According to the Voice of America (VOA), on Afghan President Ghani’s request, Military Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa travelled to Afghanistan on 9 June 2020, where his delegation held talks with President Ashraf Ghani on bilateral issues and matters related to Afghan peacemaking efforts. Gen Bajwa also held talks with the Afghan Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, who would lead the Afghan side in the talks with the Taliban.
The visit of Gen Bajwa follows his meeting in Islamabad with US peace envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who brokered a peace deal with the Taliban in late February 2020, and is now trying to start the intra-Afghan peace talks. The visit of Gen. Bajwa was part of Pakistan’s efforts to assist in solving the Afghan problem by supporting the intra-Afghan talks.
Pakistan facilitated the US-Taliban talks in Qatar and is now trying to assist in holding an intra-Afghan dialogue in line with the US policy announced in 2018. In this context, Lisa Curtis, a senior adviser to the US president, said in 2018, “We have sought Pakistan’s assistance in facilitating a peace process, and we have sought to understand Pakistan’s own core security concerns and ensure that its interests in Afghanistan are taken into account in any peace process.”
The COAS and DG ISI’s above mentioned meetings with Zalmay Khalidzad, President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah were aimed at vigorously facilitating an intra Afghan dialogue in coordination with the US and the Afghan leadership, since Pakistan wants an early peace and stability in Afghanistan. In this context, the visit seemed to be aimed at following.
A quick initiation of Intra-Afghan Dialogue and assuring Abdullah Abdullah of Pakistan’s assistance in achieving a peaceful solution to the Afghan situation. To build trust between major stakeholders and lay emphasis on the Afghan Government for releasing 3,000 leftover prisoners of the Taliban, so that the Taliban leaders could be persuaded to agree to start the intra Afghan dialogue.
Pakistan also wanted to assure the Afghan stakeholders that it wanted a peaceful, friendly and proxy free Afghanistan. Pakistan’s military leaders wanted to tell te Afghan leaders that peace in Afghanistan and the region was necessary as both Pakistan and Afghanistan have common interests, as both are suffering from terrorism and foreign interference.
Pakistan also wanted to caution the Afghan leaders to be careful about India’s spoiler role in disturbing the peace process in Afghanistan. Actually, India wants instability to prevail in Afghanistan, and that Pakistan-Afghanistan relations should remain unfriendly, so that it can continue to use the Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan.
Pakistan also wanted to assure the Afghan stakeholders that it wanted a peaceful, friendly and proxy free Afghanistan
To delay and disturb the intra Afghan dialogue, while India misleads the Afghan Government by feeding cooked intelligence, it also engineers terrorist incidents in Afghanistan by its Daesh like proxies, but throws the blame on the Afghan Taliban. India also mislead the Afghan leaders and its people by carrying out anti Pakistan false/negative propaganda.
India’s spoiler role is quite evident from the fact that while all neighbours of Afghanistan, and major powers, like the US, Russia, China, the UK and the EU are favouring to bring peace in Afghanistan through a dialogue between the Afghan Government and the Taliban, only India is opposing and disturbing this process.
Pakistan is also making efforts that the Afghan leaders should understand that laying of border fence by Pakistan was useful for both countries to end the foreign sponsored terrorism and regulate mutual trade. Pakistan wants stability on the borders, which is in the interest of both countries’ trade and economic development.
It is also very important for the Afghan leaders to realize that the Afghan people want peace after almost four decades of turmoil and bloodshed, and Afghanistan also needs peace and stability for its economic development. Moreover, peace will also enable the Afghan refugees to return to their country honourably.
And, for hastening its economic development, it would be very beneficial that Afghanistan joins the CPEC, connects the world with the Central Asian Republics (CARs) through CPEC and draws related benefits of trade and foreign investment. Pakistan favours a durable peace in Afghanistan, with all the stakeholders getting their due share in the future political set up of Afghanistan based on mutual consensus. Pakistan feels that since the Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan has emerged as a major stakeholder in Afghanistan, for a sustainable peace in Afghanistan, it is necessary that they are absorbed in the Afghanistan’s interim as well as future political set up, along with other ethnic groups, based on a mutually agreed upon peace deal.
In view of the above discussion, it is necessary that Pakistan, Afghanistan’s other neighbours, and the major world powers should cooperate and an intra-Afghan dialogue should start soon and conclude in the shape of a durable and sustainable peace deal signed by the Afghan Government, the Afghan Taliban and other major stakeholders.
The writer is a former Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad and Senior Research Fellow of Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad