Salahuddin Rabbani, the head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council (HPC), reached Islamabad on Monday, November 12, to proceed with the mission of reconciliation. Afghan government and especially HPC have been striving to reach a certain concurrence with the Taliban leadership before the international forces withdraw from the country completely so that peace and tranquility can be guaranteed for the future of Afghanistan. In fact, the reconciliation is what can be considered as the best solution of the issue of conflict with Taliban, as further violence and wars can lead to chaos. Political solution, if pursued with determination and honesty, can lead to a peaceful socio-political scenario in the country.
The HPC delegation includes 15 members and they will be meeting Pakistani leadership so as to make Pakistan play its role in the reconciliation process. Pakistan has been considered as one of the most important countries that can play a decisive role in the process. Unfortunately, there are so many issues between the two countries that have been introducing fluctuations in their relations and they have not been able to assist each other in the way they should have. Hopefully this visit of HPC can play a role in solving some of the basic issues in this regard.
Before the visit it was claimed by the Council that Salahuddin Rabbani would have detailed and candid discussions about the reconciliation process with Pakistani officials in Islamabad. It was said that the delegation would confer on important issues with the Pakistani authorities as part of a clear policy. The Council hoped that the trip would yield positive results in terms of stability in Afghanistan. On Sunday November 11, the Pakistan embassy in Kabul said that Rabbani had been invited by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar for talks with the relevant authorities on the Afghan-led peace drive. During his visit, Rabbani will call on President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, besides holding formal talks with Khar and Pakistan's military leadership.
The Council Head hours before his visit also claimed that Hizb e Islami Afghanistan (HIA) was ready to participate in the political process and coming elections. "We've held formal talks with the Gulbadin-led party, which recently conveyed in a letter to the authorities its willingness to contest and support the polls," the High Peace Council (HPC) chairman told the Wolesi Jirga — or lower house of parliament.
Salahuddin Rabbani informed lawmakers the insurgent outfit had stressed the need for strengthening Afghan security forces, an end to the conflict and a role for all parties in the political system.
The HIA proposals, if not altered, could be a stride in the right direction, he remarked, saying that the militants were left with no more war pretexts after the government's approval of a Taliban office in Qatar, announcement of a timetable for foreign forces' pullout and the removal of certain insurgent leaders' names from the UN blacklist.
Without going into details, he said talks had already been held with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and the United Arabic Emirates (UAE) on stabilizing Afghanistan.
Though there have been efforts every now and then by HPC, it has not been successful to a large extent. The basic reason has been that it has faced some major issues during its efforts. Last year, the former head of the Council (Burhan ud din Rabbani) was assassinated by Taliban at his own house. After his demise his son Sallah ud Rabbani took the charge of the Council. It faced another setback in May this year when one of its most senior members Arsala Rahmani was shot dead in Kabul. He was also a sitting member of Senate. These incidents clearly showed that Taliban have not been in the mood to accept the invitations of HPC for negotiations.
Another major problem has been the unwillingness of Taliban to pursue peace efforts. The Afghan government and the international community have been earnest to bring Taliban to negotiation table while Taliban have been earnest to show that they would prefer otherwise. The talks of peace and reconciliation process to them are a game that they are playing so as to have a good bargain. It is difficult to believe that Taliban will ultimately settle for a political solution and will adhere to their promises of maintaining peace and tranquility in the country once they are given a share in the political authority sharing. And now as they see the withdrawal process to be completed soon, they prefer not to have peace talks at all and win a larger share through war.
Moreover, there are reservations on the conditions that are set for the peace talks. HPC has set certain conditions for Taliban to accept before talks can be started with them. The conditions involve the basic demands that Taliban must respect the constitution of Afghanistan; they must give up violence and respect the human rights, most importantly the rights of women. However, it is difficult to be presumed that Taliban would respect those conditions eagerly. Moreover, the growing distrust among the parties on the other side of the process has made Taliban take advantage of the situation and they have already started dictating their own conditions.
Another major issue has been the fluctuations in the relations with Pakistan. Pakistan has been considered an important player in the war against terrorism because it shares a long border with Afghanistan, around which the terrorists seem to have their safe havens. The terrorist networks on both sides of the border seem to be supporting and influencing each other and may continue to do so unless proper attention is paid to the issue.
Pakistan has been urged to take extensive action against the safe havens of terrorists on their side of border. However, Pakistan has had its own reservations in this regard. It has been claiming that it has exerted its utmost in countering terrorism on its side of border. Whatever the claims may be, the reality is there is a sharp contrast of policies and perceptions regarding the war against terrorism; unfortunately, these contrasts are regarding the very basic issues in the war, which is proving detrimental for the entire region.
One of the most important factors in reaching to any conclusion regarding reconciliation is that both the countries need to realize that terrorism has been affecting both the countries; both of them have to realize the importance of each other and have to understand that they cannot solve the issue individually. Rise of terrorism and discontent in one country will definitely affect the other and vice versa. Therefore, joint efforts would be required and both the countries can start from this opportunity in hand.