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SARAJEVO, August 30 (FENA) - In recent weeks, Afghanistan has witnessed certain unprecedented political developments. The unexpected progress made by Taliban in capturing one province after another, leading up to the swift control of Kabul came as a surprise for everyone. While a notable aspect of this development was that the feared bloodshed did not occur and prospects of a civil war erupting in that country still seem less likely, the overall situation in Afghanistan remains fragile, stated the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to BiH Muhammad Khalid Rao in his statement regarding the situation in Afghanistan.
Although there have been certain positive statements and signals by the Taliban regarding declaration of general amnesty, freedom of speech, access to education, protection of women’s rights and openness to an inclusive political dispensation, these promises are being closely watched by the world, but it is crucial that different political forces in Afghanistan reconcile their differences and try to have an inclusive political dispensation.
The current situation in Afghanistan is evolving on a daily basis. In the emerging realities, Pakistan is a country whose understanding and position concerning the issue of Afghanistan has proven correct.
To begin with, it must be realized that it is not possible to control Afghanistan from outside. On Afghanistan, Pakistan has remained consistently of the view that there is no military solution to the conflict there and it is only through negotiated political settlement that the Afghan issue could be amicably resolved.
"After Afghanistan itself, the biggest sufferer of decades-long war in Afghanistan has indeed been Pakistan itself that lost over 80,000 citizens and suffered in economic terms immensely by incurring loss of over US$ 150 billion to its economy. No wonder that Pakistan’s core interest was and firmly remains in a stable, peaceful, united, democratic, sovereign, stable and prosperous Afghanistan," says Ambassador Rao.
Regrettably, the world continued to ignore Pakistan’s sincere advice for a political settlement of Afghan Issue, for way too long. The prevalent situation in Afghanistan is essentially owing to the fact that the withdrawal of NATO and US forces from there was not brought in sync with the Afghan Peace Process. Added to this, the spoilers of peace efforts in Afghanistan are still festering and attempting to exploit the current situation in Afghanistan for their own motivated agendas.
"These spoilers/countries do not want peace there. In fact, they never genuinely wanted long lasting stability in Afghanistan and the results of their ill-motivated actions and commitments are self-evident today. For instance, when years back, Pakistan offered military training to Afghan Army, the then Afghan Government decided to go for India instead," stressed the Ambassador.
However, as Andrea Bocelli once said “All that counts in life is intention”, the case of Afghan Army getting trained from Indian military academies has been a manifestation of everything going wrong for them, owing to lack of genuine intentions and will to fight. The manner in which Indian-trained Afghan Army of over 300,000 strong with all the modern technological weaponry in stock could not hold their fort against a ragtag and ill-equipped Taliban militia, five times less in strength, speaks volumes of how the spoilers in Afghanistan despite all their ill-motivated agendas to brainwash the Afghan Army could not instill the Will and motivation to fight in them.
Ambassador Rao emphasized that Pakistan has continued to warn the world community to remain at guard against such spoilers. These challenges are today creating problems for the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan as well.
Pakistan shares over 2400 km border with Afghanistan and knows the history, the area, the people, the culture, the strengths/weaknesses. Everyone should realize that when it comes to Afghanistan, the most important country is Pakistan and advice of its political and military leaders. The first element of Pakistan’s approach has been to have no favorites in Afghanistan. Pakistan, like all the immediate neighboring countries of Afghanistan, has been firmly of the view that instability, chaos and civil war would have serious implications especially in terms of influx of Afghan refugees, for the entire neighborhood of Afghanistan.
"Pakistan has a limited influence over Taliban and the Afghans in general are entirely independent as it concerns their views and decisions pertaining to the future political dispensation in Afghanistan. Accordingly, there is a need for a result-oriented and meaningful engagement of the global community in the current scenario for achieving durable stability and peace in Afghanistan. Every segment of Afghan society is important when it comes to ensuring peace in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan are already reaching out to the global community on Afghanistan issue," Rao added.
In the wake of emergent situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s positive role in Afghanistan’s peace process has been widely acknowledged by the world. Not only that Pakistan has been facilitating evacuation of diplomatic personnel from foreign embassies, INGOs, International Organizations, as well as media, a special Inter-Ministerial Facilitation has also been set up to facilitate expeditious process and issuance of visas.Owing to its focus on geo-economics and strong belief that stability and peace in Afghanistan is crucial for harvesting the benefits of regional connectivity, Pakistan has allowed transit of Afghan exports to India, despite our complicated relations with them, through its own territory. If a country like Pakistan, that is hosting over four million Afghan refugees (for over 4 decades) and has itself suffered due to the war in Afghanistan, can be a proud partner forAfghanistan’s development, through extension of over US$ 1 billion as development assistance, there is a need for the international community to also realize that Afghanistan’s peace is a collective responsibility which is needed more than ever before. There is a need for provision of economic support and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
"It is equally important for the world community to continue their engagement with all the Afghan stakeholders as well. An inclusive, comprehensive and broad-based as well as negotiated political settlement is the only solution to Afghanistan’s imbroglio. This can only be achieved through an Afghan-owned and Afghan led peace process, while remaining vigilant about the possible machinations of spoilers, both outside and from within Afghanistan. Peace in Afghanistan means peace in the World," Pakistani Ambassador to BiH Muhammad Khalid Rao said at the end of his statement.
(FENA) A. B.
