Rapidly changing scenario in Afghanistan: PPP seeks clear foreign policy for peace, stability at home

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary leader of the Pakistan people’s Party (PPP) in Senate and Chairperson Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee Senator Sherry Rehman Tuesday said that Pakistan had the highest stakes in peace in Afghanistan, but the geo-politics of escalating violence next door indicates that peace may be much farther than imagined.

“In this scenario, clear, focused policy-making at home will have far-reaching consequences for the security, stability and economic health of the country,” she said while speaking to the reporters on the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan.

In her talk, Sherry Rehman said foreign policy cannot be predicated on mood-swing statements, or the personal likes or dislikes of any individual as it is pure statecraft which must reflect the institutional expression of state interests as well as the political will of the people of Pakistan. “Big decisions need big leaders who can sublimate their ego to public interests and institutional tradecraft, not just reach out to mass media via tweets and TV addresses,” she said.

Sherry Rehman said there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that this issue will impact Pakistan hard in more critical ways than one. “Clarity and consensus are needed for any foreign policy to be successful, especially if policy agendas are focused on protecting a country’s interests and people, which involves managing competing interests and ideas. Why should Pakistan be different?" she asked, saying that “in times of crisis, leadership is crucial to policy formation as well as its smart articulation.

Unfortunately, she said at key inflection points for the country, the prime minister, who should have the convening power, and accompanying goodwill, to craft unity and consensus via political parties and parliament is absent.” It’s as if he feels he can outsource vital decisions that will test Pakistan, to other cabinet members and the security community, who should not have to go it alone when trying to chart a way forward for the country in the institutional vacuum he has created in Pakistan,” she said.