Peace in Afghanistan to benefit Pakistan: seminar

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a daylong discussion emphasised on an inclusive government in Afghanistan and said that peace and stability in Afghanistan will benefit Pakistan the most while instability will harm it the worst.

The discussion on “Afghanistan Currents: The Way Forward for Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Region” was held at Area Study Centre (Russia, China & Central Asia), University of Peshawar on Thursday.

Former Ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan Rustam Shah Mohmand was the keynote speaker on the occasion, while the event was also addressed by former vice chancellor University of Peshawar Prof Azmat Hayat Khan, Prof Hussain Shaheed Soherwardi and Prof Shabir Ahmad Khan.

Rustam Shah Mohmand said the US spent two trillion US dollars in Afghanistan and ended up with complete failure. Talking about the Taliban’s future, he said that they have to be very prudent and wise in order to create a workable environment in Afghanistan.

Director Area Study Centre, Prof Shabir Ahmad Khan said that regional consensus particularly support of Afghanistan’s neighbours was instrumental to avoid a civil war in Afghanistan.

He said that the real test for the Afghan Taliban began after their takeover. Their leadership needed to develop institutions from scratch, to go along with the region in particular and with the world in general.

Taking over Afghanistan has been proved easy historically; however, running the state successfully always remained a challenge, he said.

Dr Azmat Hayat Khan said that the US failed in Afghanistan not because of intelligence but they failed to understand the social structure and culture of Afghanistan.

He said that there are many well educated people in the ranks of Taliban and they are not against women’s education.

Dr Hussain Shaheed Soherwardi said that former president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani made huge mistakes by making relations with extra territorial countries and ignoring his neighbours.