WASHINGTON, April 27: The time has come for India and Pakistan to move from confidence building to conflict resolution, a gathering in Washington was told.
The meeting at Washington’s Brookings Institution, addressed by Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan, reviewed the current situation in South Asia but most of the discussion focused on the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan.
It was suggested that only a political process could bring lasting peace to Afghanistan. Those among the Taliban who were willing to be included in the mainstream should be given the chance to surrender their arms and join the political process. The military action should only be taken against those who refuse to accept a peaceful solution to the Afghan crisis.
Some participants also suggested that Pakistan should do more to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists operating in Afghanistan and along the Pak-Afghan border.
The Pakistani side, however, argued that it was not only Pakistan’s duty to do so. Pakistan was doing whatever it could and had sustained more casualties in the fight against terrorists than both Afghan and international forces put together. This, it was argued, showed Pakistan’s commitment to the fight.
But fighting terrorism was not only Pakistan’s responsibility and international and Afghan forces should also expedite their efforts to overcome this menace.
The struggle to uproot extremism was described as a battle for hearts and minds and it was acknowledged that it would take time to achieve this objective. The emergence of extremism in South Asia was linked to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan when groups from around the world were brought to the region to fight the Soviet forces, the gathering was told.
Better coordination among the forces combating extremists and better and quick intelligence sharing were needed to tackle this problem, the audience was told.
The Pakistanis argued that they were already taking ‘difficult’ steps to combat terrorism and for the first in recent history they had sent regular troops to the tribal area. Pakistan, it was said, was taking these steps because it believed that having peace in Afghanistan was in its own interest. Peace in Afghanistan could also pave the way for the return of Afghan refugees.
