Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz has said that Pakistan can host another round of Afghan reconciliation dialogue, if Kabul wants it to do so. “We can host the second round only if Afghanistan wants us to facilitate,” Mr Aziz said while briefing Senate on key foreign policy. “We can only facilitate, it has to be an Afghan initiative.” Mr Aziz offered the Afghan leadership on the sidelines of the conference to help restart the process that got disrupted after it became public that Taliban chief Mullah Omar was dead. Pakistan had been acting as a mediator in the talks process as relations with Afghanistan improved in the first half of this year. These however broke down badly following Taliban attacks in Kabul, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani accusing Pakistan of continuing to sponsor terrorism and backing forces creating mayhem in his country. The accusations, denied by Pakistan, had not gone down well in Islamabad. The agreement by Pakistan to come to Afghanistan’s aid came as UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Nicholas Haysom met the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday and requested a greater role by Pakistan in resolving the conflict. It is becoming clear that a weak Afghan coalition government and even weaker Afghan security force cannot adequately defend the country.
In September this year, the Taliban seized Kunduz in Northern Afghanistan, the first capture of a major Afghan city since 2001 by the militants. A ‘strategic withdrawal’ was made by the Taliban in October with US-led forces moving in to try and defend a city in chaos. The US is also strongly pushing for Pakistan and Afghanistan to work together against the Taliban. It is expected this matter will be taken up by COAS General Raheel Sharif in Washington. Pakistan and Afghanistan are also hosting a Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad in December this year to discuss regional issues at the ministerial level. A patching over of the breakdown in talks between the two countries would raise hopes that President Ghani may attend the inaugural session of the conference and that the effort to ensure stability in Afghanistan could once more move forward. It is clear to all that Pakistan and Afghanistan need to work together for this. Both face a threat from a militant force that is closely linked in both countries, with the new Taliban aggression in Afghanistan associated with the takeover by Mullah Mohammad Mansour, who succeeds Mullah Omar, who is now reported to have died in Karachi in 2013.
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