The NATO Lisbon Summit in November 2010, three
declarations called upon the United States,NATO and Afghanistan to create
conditions for “irreversible transition to full Afghan security responsibility and
leadership” in all provinces by the end of 2014.
The proposed transition requires an increase in the pace towards preparedness, in particular towards strengthening and enabling the political, administrative, judicial and security institutions in Afghanistan to effectively manage the osttransition responsibilities. Secondly, a more supportive role by the regional countries, particularly Pakistan, Iran and China, is imperative to facilitate the transition process. With regard to the first prerequisite,efforts are under way in Afghanistan to find a workable framework for power-sharing with all ethnic groups, including the Taliban, to constitute a representative government in Kabul, with some basic ingredients of conflict-resolution and peace. As far as the second pre-requisite is concerned,Kabul’s focus has increasingly been on regional countries with an eye to the post-transition period.
The proposed transition requires an increase in the pace towards preparedness, in particular towards strengthening and enabling the political, administrative, judicial and security institutions in Afghanistan to effectively manage the osttransition responsibilities. Secondly, a more supportive role by the regional countries, particularly Pakistan, Iran and China, is imperative to facilitate the transition process. With regard to the first prerequisite,efforts are under way in Afghanistan to find a workable framework for power-sharing with all ethnic groups, including the Taliban, to constitute a representative government in Kabul, with some basic ingredients of conflict-resolution and peace. As far as the second pre-requisite is concerned,Kabul’s focus has increasingly been on regional countries with an eye to the post-transition period.
These developments along with the
recent Pak-US strategic dialogue and increasing interaction and bilateral
engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan describe how relations between
Pakistan and Afghanistan, and certain other regional dynamics—particularly those
related to security, terrorism and trade, etc.—are going to be transformed into
new realities in the near future. In this backdrop, it iscrucial to assess the
nature of evolving relations and alliances, explore the level of convergence
and/or divergence of interests and foresee national and regional security
determinants and variables in Southand Central Asian contexts.
This analytical report undertakes
a part of this task and tries to explore emerging trends and prospects for
Pak-Afghan relations and their implications for counter-terrorism and reduction
in violence and insecurity in both countries in particular and the wider region
in general.Historically, Pakistan and Afghanistan have rarely been at ease with
each other despite the fact that both are Muslim neighboring countries, and share
more than 2,500 kilometers of order, called Durand Line,which was demarcated in
1893 following an greement between the British Empire and the Afghan king.The
Durand Line divides ethnic Pashtun tribes in the Pak-Afghan border areas.Ethnically,
Pashtuns constitute the majority of the population of Afghanistan and also have
considerable
population in Pakistan. They are
Pashtu speaking people of southeastern Afghanistan and north western Pakistan.
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, which comprise
seven tribal agencies are populated by a little over 3 million Pashtuns, in
addition to the 28 million Pashtuns who live in Pakistan and the 15 million in
Afghanistan. The tribes on both sides of the border intermarry,trade and feud
with one another. They largely share a common religious sect, Sunni or Hanafi
Islam.
These tribes have been living
together for centuries and even today’s Pak-Afghan border has only symbolic
significance for them and tens of thousands travel across it on a near daily
basis. According to Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq, some
52,000 Afghans crossed the border into Pakistan everyday in 2009 for business,
jobs, medical treatment, education or in order to visit their relatives. More
visitors are now undertaking documented travel between the two countries by obtaining
visas or visit permits.
The two countries have a long
history of mistrust and both have accused each other of harboring the other’s
opponents and interfering in their affairs. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of
sheltering Baloch nationalists since the 1970s. The Pakistanis also allude to
the fact that Afghanistan was the only country that had resisted Pakistan’s
membership of the United Nations and that as recently as the communist regime in
Afghanistan it had closer relations with India than with Pakistan.The
increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan in the present context also adds to
Pakistan’s concerns. Afghanistan says that Pakistan supported the Afghan Taliban
in the 1990s, and provided refuge and shelter to them later in its tribal areas
and other parts such as Quetta from where they, along with Pakistani Taliban, have regrouped and launched attacks on Afghan, US and NATO forces.4 Some Afghans
also criticize Pakistan’s role in the Soviet-Afghan war when Pakistan’s military
ruler Gen Ziaul Haq had promoted jihad in Afghanistan, funded thousands of
madrassas, armed domestic Islamist organizations, and in the process
“militarized and radicalized the border region.” Other Afghan concerns relate
to Pakistan’s focus on only dealing with Pashtun leaders in Afghanistan,
meddling in Afghanistan affairs and not treating the country on equal basis.Pakistan
attaches great importance to establishment of a friendly government in Kabul to
secure itswestern borders, while Afghanistan categorizes that as Pakistan’s
interference in Afghan affairs. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan,
Pakistan had supported the Afghan resistance and later the Taliban, with the
same aim.
Although both countries have begun
to evolve friendly relations in regional frameworks, the fundamental issues
remain intact. For instance, Afghanistan still does not recognize Durand Line
as international border between the two countries. Kabul blames Islamabad for
fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan in order to destabilize the government of
President Hamid Karzai and install a friendly or a more compliant government in
Kabul. In turn, Islamabad alleges that Kabul has given shelter to Baloch nationalist
insurgents and allows India to use Afghan territory to fuel the insurgency in
Balochistan.
However, there is considerable
goodwill towards Pakistan among the Afghan people for helping themin their hour
of need. In the last 30 years, Afghans of all ethnicities and political views
have taken refuge in Pakistan: whether following the mass exodus after the
Soviet occupation or flight from atrocities of adecade-long internecine war. At
one point, over 5.5 million Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan;currently
the number is around 3 million. A large number of Afghans continue to work and
study in Pakistan. Some 28,000 Afghans have studied at Pakistani universities
and colleges in the last threedecades. Until last year, 6,000 Afghan students
were enrolled in Pakistan’s colleges and universities;constituting nearly 60
percent of all Afghans studying in institutions of higher education abroad. Over
500 Afghan nationals attended
courses at the Agriculture University of Peshawar alone. Scores weretrained in
other professions ranging from medicine to civil aviation. Many successful
professionals in Afghanistan today have studied in Pakistan.Similarly, over 90
percent of Afghans who seek medical treatment abroad visit Pakistan. Most of
the Afghan patients opt for free treatment at government hospitals or healthcare
facilities run by philanthropists and charity organizations. While wealthy
Afghan patients are welcomed by many countries, Pakistan has kept its doors open
for the less affluent ones also.Presence of a large number of Afghan refugees
in Pakistan, the long border, conducive environment for Afghan nationals to
live, work and access education and health facilities in Pakistan, and shared religious
and ethnic ethos were perhaps some of the factors which prompted Afghan
President Hamid Karzai to declare Pakistan and Afghanistan the conjoined twins
while addressing the media in Islamabad on March 11, 2010.
The other reasons for
Afghanistan’s increasing realization that it needs Pakistan, particularly after
withdrawal of US troops, are linked to political, geo-strategic and economic
factors. Both countries face similar threats of militancy and terrorism which
makes not only bilateral but also regional cooperation and joint
counter-terrorism mechanisms imperative to deal with these threats.Bitterness
of the recent past seems to be subsiding now and Pakistan is being seen once
again as a keyplayer for resolving the conflict in Afghanistan. Both Pakistan and
Afghanistan appear set to work together to counter not only militancy and
terrorism but also pave the way for a stable and peace ful region. However,
despite some positive developments in that regard irritants remain. Both
countries have legitimate security concerns which have internal and external
dynamics. There is no end in sight to the war on terror in which both countries
are partners. The role of the United States and the fate of the war on terror
would essentially determine the future of Pak-Afghan relations.
2 comments:
this is a serious isssue
this is a serious isssue
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