Afghanistan and Pakistan are once again stepping back from a common ground on peace effort that was established over months of mutual works through the four-nation peace initiative which also comprises China and the United States. While it is not clear to the public what is going on behind the curtain between the two countries over peace talks with the Taliban, Afghan and Pakistani officials once again return to war of words over the insurgency in Afghanistan and the recent stalemate of peace negotiations with the Taliban. In recent weeks, a number of Afghan government serving and former officials have criticized Pakistan for its lack of determination to help in the Afghan peace process and bring Taliban leaders to the table of negotiations.
In a briefing to the parliament, Afghan acting director of National Directorate for Security (NDS) Massoud Andarabi accused Pakistan’s ISI for “completely supporting and encouraging” the Taliban to seize territory in Afghanistan and expand its insurgency in the country. A Pakistani foreign ministry official called the allegations on Thursday as baseless, insisting that Pakistani is fighting terrorism with complete resolve and determination. The comments by Afghan security officials were echoed by Mohammad Umer Daudzai, a former interior minister who is now a member of the Council of Protection and Stability of Afghanistan. He said that, in exchange for helping in the peace process, Pakistan has demands from Kabul that the current government or any other government in Afghanistan would not be able to meet. Daudzai insisted that Pakistan pursues its own goals in Afghanistan and is not sincere in helping peace efforts in the country.
The recent open claims and counterclaims between Afghan and Pakistani officials come after the recent failure of planned talks with the Taliban backed by the four-nation coordination group of Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China. There have been high hopes pinned on Pakistan who was supposed to play a facilitating role in the Afghan peace process.
Some months ago, Pakistan for the first time admitted that it had influence over the Taliban and would use it to bring the leaders of the militant groups to the table of negotiations. However, Pakistani officials have long said that the country does not have an ultimate control over the Taliban. Despite the recent setback, Pakistan says it is trying to persuade the Taliban to come to the peace initiative and sit for talks with the government of Afghanistan.
With the failure to start talks with the Taliban, many in Afghanistan, including former interior minister Omar Daudzai, now say that it was basically wrong to rely on Pakistan’s role for seeking peace with the Taliban. This suggests how the opinions in the Afghan political community over Pakistan’s role in the peace talks could swing rapidly with event of setbacks and disruptions in the peace process. This highlights the fact that the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are highly dependent to the two countries’ success to do something concrete for peace in Afghanistan rather than other potentials of cooperation and partnership between the two nations. Therefore, both the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan need to realize that it is essential to improve relations and mutual cooperation with the focus on peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Relying on Pakistan’s help to negotiate peace with the Taliban has become president Ghani’s high-stake political gambling with the Afghan government making it a top priority to seek peace with the Taliban through Pakistan’s assistance. Despite the setback, President Ashraf Ghani remains cautiously hopeful to Pakistan’s role in the peace efforts. In a recent interview with the BBC, he expressed optimisms that Pakistan would stick to its pledge in bringing Taliban leaders to the table of negotiations. However, he knows well that his outreach to Pakistan has met trouble and the initiative to seek peace talks with Taliban through Pakistan’s help has faced serious challenges.
President Ghani’s outreach to Pakistan aimed at reviving peace talks with the Taliban now is being seriously tested. If it does not work and fails bring the Taliban to the table of peace negotiations, it will broadly affect the relations between the two neighbor countries, and in the other hand, the peace efforts would go nowhere without a robust cooperation between the two countries. The failure to hold the face-to-face talks seem to be unraveling the recent trust-building mutual efforts of Kabul and Islamabad aimed at reviving peace negotiations with the Taliban.
In order for the peace initiative to work, both the Afghan government and Pakistan need to work to maintain undisrupted warm relations. Only through robust relations between the two countries, they can prevent unexpected disruptions in the efforts to revive the peace talks and start negotiations with the insurgents. A sustainable relations between the two countries is in fact is a prerequisite for successfully leading the efforts to start negotiations with the insurgent groups. What the Afghan and Pakistani governments neglect is the fact that deterioration of relations between Kabul and Islamabad is more detriment to the peace efforts than any other factors in the way for peace efforts. Therefore, both the countries need to maintain sustained friendly relations with the aim to pave the way for peace talks and preventing unexpected disruptions.
For this, officials from both size need to realize the other side’s sensitivities related to sovereignty and security. The officials of both countries need to remain cognizant that there will be always unexpected disruptions threatening the efforts to revive talks. Both sides need to do more to minimize the impacts of such developments.
Pakistan will need to keep its pledge to make concrete actions against Taliban leaders residing in the country and end playing what some call double game in the Afghan conflict. There are internal skepticisms and oppositions in both countries threatening the efforts to make a breakthrough in the peace efforts. Both sides need to overcome these challenges through sustainably improving the relations.