In an erratic move, the Afghan government has walked away from the second round of the peace talks with mediation of any second country, and has asked Pakistan to take action against Taliban leadership in its territory instead of bringing them to the negotiation table. The former president, Hamid Karzai who recently opposed Ghani’s soft stance toward Pakistan has supported the new change in the strategy of Afghan government. However, taking a pragmatic position, the US States has reiterated that bilateral talks and cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the only way for stability and security in the region. US State department had praised Afghanistan-Pakistan talks following the deadly attacks in Afghanistan Kabul. John Kerby, spokesman of the US State Department had said, “Bilateral talks between Afghan-Pakistan governments are commendable”. John Kerby further added that America is committed to cooperate and help Afghan forces and will not abandon Afghanistan in any way.
Taliban insurgents have killed scores of people in suicide attacks and other bombings in Afghanistan during the past few days. The violence has picked up since the disclosure of the death of Mullah Omar and is likely to continue till an amicable resolution is reached of leadership related irritants, which is indeed a tall order. Spike in deadly attacks across Afghanistan underscores the capacity and capability of insurgent elements, hence the need for peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. A recent UN report indicates that civilian casualties in Afghanistan since January 2015 have reached record levels.
On August 07, the insurgents launched a flurry of attacks in Kabul; a truck bomb in residential blocks, a suicide bombing at the national police academy, and a ground assault on a coalition base. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the bombing saying the bomber had “targeted occupying foreigner forces” and that all of those killed were foreigners.
Reacting to the spike of violence, in an abrupt shift from his fence-mending outreach with Pakistan, a visibly angry Afghan President Ashraf Ghani lashed out at Pakistani leaders. He said on August 10 that the Afghan people are in urgent need of long-lasting peace in their country and closure of terrorist sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan. “The doors of government are open for peace, peace with those who are Afghans and believe in humanity and renounce terrorism”. Taking cue, CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah also started firing anti-Pakistan salvos; much of the difficulties in Pak-Afghan relationship owe their initiation to Dr Abdullah’s erratic foreign policy initiatives during the Karzai era.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to Afghanistan months ago had categorically stated that “the enemy of Afghanistan is the enemy of Pakistan,” Ghani told the press conference adding that it is the time to act upon word…We hoped for peace but we are receiving messages of war from Pakistan…In my telephone call with Pakistan prime minister (on August 09), I told Pakistan to see terrorism in Afghanistan the same way it sees terrorism in Pakistan,” he said. President said, “We know exactly who wants to hinder peace in Afghanistan and why”….” Pakistan still remains as venue and ground for gatherings from which mercenaries send us message of war”.
Since coming to power Ghani has courted Pakistan, expending substantial domestic political capital in the process, his comments on August 10 are the strongest yet against Pakistan: “Since I took office, Afghans have been waiting for Pakistan to show their tangible commitment to peace”, But attacks in the past two months and now in Kabul have shown us that it is still the same as the past….In the past 10 months we have showed a strong will on peace and discussed with Pakistan that both sides should fight terror. The reality is that Pakistan is busy holding gatherings to discuss its undeclared war in Afghanistan”.
Response by Pakistan’s foreign office was measured: “Having been the biggest victim of terrorism itself with human losses exceeding 60,000, the people and the government of Pakistan can feel the pain and anguish of the people and the government of Afghanistan over the recent wave of terrorist attacks, which have resulted in the loss of many valuable lives and injuries to scores of people.” Pakistan’s National Security Adviser, Sartaj Aziz, dismissed Ashraf Ghani’s charges, saying there are “all kinds of (militant) factions” operating in Afghanistan, making it difficult to ascertain who is behind the bloodshed. “We very much condemn all the terrorist attacks in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan and we have constantly worked with the Afghan government to try to restrict movements across the borders so that no terrorist goes from here to commit any act there,” Aziz said. Pakistan can persuade the Taliban to re-engage in talks with the Afghan government only after the group resolves its leadership problem. Pakistan has been urging the Taliban to talk rather than fight because ultimately fighting is not a solution, “Aziz added.
Taliban have ceded phenomenal space and have come to the negotiating table. Ashraf Ghani should reciprocate and start sharing political power with them, a fairly elaborate framework in this regard was agreed upon during Karzai era. Political incentives would broaden the constituency of moderate factions of Taliban and they will be able to attract extremist splinters to join the dialogue process. President Ashraf Ghani should do a background homework and hint about his political intent at the earliest. Moreover, as long as Afghan leadership continues to mix-up militancy based political struggle—insurgency— with terrorism, no durable head-way is likely to come-by.
The silver-lining is that after the outburst by the Afghan President, a delegation led by Afghan foreign minister has visited Pakistan to discuss the contentious issues, especially the ‘non-paper’ earlier communicated by the Afghan side, demanding of Pakistan to take action against Afghan Taliban on its soil. During the Afghan foreign minister’s visit, Afghan side conveyed its concerns over the spate of recent attacks in Kabul and sought cooperation. Pakistan pledged full cooperation against terrorism and emphasised that the two countries should have trust in each other and “discourage spoilers and detractors”. Premier Nawaz assured the Afghan delegation of all-out support but also suggested that implicating Pakistan’s security institutions in the attacks was regrettable. PM’s adviser informed the delegation that the Pakistani government had serious concerns about Afghan soil being used against Pakistan. “But we believe in using appropriate channels to convey our concerns instead of going public with allegations,” Aziz said. However, the delegation did not report back to its boss positively.
President Ashraf Ghani’s frustration is understandable, but his approach to resolve the issues is unfortunately getting more and more erratic. More than a decade long Pakistan bashing has neither helped the Americans nor Ashraf’s predecessor; it is not likely to help him either. Americans have corrected their course and it would serve Ashraf well if he follows suit. The Afghan conflict needs professional handling. President Ashraf Ghani should have done his calculations before signing the Bilateral Security Agreement with America that a very powerful component of Taliban is not likely to compromise on presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil. Despite stern tone in his comments on Pakistan, Ghani failed to come up with something concrete to achieve the desired objectives.
The Afghan leadership should comprehend that it is an exercise in futility to assume that Pakistan has compelling influence on Taliban. Bad experience of cobbling together a broad based Mujahedeen government in the wake of Soviet withdrawal from Kabul in the 1990s is not a distant memory; and ever since, Afghan insurgent leadership’s psyche has not changed much.
