Karzai’s allegations may bottleneck Pak-Afghan progress

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s claim that the failed suicide bombing that injured his intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid was planned in Quetta may affect the ongoing efforts to improve ties between Islamabad and Kabul and compel Pakistan to review its policy of freeing Taliban leaders. Pakistani authorities are perturbed over the renewed tension between Islamabad and Kabul over the assassination attempt on the Afghan spy chief, especially the allegation levelled by the Afghan president that the bombing was planned in Pakistan. The Foreign Ministry has already rejected Karzai’s claim, saying the Afghan government “should share information or evidence it might have about the attack before it starts levelling charges”. Islamabad has also said the Pakistani government was ready to assist any investigation into the criminal act. On Thursday, Pakistan condemned the attack on the Afghan intelligence chief. However, notwithstanding Islamabad’s condemnation, President Karzai announced that he would take up the issue with President Asif Ali Zardari when both leaders meet in Ankara for Pakistan-Turkey-Afghanistan trilateral meeting on December 11-12. “This attitude of Afghan authorities is disturbing and it is of no benefit to the recent ‘good will’ created on both sides of Afghan border owing to certain important steps that Pakistan has taken to improve the ties,” a diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity. Pakistan has recently freed several mid-level Taliban prisoners to send positive gesture to the militant leadership for coming to the table of negotiations with the Afghan government. There were also chances that Islamabad would free senior Taliban leaders such as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy of Taliban supreme commander Mullah Omar, who are currently in Pakistani custody. Besides, Islamabad agreed to hold a ‘joint Pak-Afghan ulema conference’ next month in Kabul against the scourge of terrorism. Pakistani authorities had also agreed to help the Afghan High Peace Council and Karzai administration to reach out to various Taliban groups for peace dialogue. The source said the Afghan president’s charges against Islamabad would, however, cast a negative impact on all efforts to better the bilateral ties. “If this negative attitude continues on part of Afghan authorities, Islamabad could reconsider its policy of setting free Taliban leaders,” he said. A Pakistani official expressed his disappointment over the claims of the Afghan president about the suicide bombing having been planned in Pakistan. However, he hoped that the Afghan authorities would opt for good sense and they would refrain from such allegations in the future. He said Pakistan was committed to the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and linking it to any terror bid in the neighbouring state was “unfortunate”. He said Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to improve ties with Afghanistan should be reciprocated by Kabul, instead of indulging in useless blame game.