Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday acknowledged that confidence level between Islamabad and Kabul on security matters was at a historic low and urged the Afghan leadership to stop its anti-Pakistan propaganda.

An official of Foreign Office said on Thursday that National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz will deliver a clear message to the Afghan leadership in this regard when he meets it on Friday (today). “Afghanistan has to stop anti-Pakistan remarks and carry out measures to build trust,” remarked the FO official, who requested not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Aziz, the official maintained, would also stress that “peace and stability in Afghanistan lies in intra-Afghan dialogue and therefore Kabul must sit in the second round of peace talks with Taliban and other groups”.

Moreover, the official rejected Afghan allegations that Pakistan abetted the recent attacks in Kabul. He maintained that 80 percent of the insurgency in Afghanistan originates from within the country. The official admitted that the agreement on security and counter-terrorism between the intelligence agencies of the two countries was now a dead document because it was not approved by the Afghan parliament. Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Foreign Office in a statement confirmed that the adviser to the prime minister on national security and foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, will visit Kabul today.

During his visit Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation in the ministerial meeting of the sixth Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA-VI). The FO spokesman said the premier’s adviser will also hold consultations with the Afghan leadership on important bilateral issues. Tensions have flared in recent weeks, with Ghani accusing Islamabad of failing to act against extremists operating along the porous border.

Pakistan embassy in Kabul has been deeply concerned because of the anti-Pakistan campaign in Afghanistan. Despite anti-Pakistan statements from Kabul recently, it said Pakistan had not reacted by not issuing any tit-for-tat statement because Islamabad was genuinely committed to see the return of peace to the war-devastated country. During his day-long sojourn in Kabul, Aziz will call on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his Afghan counterpart to discuss Pak- Afghan bilateral relations.

Diplomatic sources said the second most important point Aziz would stress upon during his talks with the Afghan leadership would be that the path of lasting peace in Afghanistan lies in the intra-Afghan dialogue and not in the use of force. They were of the view that Pakistan believed that Afghanistan’s situation could not be resolved through war, as use of force in the past had failed to restore peace. If Afghan government wants to go ahead on that path, Pakistan is ready to move forward. Pakistan had organised the first round of Afghan-led and intra-Afghan dialogue in Murree on July 7, and it was attended by representatives of the US and China.

The second round of talks on July 31 was cancelled when the news of the death of Taliban leader Mullah Omar was announced two days before the talks and a war of succession started among Taliban groups, they said. But now Mullah Mansour Akhtar has established his leadership among the Afghan groups. During these talks Pakistan did not suggest anything, as it did not want to impose any condition because Islamabad had taken a solemn decision to see Afghanistan as a sovereign country, the diplomatic sources said.

According to them there are two ways to achieve peace in Afghanistan, either through intra-Afghan dialogue or through the use of force, but it is up to Afghans which course they want to choose.

But the use of force in Afghanistan would spread uncertainty and it will have a fallout in both countries, said the sources. When questioned on reports of Quetta Shura, they said there was a need to differentiate between information and disinformation. According to a study, 80 percent of insurgency in Afghanistan is Afghan-based and Afghan-owned, while only 14 percent violence had been attributed to the feared Haqqani Network. The diplomatic sources said Pakistan had proved beyond doubt its commitment to eliminate terrorism from its soil and launched an operation in North Waziristan using its own resources and has already paid a heavy price, both in terms of men and material.