Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations Mending the Broken Fibre’

Pakistan and Afghanistan are once again trying to follow a hand-in-hand policy in overcoming the common challenges. If saving their citizens from the menace of terrorism is a big challenge, then ensuring a real reconciliation in the aftermath of the 2014 withdrawal seems even a bigger challenge. The circumstantial pressures keep on jockeying the two countries viz-a-viz bilateral relations. They start talking to each other but then suddenly talk about certain unpleasant incidents.

The unfortunate assassination of the then Chairman of the High Peace Council of Afghanistan (HPC) late professor Burhanuddin Rabbani put on hold the joint efforts of the two countries for reconciliation inside Afghanistan. The Salala check-post incident forced Pakistan to minimise focus on its western borders. It took almost a year that the new HPC Chairman, Mr Salahuddin Rabbani, undertook a trip to Pakistan.

With the visit by Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, the thread has been rejoined where it broke because of the assassination of the late Professor Rabbani. Pakistan agreed and has now released a number of the Afghan Taliban from its custody to facilitate the intra-Afghan talks. This is in line with the oft-quoted policy of supporting an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation. However, the main demand of release of Mullah Abdul Ghani Brother has not been met by Pakistan so far. Afghan President Hamid Karzai himself has been very keen in securing the release of Mullah Brother. Being a fellow Popalzai Pushtoon, Mullah Brother is supposed (by President Karzai) to strengthen latter’s perspective within the Afghan ruling circles.

The High Peace Council is not an executive arm of the Afghan government to implement or execute whatever was agreed during its visit to Pakistan. Therefore, Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Zalmay Rasool visited Pakistan in the first half of December. During his stay in Islamabad, the two sides expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the recent visit to Pakistan by the HPC delegation led by its Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani. The Afghan side thanked Pakistan for releasing prisoners in response to the HPC request. Pakistan reiterated its support to an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. The two sides emphasised the importance of an intra-Afghan inclusive dialogue and the consequent political settlement for a durable peace in Afghanistan.

Pakistan reaffirmed that it fully supports and stands by the Afghan nation because they determine their own future. In this context, both sides agreed to take action on the elements of the Joint Statement issued during HPC’s visit. Both sides also agreed to a joint conference of Afghan and Pakistani ulema (religious scholars) to take place in Kabul by the end of January 2013, the release of more prisoners, facilitating contacts and urging the Taliban to renounce ties to al-Qaida.

 In the aftermath of the visit by Afghanistan’s foreign minister, a lot is still needed to be done. First, the Afghan side desires that Pakistan should release all Afghans detained by Pakistan. However, Pakistan has got to be cautious. Secondly, there are a number of Taliban on the list of international sanctions.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have committed to jointly work together to get them de-listed. Here, the two governments have to convince the international community as well as the other major actors like the United States (US) about the utility of de-listing. One of the failures of the Qatar process lies in the fact that the US did not accept the Taliban demand to free their men from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. So, there is no guarantee by the US of agreeing to such a demand by Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The success of the reconciliation process becomes both urgent as well as imperative in the wake of re-election of US President Barack Obama. President Obama has to abide by his promise of withdrawing troops by 2014. Now, either the international community leaves back a vacuum created like in the post-1989 Afghanistan and once again let the Afghan soil become a breeding-ground for international terrorism, or the international community ensures a broad-based set-up having the backing of all Afghan groups to take over their own affairs.

The international community, in general and this region in particular, cannot afford another civil war of unpredictable consequences in Afghanistan. And there are strong fears among various segments of the Pakistani society.

The two sides have also been emphasising the very need to enhance cooperation in the fields of development, transit, trade, economic and investment linkages, the infra- structure and energy connectivity and people-to-people contacts. Pakistan and Afghanistan can become a hub of international trade and energy.

The land-route-based trade from Far East Asia through South and Central Asia up to the West European countries is no more a Utopia, provided there is peace and tranquillity in Afghanistan. The gas and electricity projects between Central and South Asia necessarily have to pass through Afghanistan. That is why reconciliation in Afghanistan is considered an imperative for peace and development in the region.

While expressing satisfaction at the current volume of the annual bilateral trade ($2.5 billion), the two countries have also agreed to take measures to further promote bilateral trade and achieve the target of $5 billion annual trade by 2015.

The third meeting of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA), held in Islamabad on 11-12 October 2012, made significant progress on issues of operational nature pertaining to the Transit Trade Agreement between the two countries. The two countries have also recognised the need of jointly pursuing the trade and transit agreements with the Central Asian states. It has also been agreed by the two sides that as a first step, a trilateral transit and trade agreement will be negotiated with Tajikistan, to be extended to other countries as appropriate and mutually determined.

It is also noteworthy that Pakistan and Afghanistan have realized that a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) will further deepen the bilateral relations between the two countries. Both sides have agreed to initiate negotiations for signing of an SPA.

Both sides were rejoicing the successful visits of the High Peace Council as well as the visit by the Afghan foreign minister to Pakistan. The Afghan Intelligence Chief, Asad Ullah Khalid, was wounded in an attempt on his life following which President Karzai did not mince words and pointed his finger at Pakistan.

A trilateral summit in Ankara attended by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey saved the Pakistan-Afghanistan reconciliatory process by a joint commission to probe the life attempt on the Afghan intelligence chief. Exactly one year ago, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani was assassinated before the trilateral summit in Turkey. One year later, the Afghan intelligence chief has faced an assassination attempt before this year’s trilateral summit in Turkey. Isn’t that a strange coincidence?