The honeymoon period between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani seems to be over. After being elected into office last year, Ghani attempted to move closer to Pakistan. However, the recently reported death of Mullah Omar and the increased Taliban attacks in Afghanistan seem to have pushed him into a corner domestically. On Monday, President Ghani launched a blistering attack against Islamabad and accused it of not doing enough to eliminate Taliban bases in the country. Ashraf Ghani chose to direct his anger at Pakistan, claiming that the massive attacks have been orchestrated from inside Pakistan and that the Pakistani security establishment has done little to stem the tide. Much as it is possible to understand Mr Ghani and other Afghan officials’ concerns about the grave instability inside Afghanistan, the anger directed towards Pakistan is hardly going to help matters. Perhaps Mr Ghani and his supporters ought to recall recent history. Only a day before his outburst, Ghani had spoken to both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif over the situation. While our previous policies may have made such mistrust justified, the fact is that there have been efforts to break away from the old days on the Pakistani side. Ghani may have rhetoric on his side, but it is his government that is looking for talks with the Taliban. If Afghanistan wants to talk to the Afghan Taliban, would it not be counterproductive for Pakistan to target the same group in its own territory? The response by Pakistan has thus far been measured rather than diving headlong into a blame game, a response that we welcome. President Ghani is under pressure, and not just from the Taliban. His government is far from rock-solid and the country is as politically polarised as it ever was, divided along ethnic and tribal lines. Although he did not offer any hard evidence to back his assertion that bomb-factories and Taliban groups were in Pakistan and attacked Afghanistan from there, we must remember that the Pakistani state for long, followed the policy of ‘strategic depth’ and while there may have been a disavowing of this policy at the official level, there may still be elements that see the Afghan Taliban as a strategic asset, and have no investment in the peace process that is currently paused while the Taliban do some belated succession planning. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan need to hold on to the best of what they have achieved thus far. It is no understatement to say that the future peace of the region is going to be dependent on how both countries resolve their differences, as well as the outcome(s) of the peace talks that will, eventually, recommence. However Ghani will have to understand that Taliban were and have always been an Afghan entity and we have only suffered because of Afghanistan. From the Afghan War to the refugee crisis to the Second Afghan War- Afghanistan, as a state, has given us nothing but sleepless nights. No matter what the Pakistani prerogative was in the making or breaking of the Taliban, their stronghold and home has always been Afghanistan. If the Afghan government cannot protect its sovereignty, then the blame cannot lie with Pakistan. This is a matter of international diplomacy, and states, at the end, are their own protectors. Pakistan is never was, no currently is responsible for Afghani crises. Pakistan has looked beyond this and extended a helping hand to Afghanistan to solve their problems.Just like Modi in India, Ghani has shaken our hand and then slapped it away. For what? His own image in the eyes of his opponents? Future votes? Indian promises? The Karzai Government had made their foreign policy clear by accepting $2 billion from India to rebuild its infrastructure post war, while cooperation at the strategic and security levels was and still is immense. After General Raheel Sharif, visited Kabul last month, Ghani announced that Pakistan was unconditionally ready to cooperate with Afghanistan in bringing the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table. This most certainly rang alarm bells in India, explaining Ghani’s shift in sentiment towards Pakistan.
pk.shafaqna.com
