President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday that relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan were not brotherly but like a relationship between two states. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation on the first anniversary of his presidential term, Ghani urged Islamabad to take the same stance against terrorists targeting Pakistan or any other country.The Afghan president’s statement comes at a time when relations between the two countries are tense, with leaders from both sides accusing the other of harbouring terrorists. Popular belief in Afghanistan questions Pakistan’s sincerity in seeking a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship. “The point is that they [Pakistanis] cannot adopt a hard stance against any terrorist activities in their own country and a different stance for terrorists devastating Afghanistan,” Ghani said in the interview. “Peace between the two countries is of paramount importance,” he added. “Unless there is peace, the hideouts of terrorists as well as the system supporting them will remain there.” In view of the ground realities in Kabul, it is highly likely that a press release to this effect might have been issued by some Presidential spokesperson without knowledge of Ashraf Ghani. This is because Ghani has lately been sidelined by hard-liner and extremist elements within his administration, who are directly reporting to the rival office of the Chief Executive. Otherwise, Mr. Ashraf Ghani was considered to be a serious, sober and unprovoked personality, who has expressed his commitment on a number of occasions to promote good neighbourly relations with Pakistan. There have been accusations from Afghan side against Pakistan on the issue of alleged support to terrorists for the last over a decade. The process assumed intensity during tenure of ever mercurial former President Hamid Karzai, who used Pakistan bashing as a tool to pressurize Islamabad for the sake of squeezing personal and other benefits. The situation changed when the incumbent President assumed power in Afghanistan and in fact, initially, some moves were made to remove misunderstanding between the two countries and began a new chapter of cooperative relationship. This was also because the entire civilian and military leadership in Pakistan too aggressively pursued the policy of promoting peace in Afghanistan and tried to enlist support of Kabul for a joint fight against terror. Afghanistan has also been accusing Pakistan of going soft on some militant groups but operation Zarb-e-Azb has targeted all those whether they are fighting against Pakistan or using its soil for activities against any other countries. In this backdrop, the statement attributed to President Ashraf Ghani is not understandable and raises questions about the messy situation in Afghanistan where Indians have penetrated deep into different spheres of Afghan life to undermine prospects of much-needed peace. His remarks came on the day when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was telling UN Secretary-General in New York that Pakistan was ready to support reconciliation process in Afghanistan if so asked. What a contrast!
pk.shafaqna.com
