‘Afghans be given security responsibility in Afghanistan’

Islamabad : Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais from Lahore University of Management Sciences has said that security responsibility in Afghanistan should be handed over to the Afghans, focusing on building Afghan forces and continuing negotiations with the Taliban as wars cannot be won decisively.

Dr Bakhsh was addressing the second day of 2-Day National Conference on “Irritants in Pakistan-US relations: way forward’ organised here by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

Dr Bakhsh observed that on the Pakistan side, there is both a feeling of stalemate and desperation in its relations with the US due to withdrawal of security assistance, President Trump’s tweet on Pakistan, denial of funds, FATF grey list International Monetary Fund and the US pressure. He was, however, optimistic that now that the US was directly engaging with the Taliban and had appointed a Special Envoy to help in Taliban-Kabul negotiations, there may be positive changes, especially with the Taliban willing to talk as they are now unsure of their military victory. He cautioned, however, that Islamabad needs to carefully tread the emerging geopolitical pulls like China, Iran and Russia.