Political and Economic Issues Between Pakistan and Afghanistan

Political and economic issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan    dunyanews.tv      March 28, 2018

Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi    dunyanews.tv March 28, 2018

dunyanews.tv/en/Opinion/168/Political-and-economic-issues-between Pakistan-and-Afghanistan

      Pakistan and Afghanistan have a difficult relationship. Both have evolved a list of complaints against each other. If we compare their complaints, there appears to be similarities. These are not insurmountable problems but they have not been able to evolve workable solutions to these problems because they are unable to shed aside mutual distrust and they do not sit across the table for addressing their complaints.

     The Afghan government and its close circles appear more hostile towards Pakistan than their Pakistani counterparts. Any violent activity by the Afghan Taliban is described as a Pakistan-sponsored activity. At times, the Afghan official and semi-official circles blame Pakistan's intelligence agencies for violence and killings in Kabul and other cities. It is not unusual to see anti-Pakistan sloganeering or protest marches in Kabul and Kandahar after some suicide bombing or bomb blast. In Pakistan, you hear criticism of the Kabul government by official or non-official circles. However, there is no anti-Afghanistan sloganeering or marches in streets against Afghanistan's present government.

   Not many people in the Afghan government want to talk about the presence of over 2.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and its impact on Pakistan's economy. Nor do they recognise that such a mass of Afghan population in Pakistan provides ample opportunity to Afghan Taliban to melt into this population. It may be mentioned here that all Afghan refugees do not support the Kabul government. Instead of pondering over these issues the official Afghan circles complain that Pakistan has given "safe havens" to the Afghan Taliban and especially the Haqqani group, who dispatch their loyalists for violence in Afghanistan. They argue that the plans for such violent attacks are prepared on Pakistani soil. At times, they further argue that Pakistani intelligence agencies help them in their violent activities inside Afghanistan. The Afghan government gives the impression that it is only because of these infiltrators that Afghanistan experiences violence otherwise the situation inside the country is normal and under control.

    The Kabul government is opposed to Pakistan's efforts to strengthen security of Pakistan-Afghan border. It does not want Pakistan to build fence or any artificial barrier on the border. Instead, Pakistan should, the Afghan government argues, take firm military action against the Afghan Taliban inside Pakistan. In other words, the Kabul government wants Pakistan to fight the Afghan war inside of Pakistan rather than stopping unauthorized movement of fighters across Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

    Pakistan has three major complaints about the policies of the Afghan government. First, the top leadership of Tehrik-i-Taliban-i-Pakistan (TTP) (i.e. Mullah Fazlullah and others) are based in Afghanistan's provinces adjoining Pakistan and the Kabul government or American troops based in Afghanistan do not take any action to contain their activities. The TTP launches violent attacks inside Pakistan from Afghanistan. Second, the Afghan government is non-cooperative on border control. Its border security posts are far-less than that of Pakistan and there is little cooperation with Pakistani border security posts. Third, Indian intelligence agencies working in collaboration with Afghan intelligence agency, provide funding and encouragement to the TTP and Baloch dissident groups for creating trouble inside Pakistan.

    Pakistan has an additional concern that pertains to the presence of about 2.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The United Nations and Pakistan have adopted several measures to encourage Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan. Some have gone back but still about 2.5 million Afghan refugees are lodged in Pakistan. A large number of them do not want to return.

   There was much disappointment on both sides. Each side was accusing the other for deterioration in their relationship. A new development took place on February 28, 2018, when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani addressed the meetings of the Kabul Peace Process. He offered talks to the Afghan Taliban and asked them to return to normal life within the framework of the Afghan Constitution.

     Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Hekmat Khalil Karzai, in his article published in New York Times, International edition, on March 12, 2018, described President Ashraf Ghani's offer for talks to the Afghan Taliban as "an unprecedented peace offer".

    President Ashraf Ghani also offered to start a new dialogue with Pakistan on the policy differences between the two countries.

    Pakistan welcomed the dialogue offer and vowed to work earnestly for evolving a framework for settling their contentious issues. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan contributes positivity to internal stability in Pakistan. However, if the Kabul government is sincere in offering a dialogue, it must assure the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan that it is very keen on this offer. If Russia and China are included in the dialogue, its diplomatic weight will increase.

    The Afghan Taliban is not a monolithic entity. They are divided on several counts. Therefore, the Kabul government will have to be more specific in identifying the parties for the dialogue. It needs to reduce propaganda against Pakistan in order to create goodwill for the dialogue. Their relations can improve if they address each other's concerns.

   An area of cooperation that needs immediate attention is bilateral trade and Afghanistan's transit trade through Pakistan. This relationship has become hostage to the troubled security relations between the two countries. Afghanistan has shifted some of its trade from Pakistan to Iran. Its reliance on Iran has also increased for its trade with other countries. This shifting has taken place due to uncertainty in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations and periodic closing of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

   Pakistan should de-link trade and transit trade from security considerations. If there is a boost in trade, a large number of people in both countries will benefit. Further, the business and trading community will develop a strong interest in good relations between the two countries. The Afghan business and trading community will become a lobby for peace and friendship in Afghanistan for Pakistan.

    Pakistan needs to go an extra mile to improve political and economic relations with Afghanistan. This will make Afghanistan friendlier than ever before and it will not allow its territory to be used against Pakistan. Let economic and trade diplomacy take the lead.