US says Pakistan making sincere efforts for Afghan peace

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is making a “sincere effort” towards Afghan peace and it wants to make the best use of the “new environment” by aiding a negotiated political settlement to the conflict in the neighboring country, U.S. Special Representative Dan Feldman said.
“I do think that there is a sincere effort being made by Pakistan at this point to take advantage of this new environment and a recognition that long-term stability on their border is in their interest and that they have a role to play in trying to ensure that there is a peaceful resolution to this process,” Feldman, who is special U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said.
Feldman, who has years of experience on implementing U.S. policy toward the region, was briefing reporters along with Larry Sampler, USAID Assistant to the Administrator for the Office of Pakistan and Afghanistan, on the new Afghan leaders’ visit to Washington this week.
During their visit to Washington, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah discussed the future of his country with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense secretary Ashton Carter in view of the multiple transitions leading to 2016-end withdrawal of American forces. One of the sessions at Camp David talks led by Secretary Kerry and the Afghan leaders focused on regional cooperation and reconciliation.
Speaking at Washington’s Foreign Press Center, Feldman brushed aside a journalist’s suggestion that some of Ghani’s remarks appeared to imply a criticism of Pakistan.
In response, Feldman cited his recent meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif as well as with President Ghani and Dr. Abdullah, emphasizing that “we’re all committed to trying to build the environment that would be conducive to this.”
President Ghani, he said, has taken a “very pragmatic and strategic approach here and has helped to significantly change the dynamic in terms of the environment that would produce this over the course of just the last six or seven months in a way that wasn’t possible, seemingly, before then.”
Feldman said regional partners including China, and the Gulf countries have also espoused support for a reconciliation process in Afghanistan. He said, the U.S. remains in touch with India as well. “I think that there’s a common and broad desire to see some sort of political discussions and negotiated settlement occur if that is feasible. And so there’s certainly skepticism on some parts that it is feasible, but I think there is a fairly consistent desire to at least see if it’s possible.” he replied, when asked specifically if India supports the Afghan reconciliation.
The U.S. envoy also applauded Islamabad’s ongoing military drive to clear tribal areas of militants.
In the changed regional climate, Dan particularly referred to the narrative and national response to December 16, 2014 terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, with a “description of the Peshawar massacres as Pakistan’s 9/11.”
“I think the manner in which it galvanized a national consensus against all forms of extremism has also fed into the commitment to try to address these forms of extremism and try to use their leverage to bring about a peaceful resolution to Afghanistan’s long-term conflict.”
“So we’ll have to see what occurs, but in my conversations with civilian and military and intelligence leadership in Pakistan, I think that there is an opportunity here that hasn’t been here in the past. And hopefully we can all “ hopefully the appropriate parties can capitalize on it. Because we’ve long said that the conflict in Afghanistan won’t be ended only through military means, but has to be done through some sort of negotiated political settlement,” he said.