Daily Times

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, has landed in Pakistan on a four-day visit as part of his endeavors to ensure that the Afghan land is not used against the US after its forces pull out. His latest visit is a major development for peace in the war-torn Afghanistan after last month’s meeting between representatives of Taliban, Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Qatar in Abu Dhabi.

The US has adopted an all-encompassing method to secure its exit involving all global players. Days before coming to Islamabad, Khalilzad went to India to convince them of playing ball in Afghanistan.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Khalilzad in New Delhi that “reconciliation process in the Afghanistan ‘must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled”.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has also been trying to make it clear that Afghans should sit with Afghans. Pakistan has played its role in arranging the last month’s grand meeting of Taliban in Abu Dhabi.

Though different stakeholders were present in that meeting, Taliban did not agree to sit with representatives of the Afghan government. To extend talks further, Taliban needed to meet their top leaders for further directions. But it seems their leadership has not yet passed on the directions as hours before Khalilzad’s landing in Islamabad, one of their representatives told media that their talks with the US have come to a halt.

They are believed to be weary of this reconciliation process due to the US insistence on bringing the Afghan government on the table. Meanwhile, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told Afghan cabinet members in Kabul that people of Afghanistan will be trust the efforts for peace and reconciliation only if Taliban are brought on the table with the Afghan government.

This is where Khalilzad’s job gets tough. To make sure that no one is missed out, he has also met Chinese top officials to discuss with them shape of the new government in Kabul in which Taliban will also be represented though the exact nature of this set-up is yet to be worked out.

Taliban have time and again issued statements mentioning that government arrangements in Afghanistan are best left to Afghans after the US pull-out. This sounds convincing but the international community is unsure given the Taliban record in power. Furthermore, adopting an isolationist stance is naïve at this stage when the key global players like the US, China, India, NATO, Pakistan, UAE, KSA and Iran are all involved in the Afghanistan issue. They all have concerns about the post-US Afghanistan.

President Donald Trump had also been talking about the role that global stakeholders could play in Afghanistan so that the US pullout is made easier. Saner voices in the US back Trump’s decision to get out of costly wars in the world. Nevertheless, his decisions to withdraw from Syria and Afghanistan had drawn flak for a variety of reasons, prominent among them security in the US and sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has already had enough of Afghan war. Hence, Khalilzad is welcome in Islamabad where he will meet civilian and military decision makers. We believe that his visit will go a long way not only for Afghan reconciliation but also for breaking the ice between the US and Pakistan. *

Published in Daily Times, January 16^th 2019.