‘Pak-German relations not as they used to be during Cold War’

Islamabad : Gen (r) Asad Durrani, former ambassador to Germany, has said that Pak-German relations are not as they used to be during Cold War.

Gen Durrani was speaking on the second session of the Roundtable on “Pak-German relations: Afghanistan post-2022 prospects and challenges” organised by SASSI (South Asian Strategic Stability Institute) University here Wednesday.

Gen Durrani said that it was a time when we were focused on evacuating the Soviets from Afghanistan. He said that we did our best to end the occupation adding that after Aug 15 last year, it would not bring warm relations with Kabul after US withdrawal.

Referring to Ukraine, he said that NATO was to contain communism and after the end of the Cold War there was no need for a defence alliance. Now they are retaining it for “European security.” Answering a question, he said that the Taliban will not succumb to external pressure.

Prof Zafar Nawaz Jaspal from Quaid-i-Azam University said that 80,000 diaspora and 50 thousand Pak students are in Germany. He also discussed economic cooperation and military cooperation between the two countries in training, mutual visits, and peace keeping. He castigated the US for using geo-economics for blackmailing.

He said we have different culture and need to change labour laws so that a German businessperson can comfortably invest here.

Dr. Ellinor Zeino, KAS Regional Representative Southwest Asia (Kabul-Tashkent) said that we do not know about the prospects of human rights, female education, etc. after the Afghan takeover. She appreciated Pakistan for helping in the evacuation from Kabul. Giving a message from Doha parleys, she said that European diplomats stress wait and see in relation to recognizing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The European governments are also concerned regarding their voters.

Bernhard Schlagheck, German Ambassador in Islamabad, referring to great powers' conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, Gen Bajwa’s intervention at Islamabad Security Dialogue said that there is not much trade between Pakistan and India with Central Asia or Afghanistan but hoped improvement his country’s trade ties with Pakistan.

Dr. Maria Sultan, Director-General of SASSI University, said that 40 pc of drugs pass through Pakistan and via Iran and Turkey reach the Pakistani diaspora in the West. It is blowback from Afghanistan. She said we are trying to explore vistas of Pak-German cooperation to handle the situation.

Amir Ghauri, Editor, of The News, said that Pakistanis do not connect with Germans as we do not know much about European countries. He said that connectivity cannot just be vertical. It should be horizontal also and Pakistan can play an important part in this. He called for discussion of these new ideas.

Lewe Paul, Afghanistan and Pakistan Desk, KAS, Berlin, also spoke on the occasion.