Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) Director Kristian Berg Harpviken has said that India’s involvement in Afghanistan, transferring of military equipment and training to Afghan Army were major concerns and security threats for Pakistan.

During an exclusive interview with Daily Times on Saturday, Harpviken said it was quite clear that India has grown from having a rather insignificant presence to establishing a strong foothold in Afghanistan. “India went to Afghanistan to provide assistance in reconstruction work, support the government in various projects and rebuilding of Afghan Parliament among other reasons. Recently, some efforts to transfer military equipment between India and Afghanistan were not welcomed in Pakistan, sighting that all these pose security risk,” he added.

On trust-deficit between Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said that it was clear that Pakistan and Afghanistan share common interests, but insecurity of Afghanistan and the ongoing war in many tribal areas of Pakistan were creating problems for both countries. “Pak-Afghan leadership must look again on this count and try to understand each other’s perspective,” suggested Harpviken, who is also the co-author, along with Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, of a book titled ‘A Rock Between hard Places: Afghanistan as an Arena of Regional Insecurity’.

He said that he recently went to Kabul and met Afghan security analysts and political leaders who were of the view that security concerns of Pakistan were very limited. “They sense that Pakistan is simply using Afghanistan for its own good and not understanding its needs,” he added.

He said Pakistani politicians and security officials were in favour of a viable government in Afghanistan that represented all groups of people.

On the impacts of possible withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan, Harpviken said that only 12,000 out of 150,000 NATO forces were present in Afghanistan while the remaining had pulled out. “The presence of these forces cannot be underestimated. Neither NATO nor USA wants complete withdrawal from Afghanistan until 2019,” he informed this scribe.

On Afghan refugees, he said due to surge in the return of refugees; Afghanistan was facing a grave situation, as the country already had uncertain economy and no job opportunities. “They had very little to return back, as many of them were born and raised in Pakistan,” he maintained.

On deterioration of United States-Pakistan relations, he said that the afghan issue certainly plays a part in US relations with both Pakistan and India. However, he added, USA also has concerns with security situations in Pakistan, especially the country’s preoccupation with Afghanistan.

“I don’t think Afghanistan is the only reason behind deterioration of US-Pakistan relation. Washington, in reality, thinks that the funds provided by US are not utilized by Pakistan in true letter and spirit, and they sight Pakistan as a non-reliable ally,” he added.

On Pak-Indian relations, Harpviken said that Pak-India relations were altering between extremely cold to a little more lukewarm. Unfortunately, he added, lack of efficient political policies from both sides remained the biggest hurdle in resolving the problems.

He said although Kashmir has become the symbol of conflict, but the real conflict was much more than the disputed valley, adding that resolutions of all outstanding problems and issues were in favour of both countries.