth. There will be setbacks,” he said in an apparent reference to the Taliban violence.
Foreign Office briefing
At his weekly news briefing here, Foreign Office Spokesperson Qazi Khalilluah said Pakistan was committed to promoting peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. “We believe that peace in Afghanistan is in the interest of both the countries as well as the entire region,” the spokesperson emphasised.
“However, we have also said that further steps have to be decided by the Afghans themselves. We remain ready to facilitate,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2015.
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