ISLAMABAD: In talks aimed at ending the decades-long war in Afghanistan, Washington’s point man made a brief visit to Pakistan on Monday as relations between Islamabad and Kabul reached a new low.
Zalmay Khalilzad’s visit came hours after Afghanistan withdrew its ambassador from Pakistan late Sunday night after the diplomat’s daughter was brutally attacked last week. The US envoy met Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa but their talks were not immediately known.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have a long and troubled history, their relationship full of mistrust and suspicion. Each accuses the other of harboring their enemies as well as inciting violence in their territory. Pakistan also hosts about 2 million Afghans, refugees from four decades of war in their homeland, and many grew up as refugees in Pakistan before returning to Afghanistan.
Khalilzad arrived in Islamabad from Qatar, where representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government held two days of talks that ended late Sunday, with the warring sides promising to meet again.
It was the highest-level talks ever aimed at advancing a peace process that had been stalled for months while the US and NATO completed their troop withdrawals inside Afghanistan.
Khalilzad had hoped that the sides would also agree to a temporary ceasefire to mark the most important Islamic holiday, Eid al-Adha or the “Feast of the Sacrifice”, which begins Tuesday in most Muslim countries. Instead, the talks ended with a communiqué that offered little prospect of an end to the fighting any time soon.
It promised more high-level talks and offered more security for Afghan civilians and infrastructure caught in the crossfire.
Last week, Khalilzad attended an international conference in Uzbekistan that sought to find a solution to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, but the gathering did not draw up a roadmap for ending the fighting.
Pakistan is seen as the key to peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban leadership is headquartered in Pakistan and Islamabad has used its leverage to pressure the Taliban for peace talks, which it says are now weakening.
Nevertheless, Kabul is highly critical of Islamabad’s aid to the Taliban, including hospital treatment for Taliban fighters wounded in fighting in Afghanistan. In the most recent fighting in the city of Spin Boldak in southeastern Afghanistan, Taliban fighters were seen receiving treatment at a Pakistani hospital across the border in Chaman.
Senior Pakistani security officials had earlier said that Khalilzad pressured Pakistan to persuade Taliban leaders to adopt a ceasefire or at least reduce violence in Afghanistan to root out the peace process. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Pakistan’s military leadership has reportedly warned the Taliban – who have recently taken greater territory amid battlefield victories against beleaguered Afghan forces – not to pressurize Kabul. Islamabad has also reportedly told the Taliban that it will not recognize a government coming to power by force.
Pakistan has also deeply criticized Kabul, saying it has allowed another terrorist group, the Pakistani Taliban – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – to find security in Afghanistan, from where they have conducted attacks targeting Pakistani forces. An increasing number have started.
While the two rebel groups are separate, Afghan Taliban The leaders have close ties with the Pakistani Taliban. Some analysts say Pakistan worries that if it pushes the Afghan Taliban too hard, they will push it back. Pakistani Taliban To intensify your attacks.
In Kabul, the Afghan Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday saying it was recalling its senior diplomats from Islamabad over the attack on the ambassador’s daughter. Silsila Alikhil, 26, was kidnapped in the Pakistani capital in the middle of the afternoon, held for several hours and brutally assaulted.
The ministry said the diplomats would not return to Islamabad until all security threats, including the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of the abduction, were met.
Zalmay Khalilzad’s visit came hours after Afghanistan withdrew its ambassador from Pakistan late Sunday night after the diplomat’s daughter was brutally attacked last week. The US envoy met Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa but their talks were not immediately known.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have a long and troubled history, their relationship full of mistrust and suspicion. Each accuses the other of harboring their enemies as well as inciting violence in their territory. Pakistan also hosts about 2 million Afghans, refugees from four decades of war in their homeland, and many grew up as refugees in Pakistan before returning to Afghanistan.
Khalilzad arrived in Islamabad from Qatar, where representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government held two days of talks that ended late Sunday, with the warring sides promising to meet again.
It was the highest-level talks ever aimed at advancing a peace process that had been stalled for months while the US and NATO completed their troop withdrawals inside Afghanistan.
Khalilzad had hoped that the sides would also agree to a temporary ceasefire to mark the most important Islamic holiday, Eid al-Adha or the “Feast of the Sacrifice”, which begins Tuesday in most Muslim countries. Instead, the talks ended with a communiqué that offered little prospect of an end to the fighting any time soon.
It promised more high-level talks and offered more security for Afghan civilians and infrastructure caught in the crossfire.
Last week, Khalilzad attended an international conference in Uzbekistan that sought to find a solution to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, but the gathering did not draw up a roadmap for ending the fighting.
Pakistan is seen as the key to peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban leadership is headquartered in Pakistan and Islamabad has used its leverage to pressure the Taliban for peace talks, which it says are now weakening.
Nevertheless, Kabul is highly critical of Islamabad’s aid to the Taliban, including hospital treatment for Taliban fighters wounded in fighting in Afghanistan. In the most recent fighting in the city of Spin Boldak in southeastern Afghanistan, Taliban fighters were seen receiving treatment at a Pakistani hospital across the border in Chaman.
Senior Pakistani security officials had earlier said that Khalilzad pressured Pakistan to persuade Taliban leaders to adopt a ceasefire or at least reduce violence in Afghanistan to root out the peace process. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Pakistan’s military leadership has reportedly warned the Taliban – who have recently taken greater territory amid battlefield victories against beleaguered Afghan forces – not to pressurize Kabul. Islamabad has also reportedly told the Taliban that it will not recognize a government coming to power by force.
Pakistan has also deeply criticized Kabul, saying it has allowed another terrorist group, the Pakistani Taliban – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – to find security in Afghanistan, from where they have conducted attacks targeting Pakistani forces. An increasing number have started.
While the two rebel groups are separate, Afghan Taliban The leaders have close ties with the Pakistani Taliban. Some analysts say Pakistan worries that if it pushes the Afghan Taliban too hard, they will push it back. Pakistani Taliban To intensify your attacks.
In Kabul, the Afghan Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday saying it was recalling its senior diplomats from Islamabad over the attack on the ambassador’s daughter. Silsila Alikhil, 26, was kidnapped in the Pakistani capital in the middle of the afternoon, held for several hours and brutally assaulted.
The ministry said the diplomats would not return to Islamabad until all security threats, including the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of the abduction, were met.
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