By Umair Jamal and Hafeez-ur-Rehman Hadi
Pakistan’s interventionist agenda in Afghanistan won’t disappear. Kabul needs to cope and look beyond the blame game.
After a temporary period of détente between the Pakistan and Afghanistan, relations between the two countries have again shifted to their conventional pattern of hostility and distrust. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office, in a recent press release, said that the Haqqani network is still intact, and Pakistani claims of having disrupted the group’s infrastructure are a mere repetition of claims made by authorities for over a decade now. On the other hand, however, Pakistan insists that group doesn’t operate from its tribal areas anymore.
Months ago, the Afghan president candidly commended Pakistan’s sincere efforts toward enabling the Afghan peace process, and both countries mutually acknowledged growing bilateral cooperation, with Pakistan’s interior minister claiming that “relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have never been better.” Fast forward a few months and, in a predictable turn of events, Afghanistan is alleging that Pakistan is not doing enough to control elements wreaking havoc in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan maintains that 80 percent of the insurgency originates from within Afghanistan. Hence, despite an Islamabad-supported Pashtun president in office, the trust deficit between the neighbors has again descended into the abyss, with the Murree peace process yielding no results.
While it remains uncertain how sincere Pakistan’s efforts have been in pushing the Afghan peace process forward given the historic burden of Pakistan’s deep involvement in Afghanistan, it’s certain that any reconciliation efforts – short or long term – from Pakistan are likely to be met with cynicism from the Afghan leadership, irrespective of their ethnic background. The history that led to these perceptions of Pakistan in Afghanistan is worth understanding to get an idea of why reconciliation endeavors from the Pakistani side are likely to be met with Afghan skepticism.
Read the full story at The Diplomat