‘Public diplomacy necessary to engage Kabul’

Islamabad: Public diplomacy was need of the hour to engage with the Taliban government in Kabul in a manner that resonated with the local Afghans and was capable of reconstructing their ill-conceived presumptions about Pakistan’s support over the years.

This was agreed at a panel of experts in a roundtable discussion on “Afghanistan’s new era: assessing the role of regional powers and international organisations in shaping Afghanistan’s future hosted by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) and Pak-Afghan Youth Forum (PAYF) here Thursday. Abrar Hussain, vice-chairperson, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), maintained that since Pakistan was the most preferred trade and transit partner of Afghanistan, the Government of Pakistan needed to facilitate Afghan traders in order to optimally benefit from this portal. Efforts also needed to be directed at public diplomacy with the people of Afghanistan, he added.