Afghans are astonished that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s assertion that “kill or talk” to the Taleban was not a choice hardly created ripples in Washington.
Sharif’s speech at the US Institute of Peace, a Washington think-tank, a day after his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Oct 22, made headlines in the Afghan media. He said he had told President Ashraf Ghani that while Pakistan was prepared to help revive stalled Afghan peace talks, he could not bring the Taleban to the negotiating table “and be asked to kill them at the same time.”
Reassuringly for the Afghan public, the government of national unity, which had started out by reaching out to Islamabad, urging it to bring the Taleban to peace talks, responded by immediately reminding Islamabad that it must rein in the Taleban and shut down their bases in Pakistan if it was serious about strengthening Afghanistan. “Now we want to see the type of steps taken (by Pakistan) against terrorists groups that target people in Pakistan also taken on those who target us (Afghanistan),” said
Sayed Zafar Hashemi, deputy spokesperson in the president’s office.
Hashemi also said the government has its own pre-conditions for peace talks: the Taleban have to agree to abide by the Afghan Constitution and give up its agenda of violence and war.
The surprising silence from the White House to Sharif’s speech at the Washington think-tank, apparently made against the background of US calls for Pakistan to crack down on Taleban and other militant sanctuaries within the country, has raised suspicions here about US support for Afghanistan.
Double standards
Farida Maihandost who lives in Kabul told Killid, “The US silence on Nawaz Sharif’s statement shows double standards. It has always preferred Pakistan, though Afghanistan is a strategic friend. The Afghan people are doubtful about the friendship of US. Both countries (US and Pakistan) have put theirhand in one bowl (means they are united).”
Fazel Hadi Muslemyar, speaker of the Afghan Senate, condemned the Pakistani prime minister’s statement. “We condemn the statement … The request of Afghan people was ignored during his tip. We thought the US would press Prime Minister Sharif on stopping support for terrorism and war in Afghanistan but not only this did not happen rather the US promised to help it (Pakistan) financially.”
Moreover, according to Muslemyar, “The US supports Pakistan and such support means that the US is directly involved in killing Afghan people.”
There was strong condemnation also from Nader Baluch, chief of the Senate Defence Committee. “The US acts for its own interests, not for the benefit of Afghan people. The US has decided to equip a country that is a source of terrorism with F-16 fighter jets but it does not equip Afghan forces that are daily victims of terrorism.” Washington has been dragging its feet over pleas from top Afghan officials to fast-forward training and equipping of Afghan security forces. “What we are asking for is to speed up these programmes, which are underway, in terms of providing the necessary resources as well as equipment which Afghanistan needs,” Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told reporters in March this year.
The Afghan air force is unlikely to be self-sufficient by 2017. Most of its aircraft are Russian-made helicopters.
The chief executive could not say if the air force will be fully independent on schedule. “That will depend on how we move in these areas of cooperation,” he said. “That will also depend on the scale of fighting. That will depend on a lot of conditions and circumstances. So it is difficult to judge at this stage.”
Shadow of suspicion
Strains in Af-Pak bilateral relations are evident with Afghan officials freely admitting that trust was at a low in the relationship with Islamabad. At a meeting of the council of ministers after Prime Minister Sharif said it was not possible for Islamabad to negotiate and fight the Taleban simultaneously, Chief Executive Abdullah said the government will believe in Pakistan’s offer to assist in the peace process only when it stops aiding and cooperating with the Taleban. “It is not possible to trust when on the one hand the Taleban are supported, strengthened and equipped and on the other hand we trust that honest mediation will take place. This (trust) is very important for talks,” he said. “The proof of honesty is that the support and assistance of Taliban should be cut but unfortunately we have not observed yet,” he added. About the Taleban, he said, “We have made efforts for many years to make peace but we have not reached our goal. We have not seen reciprocal intention and behaviour in this regard.”
Senator Sher Mohammad Akhundzada told Killid that Pakistan has not acted on the government’s repeated requests to not let the Taleban use the country for running training camps. “Nawaz Sharif has said we cannot invite the Taleban to peace and kill them simultaneously when (all that) Afghanistan has requested is that you should not let the Taleban establish training nests in Pakistan,” he said. He also accused Afghanistan’s neighbour of never keeping its promises.
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