The Afghan front

Mixed signals have come from Friday’s dialogue between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. The two had a long one-to-one meeting on the sidelines of the sixth edition of the Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA-VI) in Kabul. The hope was that the two would be able to chalk out a way the countries could avoid mudslinging after much bad blood over the recent spike in Taliban-led attacks in Kabul. Speaking at the conference, Ghani, once again, reiterated that he would like to have good ties with Pakistan but again pointed to unnamed groups within Pakistan destabilising peace in Afghanistan. With no official communication published after the talks it is expected that the two had an open exchange. Aziz was well received in Afghanistan and met key officials including Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, National Security Adviser Hanif Atma; he also attended a reception hosted by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. The warm reception granted to Aziz and the Pakistani delegation suggests that Afghanistan is ready to take the peace process further, but is sticking to its demand for action from Pakistan against the Afghan Taliban.
Ghani remained committed to the line that normalisation with Pakistan was essential, claiming that Afghanistan’s economic strategy was bound with normalising relations with neighbours, Pakistan being the priority. However, he warned that the path forward would not be a smooth one. The Pakistani Foreign Office confirmed that Aziz had five key points to discuss with the Afghan leadership. These included confirming Pakistan’s commitment to a stable Afghanistan, asking for the anti-Pakistan campaign in Afghanistan to be stopped, conveying concerns over the security of Pakistani embassy personnel in Afghanistan, and confirming our commitment to the talks and reconciliation process with the Taliban. It was reported that there was an agreement to stop issuing statements against each other. However, there has been no official statement confirming that. Aziz also pushed the merits of the CPEC in terms of offering the region a new economic hub. Overall, the meeting between Aziz and Ghani was important to clear the air. One would wish for similar initiatives on the eastern side of our border. However, there is still much that Afghanistan and Pakistan will need to do in order to rebuild mutual trust.