Defusing the tensions

It is time that Pakistan and Afghanistan lay down the cudgels and get on with the serious business of business

It is to be hoped that the fence-mending mission to Kabul by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, is successful. The warming of relations earlier in the year had deteriorated to — yet again — mutual recrimination and a rerun of the eternal blame game. Pakistan has been accused by the Afghan government of being responsible for a wave of attacks in the country because it gives safe haven to those that carry them out. A meeting between the representatives of both governments pledged to restore the ‘mutual trust’ that had so recently been found and then lost again. Trust is not a quality that can be switched on or off like a light switch. It grows and deepens over time and once lost, can be very hard to find again. Ostensibly, Mr Aziz was in Kabul to attend the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan, but it was the meetings on the sidelines that attracted attention.



Mr Aziz met with the Afghan president and the two agreed to stop the blame game. He also said that Pakistan was willing to facilitate the stalled reconciliation process that is still mired in the succession to Mullah Omar — but it was for Afghanistan to make the first move. In this, he is right. Pakistan has a role to play but any peace process has to be driven by Afghanistan. The Taliban will, in all likelihood, eventually get back to the table, a table which may be in Pakistan. There needs to be peace between Afghanistan and Pakistan before that happens, and the current animosities will also feed through to being an impediment to the peace process. Now is a time when there are opportunities for real growth and advancement as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor takes shape and attracts support. This is a project that is truly transformational for Pakistan and has the potential to equally be a game changer for Afghanistan. It is time to lay down the cudgels and get on with the serious business of business — something that both countries are notably good at.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.