No peace in Afghanistan sans Pakistan

[khyaal]

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that renewed Afghan efforts to make peace with the Taliban and end the nine-year war would fail without Pakistan’s help.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said this week he had renewed overtures to the militants, confirming in an interview that his government had been holding talks with the Taliban “for quite some time”.

Mr Gilani told reporters after addressing a ceremony of the Benazir Income Support Programme’s Waseela-i-Rozgar scheme in Charsadda that Pakistan had an essential role to play if there was to be any prospect of peace.

“Nothing will happen without us, because we are a part of the solution, we are not a part of the problem,” he said.

On Sunday, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was elected chairman of a new peace council set up to broker an end to the war with the Taliban.

Mr Gilani refused to be drawn on whether Pakistan backed the Afghan plan.

“When Mr Karzai shares his roadmap with America and they share the roadmap with us, then we will be in a position to comment on it.”

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...lks-gilani-300

[muhsina]

There is an intrinsic contradiction which is like a mathematical indeterminate form in the indigenous Taliban of Afghanistan [if any] and that is the version of religion they believe in. More than 95 percent of Afghans belong to and practice Hanafi School of jurisprudence while those Taliban who have been under the influence of Arabs [and hold an influential position] are all predominantly Wahabi [ghair-muqallid meaning Non-followers of the recognized leaders of juristic schools]. Hence there is a non reconcilable contradiction in their schools of thought.

Inviting the Taliban who have been trained under the pro-Punjab [army] mindset to become a part of political process and contribute to the progress of Afghanistan, which they consider ideologically incorrect will be an exercise in futility and against the strategy of resolving statecraft related issues.

The solution to bring Taliban into mainstream in my opinion lies in focusing on the ideological handicaps of Taliban which will bring positive results in bringing peace to Afghanistan and the region.

Pakistan should do away with their dream that Afghanistan will accept its dictation about foreign policy. Pakistan's allegation that Afghanistan is being used against its soil is baseless not because the Baloch are not hiding in Afghanistan but due to two reasons:

i) The Baloch struggle for freedom whether being supported or not by x or y is an indigenous struggle due to the atrocities of Pakistan army in Baluchistan for decades and this fact has been recognized even by the Punjab based PML[N] which is one of the two larger parties in Pakistan and their support for giving rights to Baochistan atleast by saying so if not acting accordingly in addition to the their support for the illegal and unethical targeted killing of Akbar Bugti by military under Musharraf.

ii) Pakistan criticises the presence of Indian embassies in South Afghanistan while forgets to put an end to the training camps set up by Pakistan military near the Durand line from where 80 percent of resistance is being offered to 80 percent security forces to destablise Afghanistan. Pakistan always dreams of installing a pro-Pakistan puppet govt of religious clergy with no leadership skills to keep Afghans subservient to her dictation and use them to convert Afghanistan into a proxy and client banana state whose sovereignty lies in the hands of those misled Afghans who claim to have divine rights which can neither be challenged nor changed [due to absence of an theological mechanism].

Thanks to Musharraf, the Afghan Taliban after being stabbed in back by Pakistan army under his leadership will think twice to reject the friendship of India where they have their ideological center [Deoband] in religious terms and which is a growing economy and a regional power unlike Pakistan which neither has any religious significance for Taliban due to Musharraf's policies nor has any politico-economic importance due to its weak economy and unreliable leadership. The only strength Pakistan has its nuclear teeth but according to Dr Perviaz hoodbhoy - a renowned nuclear physicist, it is more a liability than an asset for the Pakistani nation. What good is that muslim brother who devises policies of death ,destruction and devastation for you and calls it Jehad and while lives a luxurious life himelf at the cost of your blood but claims to be your "ansaar" [supporter].