Afghanistan: Analysts Doubt Positive Outcome from Karzai's Pak Visit

http://tolonews.com/

In light of Karzai's visit to Pakistan on Monday, a number of political commentators expressed doubts over Islamabad's willingness to adopt a clear policy regarding the peace process, citing the Pakistani military's tight hold on policy decisions in Islamabad. President Karzai is on an official visit to Islamabad,where he plans to discuss a number of key issues such as Pakistan's cooperation on counterinsurgency, the expansion of bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the release of the Taliban prisoners to kick-start the peace negotiation process. "Whatever talks happened between the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan was not encouraging at all. Pakistan did not pledge on its willingness to honestly fight terrorism," said Muhammad Nateqi, a regional political analyst. "Pakistan's military formulates the country's foreign policy. Unfortunately, the civilian government is not allowed to shape the country's foreign policy," said Mir Ahmad Joyenda, an Afghan civil society activist. With tensions recently mounting between Kabul and Islamabad over border disputes and suspicions of subterfuge, the trip was highly touted as a signal a positive shift in relations between the two neighbours, or at least an attempt at one. Encouraging statements from Pakistani officials were voiced earlier this week in the lead up to President Karzai's visit. "Pakistan will honestly cooperate whether it is regarding the release of Taliban prisoners or holding a meeting of the clerics in Kabul," Mr. Chadhary said. "Pakistan is committed to working sincerely to accelerate the stalled peace process." However, many analysts and other onlookers are not persuaded. "I think no one in Pakistan expects anything special from Karzai's tour because Karzai is a person who changes policy day-by-day; today he says one thing and tomorrow another," commented Rahimullah Yousafzai, a famous Pakistani journalist. At the beginning of August, President Karzai rebuffed an invitation to visit Islamabad,However, as Afghan officials have explained over the past two weeks, an agenda for the trip was eventually formulated and agreed upon by the two governments. This trip marks the eighteenth time President Karzai has visited Pakistan during his tenure as the Afghan head of state.