Pakistan initiated peace summit on Afghanistan on Saturday. Many Afghan political leaders have attended the peace conference to pave the way for further Afghan-to-Afghan dialogue.
This conference will be followed by meetings and working sessions over the next two days. The conference comes in the run-up to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to Pakistan next week.
Most of the Afghan leaders who had participated in the second round of Afghan peace talks in Moscow have participated in the event, except Ex-president Hamid Karzai and former interior minister Hanif Atmar, who have expressed their inability to participate in the meeting in Bhurban.
Facilitating Intra-Afghan Talks
Pakistan can play a significant role in the Afghan peace talks because Pakistan is one of the three countries that recognized Taliban’s regime. It is also blamed for creating the group by Maulana Sami ul-Haq, a prominent Pakistani cleric known as the “father of the Taliban” for having taught some of the militant movement’s leaders, and constantly supporting them. Thus, as long as Taliban leaders continue to be based in Pakistan –, it will retain leverage. And Pakistan now has a great opportunity to make a lasting contribution to the Afghan peace process. As a consequence, if Pakistan can succeed in convincing the Taliban to sit down with Kabul, as difficult as that will be, the benefits would be great. Improving relations of Islamabad with Kabul and Washington would would improve Pakistan’s regional reputation. And it will give a new pulse to a long-elusive peace process in the country.
Putting an End to Pakistan’s Strategic Depth
This concept was first articulated in the 1980s. It then became part of a policy to be pursued by Pakistan in order to respond to any likely potential military strike by India. Since then, the Pakistani military establishment has used this policy to justify manipulating the politics of Afghanistan, by using violence and terror as state instruments of control. Following this idea, the military has exploited the material-needs and nationalistic fervor of specific mujahideen leaders who sought support to fight the USSR,religious extremist groups and, more recently, the Taliban, in a bid to subdue, marginalize and decapitate the Afghan state. And it can continue this policy through creating and manipulating religious extremists’ new terror groups in the future.
Why Pakistan Wants to Support Afghan Peace Process
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a lot of opportunities and have common economic future. This common future has the potential to connect them to markets of Europe, Africa and rest of Asia. Both countries have the potential to become trade and economic hub of the world. As a result investing in peace in the region will be beneficial for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the region and the world. In a larger context, the two countries being an economic hub will multiply the economies of the world.
How Insecurity in Afghanistan Impacts Pakistan
Many Pakistani leaders including Lt.Gen.(R) Nasser Khan Janjua, have come to the conclusion that Afghanistan is heart of Asia region and if there is peace in the heart only then there would be prosperity and stability in the region. The prolong instability in Afghanistan has nurtured insecurity in the region, and
sadly, children of Afghanistan have seen nothing but war since 1979, whereas Pakistan, after Afghanistan, is the most affected country hit by instability and insurgencies. As such, a peaceful Afghanistan means a prosperous and stable Pakistan.
Pakistan can play a significant role in the Afghan peace process. It always has been blamed for instability in Afghanistan due to the idea of changing Afghanistan to its depth of strategic. However, there are signs of Pakistan policy shift towards Afghanistan. Pakistan tends to focus on supporting peace in Afghanistan; doing so, the two countries will change to economic strategic partners that can benefit from a common economic future that can connect them to markets of Europe, Africa and rest of Asia. This can ensure a peaceful region and a prosperous and stable Afghanistan and Pakistan that can contribute to the improvement of the economies of the world.