Daily Times

Since its early days, Pakistan’s foreign policy has given special importance to its relations within the realm of Muslim world, with a special focus on Gulf countries. However, its relations with Turkey and Afghanistan are of high significance given a mixture of closeness and complexity.

Historically, Pak-Turk relations have been extremely close with cultural and economic ties being the plus points. Both countries were the founding members of the now-defunct ‘Organisation for Regional Cooperation and Development’ (ORCD) in the 1950s and over the decades, bilateral relations went on an upward trend. On diplomatic level, regardless of which party or military leader was in power, both states had always given strategic importance to their ties on state-level.

Recent trends show that both countries are focusing on regional connectivity with focus on mutual investments in education,defence, energy, trade and infrastructural development. The inception of the ‘High Level Strategic Cooperation Council’(HLSCC) in 2009 has been a landmark achievement for such purposes with regional security matters added as another key factor for discussions.

As for relations with Afghanistan, they have largely remained complex and could be termed as a ‘love-hate’ relation given the deep resentment on certain matters on both sides of the Durand Line. Briefly mentioning the history, proxy warfare and border management issues have always been there since the early days when the Afghans tried to promote secessionist movements that ended in failure. Since the Karzai and Ghani eras, the relations became even more complex with security matters becoming a major problem due to external influences and regional proxy warfare that has engulfed both countries. Coming back to Turkey, its ties trilateral ties with Pakistan and Afghanistan had a breakthrough in 2007 with the introduction of the ‘Ankara Trilateral Process’ that was aimed to forge diplomatic ties between the three countries. Moreover, the ‘Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process’ since 2011 has aimed to focus on Afghanistan’s future given its importance. It is important to point out that the Afghan Peace Process may not have been possible without Turkey’s involvement through the Istanbul process that is annually held in different regional capitals.

Since the last decade or so, Ankara, Islamabad and Kabul have tried their best to sort out key issues through such processes and meetings. Although the volume of trade among the three countries has not reached its potential, it is hoped to achieve peak point once technical hurdles are removed.

Modern geopolitical and geostrategic objectives in the region are purely based on economic, security and defence cooperation. Russia is regaining its dominance on world politics and has recently surpassed the United States when it comes to forging ties with Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan. Even China is racing ahead with agreements with all four countries.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), being the bastion of prosperity, is now a key factor in connecting the entire region including Russia and Turkey that are quite interested in investing with projects such as the North-South Energy Corridor. For Afghanistan, this would bring economic growth with stability returning soon subject to containment of hawkish influences from certain capitals such as New Delhi. *