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Pakistan eyes trilateral talks to ease tension with Afghanistan


  • Tahir Khan
  • Jan 14, 2025

ISLAMABAD: Efforts are under way to ease tension with Afghanistan following last month’s airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province at a time when the country’s delegation was holding talks with senior Taliban leaders in Kabul, according to Pakistani officials familiar with the development.

An official has told HUN News English that Islamabad is proposing a meeting of Pakistan, China and Russia’s special envoys in Kabul to will help remove the mistrust.

Pakistan’s Special Representative to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq is expected to travel to China and Russia to discuss the meeting in Kabul, the official said.

The long-awaited visit of Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Afghanistan is still under consideration. Dar, also the deputy prime minister, had announced in July to visit Kabul but this has not yet materialised. 

Pakistani security sources insist that the strikes on at least four locations on December 24 were aimed at targeting the camps of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is blamed for attacks in Pakistan, mostly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On the other hand, the Afghan government’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the Pakistani airstrikes “killed civilians, including children” at a camp of Pakistan’s Waziristani displaced persons.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in separate X posts also claimed that “dozens of civilians, including women and children” were killed in the strike while citing credible reports.

Ambassador Sadiq was leading the delegation composed of military and intelligence officials. The visit was important as it was a high-level contact after a gap of one year to remove the mistrust between the uneasy neighbours.

A day after Pakistani missiles struck a camp in Paktika’s Barmal district, Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi taunted Pakistan on what he called “disrespect” to their own special envoy to Afghanistan when he was holding talks in Kabul.

Security officials defended their action against the Pakistani militant groups on Afghan soil in the post-strikes review meetings, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

They believe the strikes in Afghanistan, second in 2024, were “successful” as a group of suicide bombers and the media centre of the TTP were raised to the ground in the Barmal district of Paktika, bordering Pakistan.

Whatever arguments Pakistani security officials might have for the strikes, such actions have damaged fresh efforts for rapprochement with the Afghan interim government.

The negative impact will remain for some time and Pakistan will have to wait for the implementation of what both sides decided during ambassador Sadiq’s visit. Pakistan will have to wait until the dust settles. The follow-up visit will primarily be a damage control effort and hopefully, a better sense prevails.

In Kabul too, the mood was of de-escalation.

On December 28, former Deputy Prime Minister Mawlawi Abdul Kabir convened an emergency meeting of the Political Commission to discuss “bilateral relations with neighbouring states” without naming Pakistan.

“The Islamic Emirate reiterated its commitment to seeking regional stability and order, highlighting the need to avert actions that exacerbate tensions or jeopardize security,” an Afghan government’s statement said after the meeting.

Airstrikes should have been avoided

It was important for Pakistan from a strategic point of view as well as from the perspective of its neighbourly relations with Afghanistan that the air strikes in Paktika against what officials insist were the TTP hideouts should not have taken place.

Several reasons can be cited in support of this argument.

First, the 2,600-kilometre-long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is inhabited by the people of same tribal and ethnic origin and closely knit families. Even in the most difficult periods of Jihad against the Soviets or the Taliban insurgency against the US-led regimes in Afghanistan, the two countries avoided direct military intervention into each other’s territory.

However, in the last three years, this was the second time (earlier it was in April 2022) that Pakistan has struck hideouts inside Afghanistan. This time, the Afghan government breaking the tradition struck back hitting Pakistani check posts which is not a good omen for Pakistan-Afghanistan relations.

Secondly, the timing of the strikes could not have been worse as Pakistan’s special envoy was on a visit to Afghanistan as part of efforts to repair the relations and revive the dialogue. So the strikes conveyed a message to Afghanistan and the world that this diplomatic initiative was just an eyewash.

Thirdly, the incident has given an opportunity to the elements in Afghanistan to rage their propaganda about the sanctity of this border. It is important to underline that Pakistan and the world at large regard the border between the two countries as an internationally recognized border.

Any military escalation with Afghanistan, which has been a conflict-ridden country for the past five decades, negatively affects Pakistan’s image and reputation internationally.

Fourthly, the TTP commanders and their families taking refuge in Afghanistan are Pakistani citizens though they have been targeting the Pakistani state with terrorism for the past many years.

Apart from Afghanistan, many international sources including the UN office in Kabul, UNAMA and UNICEF have stated that civilians have also been killed in these strikes. If any refugees from Waziristan have been killed in this operation they were technically Pakistani citizens. This sensitivity can cause resentment among Pakistani Pashtun who remain an important part of the Pakistani nation.

Lastly, there is an overwhelming consensus that the TTP issue which remains a stumbling block in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations cannot be resolved through increasing tensions with Afghanistan because of a close equation that exists between Afghan and Pakistani Taliban for the past two decades.

It would rather need an approach of developing comprehensive and holistic engagement with the Afghan state and institutions which are currently controlled by the Taliban. In respect of these factors, the general sense is that the strikes against Afghanistan have proved counterproductive, further damaging an already deteriorating relationship.

However, indications are that the government is currently focusing on damage control by effort to cool down the recent upsurge in bilateral tensions. If the government is serious in averting the crisis in relations with Afghanistan, it should not hesitate to offer to the Afghan government a comprehensive dialogue to address all issues and concerns. The agenda should include security matters including cross-border terrorism and TTP, border management, facilitation in the movement of people, trade and transit. Such a course of action is vital for reducing tensions with Afghanistan and moving towards a cooperative relationship for promoting peace, stability and connectivity in the region.

Although Afghan Taliban leaders have mawkishly reacted to the Pakistani strike, they are not likely to refuse or resist an offer of dialogue from Pakistan since the Afghan government realizes that normalization of relations with Pakistan is of crucial importance for peace, stability and progress in Afghanistan, and would augur well for its relations with the world.

Afghanistan’s neighbours including China, Central Asian countries and Iran as well as regional partners like Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and UAE are also likely to support an approach of de-escalation and rapprochement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In fact, the US and Western countries would also be supportive as at a time when the world is witnessing a rise of Daesh growing threats, the widening of the rift between Pakistan and Afghanistan would not be in the interest of international counter-terrorism efforts.

Trump’s Afghan policy
Author

Tahir Khan

The writer is a freelancer and covers Pak-Afghan affairs

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