Daily Times

On invitation by the Pakistan government, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) of Afghanistan, has arrived Pakistan on 28 September 2020 for his three day visit. During the visit, he is likely to discuss the bilateral relations and Pakistan’s support for the intra Afghan dialogue, as the first round of the dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan delegation led by Dr. Abdullah Abdullah,in the backdrop and within the framework of the agreement signed between the US and the Taliban on 29 February 2020, has already been held in Doha, Qatar.

As per the US State Department, the salient points of the above mentioned US-Taliban agreement, based on which the intra Afghan dialogue is being held includes the following.The United States is committed to withdrawing from Afghanistan its all military forces and of its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel within fourteen (14) months following the announcement of the agreement.

For sustainable peace, Pakistan is looking for the participation of all ethnicities in the future negotiated political settlement of Afghanistan

In conjunction with the announcement of this agreement, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban will take all the measures to prevent any group or individual, including al-Qa’ida, from using the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.

After the announcement of guarantees for a complete withdrawal of foreign forces and timeline in the presence of international witnesses, and guarantees and the announcement in the presence of international witnesses that Afghan soil will not be used against the security of the United States and its allies, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognised by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban will start intra Afghan negotiations with the Afghan side on March 10, 2020.

A permanent and comprehensive ceasefire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations. The participants of intra-Afghan negotiations will discuss the date and the modalities of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, including joint implementation mechanisms, which will be announced along with the completion and agreement over the future political roadmap of Afghanistan.

The United States will request the recognition and endorsement of the United Nations Security Council for this agreement.The United States and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban seek positive relations with each other and expect that the relations between the United States and the new post-settlement Afghan Islamic government as determined by the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations will be positive.

During his ongoing visit, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is scheduled to meet the prime minister, president, the Senate chairman, National Assembly speaker, foreign minister and other dignitaries. He will also deliver a key-note address at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad and have an interaction with the media. Thevisit is significant as the mutual discussions willenable both sides to understand each other’s point of view regarding the Afghan peace process and the bilateral relations.

Pakistani officials should use this opportunity to discuss following with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and get his views on these important points. That all the Afghan neighbours and other International stakeholders have the consensus that a peaceful settlement of Afghanistan issue is the only solution for peace in the region.In this regard, it should be clear that anyone, who opposes peace and dialogue efforts is not sincere to Afghanistan and will be a spoiler. In this context, India is one country, which wants the conflict to perpetuate to use the Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan.

That Pakistan accords high priority to peace and stability in Afghanistan, as it has suffered the most due to 40 years of active conflict in Afghanistan and peace in Afghanistan is also necessary for the economic development, trade enhancement and the prosperity of both countries, to be achieved through the CPECrelated regional connectivity. Therefore, Pakistan wants to advance people to people contacts, mutual trade, and economic/transit integration with Afghanistan.For sustainable peace,Pakistan is looking for the participation of all ethnicities in the future negotiated political settlement of Afghanistan.

During his meetings with his Pakistani counterparts, while Dr. Abdullah Abdullah will try to convince them to ask the Taliban to decide on an early cease fire, pending the final outcome of the dialogue. In this context,Pakistan should be aware of the fact that in view of their above mentioned agreement with the US, which says that the cease fire agreement will be announced simultaneously along with the decided future political road map of Afghanistan, the Taliban arelikely to link the cease fire with the progress of the dialogue, and they may not well come any suggestion in this regard.

In this context, Pakistan should also keep in view that as the programme for the withdrawal of the US and allied forces from Afghanistan has already been decided between the US and the Taliban vide the above mentioned agreement, it should not support any new suggestion on this account.Also, Pakistan should support the intra-Afghan dialogue within the framework of the above stated agreement.

[The writer is a former Consultant and Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad and Senior Research Fellow of Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), Islamabad].