LUXEMBOURG, Oct 17: European Union governments Wednesday promised a swift signature of a new cooperation treaty with Pakistan, with diplomats also recognising that any future broad-based post-Taliban government in Afghanistan would have to live in peace with its neighbours.
EU foreign ministers, preparing for a summit of the bloc’s leaders in Ghent on Friday also said the United Nations should have a key role in helping to install a “stable, legitimate and largely representative government which expresses the will of the Afghan people.”
“There is a will to sign the agreement with Pakistan very quickly,” Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel told Dawn.
European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said signature of the pact put on ice in October 1999 after the military takeover would be done “very shortly.”
In another signal of their growing recognition of Pakistan’s regional role, EU governments recognised that international efforts to establish a viable administration in Kabul must take account of the “legitimate interests” of Afghanistan’s neighbours.
An Afghan government could not be imposed from outside, warned Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel who chaired the Luxembourg meeting.
“It must have the backing of the Afghan people,” he stressed.
A series of EU governments’ discussion papers on Afghanistan underlined the need to install a broad-based and multi-ethnic administration in Kabul which had the support of all key regional players.
“Any future regime in Afghanistan is unlikely to survive unless it is acceptable to the West as also to Pakistan, Iran and Russia,” cautioned a British paper sent to EU capitals.
The opposition Northern Alliance would be part of any future administration but was not “credible or broad” enough to govern alone, Britain cautioned.
The non-Pashtun Alliance also did not have the support of Pakistan, said British diplomats, adding: “Post-Taliban Pashtuns need to be brought into any future regime.”
