President Ashraf Ghani is set to participate in a regional conference in Islamabad, in which the participants will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and explore ways on how to help the country’s troubled economy as well as the peace efforts. The conference is a rare opportunity for restoring trust and improving cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the peace process in Afghanistan. Afghanistan announced a last minute confirmation of President Ghani’s participation to the conference after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited him to the gathering when the two leaders met at the sidelines of the COP21 Paris Climate Change Conference. After a pause in improvement of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Ghani’s participation in the conference will help both countries to talk and explore a common ground on the Afghan peace process and security in both countries.

Ahead of the conference, the diplomatic efforts shown by officials of Afghanistan and Pakistan finally did pay off as the Pakistani Prime Minister invited President Ghani which was accepted by the government of Afghanistan.

Given the fragility of the peace efforts by both Pakistan and Afghanistan and the recent tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, the conference provides a vital opportunity for both countries to settle disagreements and focus on issues related to the Afghan peace efforts and security of both countries. Pakistan has shown perseverance in convincing the Afghan government to attend the conference while Afghanistan is also welcoming any efforts that help the peace process in the country. The initiative ‘Heart of Asia’ conference on Afghanistan brings many leaders from the region that can play a crucial role in helping the countries to improve bilateral trade and cooperation on security issues. However, there are also challenges and problems overshadowing the conference and potentially affecting the outcome of the gathering.  The conference is an opportunity for Ashraf Ghani to retry his outreach to Pakistan for seeking the country’s help in brining Taliban leaders to table of negotiation. President Ashraf Ghani’s overtures to Pakistan aimed for the country’s help over the peace process was hampered by the sharp increase of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan after the unexpected announcement of death of the group’s leader Mullah Muhammad Omar this year. Struggling to cope with the announced death of Mullah Omar and trying to prove strength of the new leader, the Taliban orchestrated a wave of attacks in Kabul and other provinces. Amidst high expectations from the improving relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the initial steps for resumption of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, the announcement of Mullah Omar’s death came as a spoiling incident for the fledgling Afghan peace process mediated by Pakistan.

The peace initiative was virtually put aside as a bitter power struggle arose between Taliban factions while on the other hand, the militants launched a deadly offensive against government forces. At this time of uncertainty, the government of Afghanistan, which was struggling to cope with the spring offensive of the Taliban, as well as the Pakistani government lacked a will to give a breath to the efforts which once saw the resumption of peace talks between Afghan government and the Taliban in Muree of Pakistan. The wide skepticisms in both Afghanistan and Pakistan have been keeping back the two governments to do a refresh in their cooperation over the stalled Afghan peace process. There have been widespread distrusts in Afghanistan towards Pakistan’s approach concerning the peace process and the country’s promised help in bringing the Taliban to table of negotiation.

Despite existing challenges, the ‘Heart of Asia Conference’ provides Kabul and Islamabad an opportunity to overcome the mistrusts of past months and refocus on how to improve cooperation on security issues and starting peace talks with the Taliban. The conference is set to discuss a wide range of issues such as boosting the Afghan economy, the peace process in Afghanistan, improving cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan over security and bilateral trade. The potential for cooperation between the two countries is tremendous. Along with working on issues related to peace and security, the two countries need to focus more on enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation for both short and long term periods. The participants of the conferences are directly relevant to the potential of economic and trade partnership between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

These countries can help to make this happen. In recent years, many of the regional countries including China and Russia have been showing willingness to help the peace efforts in Afghanistan as well as the Kabul-Islamabad relations. Afghanistan and Pakistan need to look at the potential of bilateral and regional trade as well as the regional consensus on resolving the conflict in Afghanistan. The two countries not only need to make sure that the current level of cooperation over the Afghan peace process will not degrade, but also should work on improving bilateral trade and security partnership. For this to happen, the ‘Heart of Asia Conference’ is a genuine opportunity to overcome differences and mistrusts and build on the cooperation that already exist between the two countries.

There will substantial challenges ahead. The continued militant attacks in Afghanistan have time and again disrupted cooperation between Kabul and Islamabad on the Afghan peace process. It may do so in the future. Both Kabul and Islamabad have reasserted their determinations for improve security and cooperating over peace process in Afghanistan. Given this, the two countries will need to ensure that they will continue to work together and build on the works done for starting the peace process in Afghanistan. On the Pakistani side, the government needs to realize that it should genuinely listen to the demands of the Afghan government for convincing the militants to cease the terrorist attacks. Pakistan needs to ensure that no government or military circles in the country support the militant groups. The two countries can move forward on security issues and peace process in Afghanistan only by making genuine political compromises and heeding to each other’s calls. The ‘Heart of Asia’ conference in Islamabad is the right venue for making such compromises and listening differently to each other.