Afghan peace & isolated Pakistan

EDITORIAL

Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul held "in-depth" negotiations with Pakistani Counterparts on Friday winning the consent of Islamabad to further push the reconciliation process in Afghanistan. Zalmay told mediamen that Islamabad will soon set free remaining Taliban prisoners to help coax the insurgent group into peace talks aimed at ending the fighting in Afghanistan. Earlier last month, the Afghan High Peace Council led by Salahuddin Rabbani, after a series of talks in Islamabad, got nine Afghan Taliban wanted for the Afghan reconciliation process, released from Pakistani jails. These Taliban, rather than going into Afghan custody, will act as go-betweens in discussions between the militants and the government in Kabul. In another related development, Afghanistan and Pakistan have also agreed to hold a joint meeting of Ulema invited from the Muslim countries in Kabul in January to generate religious support for the anti-militancy campaign on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border. Apparently, Afghan president Hamid Karazai’s to "do-more mantra" seams working well for the Afghan peace, and Pakistan that has lost thousands of civilians and security forces in the decade-long fight against Afghan and homegrown Taliban militants gets a verbal assurance from the Afghan side that Kabul will not allow anybody to use Afghan soil against Pakistan. A sole consolation that Pakistan has to be content with is that its general perception of supporting insurgent groups in Afghanistan and allegedly using delaying tactics to influence the Afghan political reconciliation stands diluted some what. Other than that Afghans have hardly yielded an inch of their ground to Pakistan for the miseries and plight of thousands of civilians and security forces who lost their lives in the fight against terrorism. It is yet inconclusive whether the recent talks between the two countries covered the Pakistani demands for repatriation of Pakistani Taliban likes of Fazal ullah and others presently living in their hideouts in Afghanistan or not or will they be handed over to Pakistan or not. Pakistan has suffered more human and economic losses than any other country in the war against terrorism. As the USA and her allies are aggressively pushing all stakeholders into the process of Afghan political reconciliation, Pakistan like past once again stands out isolated, so far no steps have been discussed to curb Taliban’s activities inside Pakistan what to talk of stopping drone attacks in Pakistan, which is a clear sign that the double game is still on. The skepticism about Pakistan’s foreign policy remains and Pakistan should not have any illusion that any ally will help put the insurgency in the Fata, Balochistan or the situation in Karachi to rest. Pakistan has to devise its own measures and policies to curb insurgency in its backyard rather than waiting for any messiah to avert the crisis prevailing the country.