Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa’s attendance at the Chiefs of Defence Conference in Kabul was a good opportunity for Pakistan to present an olive branch to Afghanistan and the US – two countries with which our current relations are particularly poor. Both governments blame Pakistan for helping the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had responded to the recent surge of militant violence in his country by renewing verbal attacks on us while the US has suspended much of its security assistance under the Coalition Support Fund. Bajwa made the case for all three countries to work together but denied Pakistan supports any militant groups. His recommendations for dealing with militants who carry out attacks in Pakistan were essentially a restatement of Pakistan’s long-standing policy goals. He said the few militants who are based in Pakistan are able to take advantage of the Afghan refugee population and poor border security management. As it happens, we have been pushing for repatriation of Afghan refugees as well as the need to fence the border, both of which are opposed by the Afghan government. There is a valid argument to be made that it is unrealistic to expect refugees to return to a country where violence is at a near-peak while a border fence would inconvenience the thousands of people who need to cross over for jobs and family purposes. More dialogue is needed over these measures.
Bajwa did push back against the Trump administration’s policy of moving closer to India at the expense of Pakistan by pointing out that regions develop as a whole, and not individual countries. The point he was making is that the US needs to ensure that every country in the region is working towards peace in Afghanistan as opposed to its current strategy of furthering only India involvement. The US may now be coming around to that view too. The latest budget document produced by the Trump administration for fiscal year 2019 asks for $336 million in civil and military aid to be given to Pakistan to help fight the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. The budget itself will not be considered by Congress since Trump only just signed a two-year congressional budget deal last Friday and the Republican leadership in the Senate has said it will not consider any more budget bills till the mid-term elections in November. What this budget does show, though, is that Trump’s attitude towards Pakistan may be softening. As a foreign policy novice, he is relying a lot on his generals and so Bajwa’s presence in Kabul can only help improve ties. Any peace negotiations with the Afghan Taliban will end up involving both Pakistan and the US so it is essential the two countries keep the lines of communication open at such conferences.