Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday while congratulating the Taliban and the US leadership over Afghan peace deal urged all the parties to beware of the spoilers and not to let them overcome the peace process.
“We cannot neglect it. Spoilers are there, both in Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan. All of you will have to keep strict vigilance on those spoilers,” the foreign minister said while addressing a press briefing after his return from Doha where he represented Pakistan in the signing ceremony of Afghan peace deal.
He told media persons that after the signing ceremony, he had interacted with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and had called for devising a mechanism to identify and blame and shame the spoilers who would play any negative role.
He said after the peace deal, it was test of the Afghan leadership as whether they would show flexibility and take decisions beyond their own interests.
He said the leadership coming from various countries had lauded Pakistan’s facilitative role in the peace process, even those who used to criticise Pakistan in the past.
Qureshi said he also asked Pompeo to maintain the positive momentum to keep the peace process moving through different confidence building measures like the release of prisoners as had also been committed in the agreement.
He said the intra-Afghan dialogue should not be delayed unnecessarily to keep the people’s hopes alive and that the political uncertainties should also be addressed inside Afghanistan to not let it overcome the process.
Moreover, he said the United States would have to mobilise the support and resources for post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan and return of refugees from Pakistan.
He also briefed media on his meetings with the counterparts from Central Asian States, Turkey, Norway and Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and stressed for enhancement of regional connectivity and trade cooperation.
To a question, the foreign minister said the release of prisoners was logical as it was essential to take the process forward. He hoped that Ashraf Ghani would act prudently and not overlook the importance of optics in this process. He said Pakistan always wished well for the Afghan peace process but the basic decisions would have to be made by the Afghans for the future of their country.
Asked about the US expectations from Pakistan, the foreign minister said Pakistan took decisions in its own interests as the country would be the net beneficiary of Afghan peace deal that would enhance the bilateral economic activity besides paving way for completion of TAPI, CASA-1000 and other projects. The foreign minister said he realised that the course of Afghan peace was not a smooth sailing rather there would be hiccups as were experienced to reach the stage of the peace deal. The foreign minister said US Special Representative for Afghan Peace Process Zalmay Khalilzad underscored the reduction in violence during the seven-day ceasefire agreed upon by the US and the Taliban. He emphasised that the truce would be necessary during the intra-Afghan dialogue process. “Now it has to be seen how the groups within Afghanistan will sit together to resolve their problems,” he said. He feared that some forces would impede the course but hoped that the international community would put in their efforts to overcome the negative forces.
Meanwhile, in reference to part of a joint US-Afghan declaration on peace efforts, Qureshi said any reservations Afghanistan had with Islamabad should be resolved bilaterally rather than involving the United States.
The declaration was announced on Saturday by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a ceremony to coincide with the signing in Doha of an agreement between the Taliban and the United States. “The United States commits to facilitate discussions between Afghanistan and Pakistan to work out arrangements to ensure neither country’s security is threatened by actions from the territory of the other side,” one of the clauses of the declaration reads.
“They should talk directly to Pakistan. The US is planning to withdraw and we will always remain neighbours,” Qureshi told Reuters in an interview, referring to Washington’s intent to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. “If I have an issue with Afghanistan, I will not ask Washington to play a role.”
“You know a trust deficit has existed and Pakistan has done its best to bridge that trust deficit,” Qureshi said, adding there are institutionalised mechanisms through which Afghanistan can raise “any issue under the sun” instead of turning to the United States.
He said that the US-Taliban agreement in Doha would never have happened if Pakistan had not convinced everyone that there was no military solution to the 18-year conflict in Afghanistan.
Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, who signed the Doha agreement on the militant group’s behalf on Saturday, was held in Pakistani custody for eight years after being captured in a joint raid with US agents in 2010 in Karachi where he was in hiding. Baradar was not handed over to Afghanistan or the United States and was released in 2018. After that he became the head of the Taliban’s negotiation team that held talks with the US negotiators for over a year in Doha.
“That was another demonstration of facilitation,” Qureshi said, adding, “You required someone who enjoyed the confidence of the leadership to engage [with the US] that would make the talks possible.” “He (Baradar) played a very positive role.”
Qureshi also said Pakistan played a part in pushing for the negotiation process to restart after US President Donald Trump pulled the plug on negotiations in September last year.
To a question about the situation in Kashmir, Qureshi said the world’s mindset was changing towards what was happening in Indian Occupied Kashmir and the world leaders and parliaments were speaking up and criticising the situation in the occupied valley as well as in New Delhi.
