ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Thursday that Pakistan would be willing to push the Afghan militant groups like the Haqqani network and the Taliban to make peace if asked to do so by the Afghan government, an action seen as key to the reconciliation process.
Pakistan’s role is vital because Taliban leaders are thought to be based in the country. But there are also limits to what Islamabad can accomplish since the Taliban have been difficult to control and are wary of Pakistani influence.
The peace process has picked up momentum in recent months with the Taliban’s decision to set up a political office in Qatar to facilitate negotiations. But progress has been limited, hampered by distrust between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States.
Ms Khar was speaking to reporters after a trip to Kabul. She said “lots of ill will” between the two countries, whose ties have been strained in recent months, had faded.
She said full-fledged peace talks were still “miles away” and could only begin once the Afghan government determined how the process should be structured.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai initially opposed the US-backed move by the Taliban to set up an office in Qatar, worried he was being sidelined by Washington in the peace process.
Rumours swirled recently that the Karzai government was seeking direct talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia, but the group rejected those reports on Wednesday.
Ms Khar visited Afghanistan on Wednesday in an attempt to discuss Taliban reconciliation and repair relations which were hit by the assassination of former Afghan president and key peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Kabul suspected Pakistani involvement in the murder, charges Islamabad rejected.
When asked during a talk with a small group of foreign journalists on Thursday whether Pakistan would push the Taliban and the Haqqani network to make peace, Ms Khar said Pakistan was “willing to do whatever the Afghans expect or want us to do”.
Ms Khar declined to say whether Mr Karzai or other Afghan officials had specifically asked Pakistan to approach the Taliban during their meetings on Wednesday.
The Afghan president is scheduled to visit Pakistan in mid-February, at which time they will discuss the process further, she said.
Ms Khar said Pakistan had played no role in the reconciliation process so far, including the Taliban’s move to set up an office in Qatar. She is scheduled to visit Qatar with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the coming days.
The peace process has also been complicated by friction between Pakistan and the US, especially after American air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two border posts in November at Salala.
Pakistan retaliated by closing its border crossings to supplies meant for Nato troops in Afghanistan and kicking the US out of a base used by American drones.
The Pakistani parliament is working out new guidelines to define the US-Pakistan relationship.
“I cannot pre-empt what the parliament is going to decide but I would assume that should not be so much of a problem,” Ms Khar said when asked if the recommendations would include re-opening the border.
Responding as to when parliament would pass the review, she said: “I’m going to hopefully ensure and push it very hard that it is no later than within a week... first half of February is probable.”
‘Unilateral action’
Pakistan will tell the United States it cannot take unilateral actions such as the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and that parliament will determine military priorities, the foreign minister told a US magazine.
Ms Khar, in an interview with Time magazine released on Wednesday, said that the upcoming report of a parliamentary committee would recognise the importance of US ties but “will redefine what is uncompromisable for Pakistan.”
“It is the parliament of Pakistan that must decide whether it is time for military action in one area or not,” she said.
Asked what Pakistan’s red lines would be, she said: “No unilateral action at any level, of any type. Like Abbottabad. Like what happened in Salala.”
Mr Khar said Pakistan had “no hidden agenda” in Afghanistan. She said Pakistan would support “whatever path the Afghans choose for themselves” but insisted the process should not be led by the Americans or any other foreign power.
“Pakistan’s desires and hopes for Afghanistan are nothing more than a peaceful, stable Afghanistan,” she said.
Ms Khar also urged an end to US drone attacks in lawless areas of Pakistan. She said the United States, despite its public support for democracy, had ignored criticism of the drones from Pakistan’s parliament expressed “at the top of its lungs”.
“So is very difficult to explain why the US would choose to ignore the will of 180 million people and think it knows better,” she said.—Agencies
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