Sartaj to visit Kabul on September 3

ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser as well as key adviser on the foreign policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, is expected to visit Kabul on September 3-4 to represent Pakistan at the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA).
Sartaj Aziz has his work cut out for him, as he will use this opportunity to bridge building after bilateral relations with Afghanistan are at the lowest ebb. Aziz will also miss a chance to meet his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, as an unhappy Modi government has degraded his delegation to the secretary level.
Bilateral relations have been strained of late where some uncalled for and malicious allegations have been made by President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Dr Abdullah Abdullah accusing Pakistan of being behind some of the deadliest militant attacks inside Afghanistan.
Earlier, the ongoing talks between the Afghan Taliban and Ghani’s representatives were also called off with the Afghan president vowing not to continue with Pakistan’s help and hold future talks. On Monday, Sartaj Aziz dispelled US accusations that the Afghan led Haqqani network was still working from Pakistan and questioned Washington’s demand for taking a number of steps to dismantle this militant network which functioned from Pakistan.
“The infrastructure of the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, which included the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) factories and a number of other capacities, including communication, has been disrupted. Our assessment is that their capacity in Afghanistan is much, much bigger – probably 80/90 percent compared to what it is here. And what is here is also being cleaned out as a part of our operations,” Sartaj Aziz clarified at the Foreign Office Monday.
Earlier this month Pakistan’s Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lt-Gen (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch visited Kabul to represent Pakistan in a meeting with the Afghan government and the UN refugee agency, to discuss the issue of nearly three million Afghan refugees still living here, with no indication that Kabul is as yet ready for their return.
Pakistan is still mulling over Kabul’s request to allow them two years further stay at a time when Pakistan’s economy is also over stretched and it can no longer afford the security risks that some of these Afghans pose when the militants in the guise of refugees misuse these camps.
There is also donor fatigue with international funding having dried up as the world washed its hands away from them.
Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani while commenting on the forthcoming RECCA says, “We want to revitalise the Silk Road and turn Afghanistan into a regional hub for connecting Central Asia to South Asia.”
REECA was started in 2005 and five meetings have been held in Kabul, New Delhi, Islamabad, Istanbul, and Dushanbe.
Kabul says that the REECA will provide a comprehensive review of progress since RECCA-I, including in the areas of trade and transport, energy, minerals extraction, private investment, vocational skill training, and disaster preparedness.
* Build an international consensus around action plans for a select group of regional investment projects and policy priorities, focused on overcoming implementation obstacles and attracting new investment partners.
* Reaffirm through the RECCA-VI Declaration international support for a sovereign Afghanistan integrated in the regional and global economy.
* Ensure that the Istanbul Process Confidence-Building Measures are achievable and supported by the Tokyo and London Conferences on Afghanistan commitments, as well as coordinated with strategies agreed through Saarc, CAREC, ECO, SCO, UNSPECA, TRACECA and other regional forums.
Consultations on the above goals, says Afghan officials will occur in advance of RECCA-VI with Afghan ministries, regional and international counterparts.
Preceding the high-level ministerial meeting on September 4, an Academic Forum and a Regional Business Forum, held on Sept 3 will engage scholars and business representatives from across the region and beyond around critical regional economic cooperation themes, including in the areas of trade & transport, energy & resource corridors, streamlining customs & border crossings, and attracting investment & technical know-how from the private sector.
However, a key Afghan ally, India says that it will send a low key delegation to Kabul as it is miffed with earlier overtures that Afghanistan had made towards Pakistan.
The Hindu writes that India has been “Stung by Afghanistan’s security and strategic shift towards Pakistan in the past year, and India rebuffed another invitation from Kabul to revive the 2011 Strategic Partnership Agreement, and that instead of Sushma Swaraj, the Minister for External Affairs, India will be represented at secretary level.