Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Afghan National Security Adviser Haneef Atmar’s statements about the Taliban and Pakistan in his recent visit to the United States are being seen as contrary to his own initiative to bridge trust gap with the neighbourly country.

Atmar’s move to invite his Pakistani counterpart Nasser Janjua to Kabul on March 17 was seen as a major confidence building measure since President Ashraf Ghani used the occasion to invite Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to Kabul for a visit. Official and diplomatic sources told Daily Times on Sunday that Prime Minister Abbasi has accepted the invitation and his visit to Kabul is being scheduled, most probably, in early April.

“Pakistan kidnaps and holds hostage families of those Taliban and fighters who want to join reconciliation with Afghanistan as most of the families of jihadi commanders live in Pakistan,” Atmar told Voice of America’s Pashto Ashna Radio in Washington on March 24.”We haven’t had any positive response from Pakistan as yet, not any change in the policy they are pursuing,” he had said on March 22 during a speech at the US Institute for Peace, according to the VoA.

As both sides hoped more trust-building measures after Janjua’s visit to Kabul, Atmar came up with what is being seen as ‘unhelpful remarks’ about Pakistan days after his own initiative to seek Pakistan’s help for peace and reconciliation in the war-torn country.

Pakistani officials have termed Atmar’s remarks in Washington as ‘negative’ at a time when the top leaders of both countries are set for ‘comprehensive dialogue’ in the coming days.”It was a damaging statement. I cannot understand its timing,” a foreign ministry official said.

Pakistan is also set to join representatives from global and regional powers as well as Afghanistan’s neighbours at an international conference on Afghanistan in Uzbekistan on March 26-27. Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif will lead Pakistan’s delegation to the event.

Pakistani officials, who are currently involved in preparations for the Tashkent conference, say the country will reiterate its support for President Ghani’s peace proposals to the Taliban he floated during the Kabul Process meeting in Kabul on February 28.

An official, who did not want to be identified, said the statement from Afghan NSA is totally contrary to the spirit of understanding reached during Janjua’s talks with President Ghani.”Gen. Janjua supported the peace plan of Pres. Ashraf Ghani presented at the Kabul Process meeting. He assured me of Pakistan’s Govt. commitment towards the peace plan,” Atmar had tweeted after the meeting.

Janjua’s remarks in his meeting with Dr Abdullah Abdullah that Taliban have no excuse to continue war after Ghani’s peace offer was a strong message to the Taliban by a senior Pakistani official. Pakistani officials also pressed the Taliban envoys to join the peace process during the latter’s visit to Pakistan in January.

The Afghan NSA’s latest statement has strengthened the notion in Pakistan that some elements want to pursue policy of Pakistan’s isolation to exert pressure on the country and continue blame game.

Atmar is expected to realize very soon that his statements in the US are damaging for his own initiative. At the same time Pakistani officials dealing with Afghanistan need to review their policies. Political ownership in Pakistan vis-à-vis Afghanistan is also necessary. An enhanced role of the Foreign Office is essential in all issues relating to Afghanistan. There is need for more CBMs after Janjua-Ghani talks to make the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Abbasi to Kabul productive.

Atmar, an ethnic Pashtoon and former Communist intelligence official in Soviet-backed regime, is one of the few influential people in Ghani’s administration. He was also the main character behind the 2016 landmark Hizb-e-Islami peace deal with Ghani’s administration. The talks in fact started in Pakistan with the active involvement of Kabul’s Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal and Ghairat Baheer, then Hizb-e-Islami head of political affairs and Hekmatyar’s son-in-law. Zakhilwal is also behind the recent interaction between Pakistan and his country.

The Afghan NSA also claimed Pakistan “supports and trains Daesh (Khorasan) in Afghanistan so it keeps an alternate fighting force for its interests if the Taliban are failed.” He remarks about Daesh surprised many both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Former president Hamid Karzai in a series of interviews in recent months has accused the US of working with Daesh in his country. He told Al Jazeera in November that the US government helped the Islamic State group to “flourish inside Afghanistan”.

Published in Daily Times, March 26^th 2018.