The fifth ministerial Heart of Asia Istanbul Process jointly hosted by Pakistan and Afghanistan reaffirmed the commitment by all participating states to the principles and objectives of promoting regional peace and prosperity with collective effort. They agreed to respect each other’s sovereignty and vowed to abstain from the blame game. Such declarations in the past have rarely gone beyond noble sentiments yet Islamabad’s declaration has rekindled hope vis-à-vis resumption of the peace process in Afghanistan and the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue between Pakistan and India. The Istanbul Process was Turkey and Afghanistan’s initiative, started in 2011. According to its charter, the process was to provide a new agenda for regional cooperation by placing Afghanistan at its centre and engaging the Heart of Asia countries in sincere and result-oriented cooperation for a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Of course, the objective was also to ensure a secure and prosperous region as a whole. Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif had the opportunity to reiterate Pakistan’s stance and to assure Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that “the enemies of Afghanistan are enemies of Pakistan”. The conference discussed the situation in Afghanistan with particular focus on helping the war-torn country’s economy. However, peace in Afghanistan will remain elusive until all the parties to the conflict realise that giving overriding consideration to their groups would lead them on the road to perdition. Some Northern Alliance elements led by CEO Abdullah Abdullah do not wish to see the Taliban having a share in the government because they do not wish to part with power, perks and privileges. Some of the Taliban are opposed to negotiations with the government, which is another roadblock towards peace in Afghanistan. They should resolve their differences and move forward. However, there is yet another factor that hinders the peace process Unfortunately, Hamid Karzai is still holding court and has considerable sway in Kabul. When President Ashraf Ghani was successful in starting a dialogue with the Taliban with the support of Pakistan Karzai warned the government against succumbing to pressure from Pakistan and deplored the ‘unacceptable’ concessions by his successor President Ashraf Ghani. He strongly condemned the Memorandum of Understand (MoU) between the two countries about intelligence sharing. In fact, Hamid Karzai had berthed the Indians powerfully in his state structure. In September, addressing the participants of the sixth edition of the Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan (RECA-VI) in Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani said: “Pakistan’s leaders express the desire for peace but face the challenge of controlling those forces that believe an unstable and weakened Afghanistan is better than a strong and confident neighbour.” President Ashraf Ghani should be watchful of the remnants of former president Hamid Karzai who wishes to see strained relations between the two countries. With persistent accusations against Pakistan of funding and arming the militants, he wants to isolate Ashraf Ghani and strengthen his position by invoking agreements with India. The Afghan government should know more about the history of Afghanistan and how Afghans fought the British, Russians and then the US and its allies. The US and NATO forces — the best fighting machine in the world — could not defeat the Taliban for over a decade. The police and army they raised and trained were no match for the Taliban fighters, which has been proved many a time, more recently in Kunduz. The problem is that the ‘basics’ of US foreign policy were wrong, as right from the beginning efforts were made to ensure that the minority Northern Alliance ruled the majority of Pashtuns, who were neglected at the time of raising the Afghan army and building other state institutions. They reaped the fruits of this folly. The fact remains that without giving the majority Pashtuns the due share in power, and showing respect to them, there will be no peace in the foreseeable future. After Ashraf Ghani took over as president, there was a visible change in Afghan policy as he reciprocated Pakistan’s gestures of goodwill and appreciated Pakistan hosting millions of Afghan refugees. He was all praise for the Pakistan army for having given sacrifices in the war on terror. However, Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, India and the National Directorate of Security (NDS) nexus roiled the chances of improvement in Pak-Afghan relations. In fact, many anti-Pakistan elements were inducted in the NDS by former president Hamid Karzai who misguided President Ashraf Ghani. However, President Ghani appeared to have realised the conspiracy by NDS Chief Rahmtullah Nabil who resigned over President Ghani’s outreach to Pakistan for reviving peace talks with the Taliban. He took exception to Nabil’s criticism and said, “The war will drag on without positive support from Pakistan.” As regards the Taliban, technically speaking it recognised the Afghan government at the time of holding its first meeting with it. After his election as new Taliban chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansour suspended talks with the Afghan government but did not close the option of peace talks. In an audio message he mentioned that “The Taliban will use military and political options to achieve goals and the Taliban political commission will work along with other commissions.” The above statement renewed hopes for the revival of the suspended talks. In fact, it was Akhtar Mansour who sent the top three Taliban leaders for talks with the Afghan government. However, the unity government led by President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah has to showcase its sincerity in holding meaningful talks with the Taliban. Indeed, dialogue for peace, harmony and security has to be broad-based. The Taliban will clinch the peace deal if it is judicious and based on merit. It is in the interest of all ethnic groups to find a common ground for power-sharing to make Afghanistan peaceful, stable and sovereign. This objective can be achieved if other parties show due respect for the erstwhile kings and kingmakers in Afghanistan, the Pashtuns. The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at mjamil1938@hotmail.com