KABUL: Pakistan has floated the concept of a power-sharing arrangement between Kabul and the Taliban as part of a peace talks “endgame”, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Ershad Ahmadi said yesterday, a suggestion met with outrage.
The idea was raised in a Friday meeting between Pakistani National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz and Afghan Ambassador Umer Daudzai, Ahmadi said. It involved a form of federalism and ceding power in some Afghan provinces to the Taliban.
The suggestion dashed hopes of a reset in relations between the South Asian neighbours following the election of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in May.
It also suggests peace talks with the Taliban had failed before British Prime David Cameron visited the region to promote Afghan-Pakistan relations.
“We believe this federalism is a means for the Pakistanis to achieve what they could not achieve through their proxy (the Taliban) on the battlefield,” Ahmadi said.
Pakistan has a considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban leadership, based in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta.
It is seen as crucial to US and Afghan efforts to promote peace, a task that is gaining urgency as Nato troops withdraw by the end of 2014. Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of playing a double game regarding the 12-year-old war, saying Islamabad, facing a Taliban insurgency of its own, makes public pronouncements about peace, but allows elements of its military to play a spoiling role.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai voiced his concern about Pakistan’s motive in the peace process during a Saturday news conference with Cameron, saying that “delivering a province or two to the Taliban” would be perceived as an invasion by the Afghan people.
Pakistan was not immediately able to comment on what was said by Aziz or its view of Ahmadi’s assertions.
Ahmadi said the opening of the Taliban office in Doha was part of a Pakistani plan to increase the insurgents’ international prestige.
“There are elements within the Pakistani government who have a grand design of using the peace process as a means to undermine the Afghan state and establish little fiefdoms around the country in which the Taliban — its most important strategic asset in Afghanistan — play an influential role,” he said.
Before Afghanistan suspended talks in Doha, US officials had said they would have stuck to an insistence that the Taliban break ties with Al Qaeda, end violence and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities.
During their 1996-2001 reign, the Taliban banned women from education, voting and most work, and leaving homes without permission and a male escort.
Ahmadi said despite hopes the Sharif administration may curb meddling in Afghan affairs, Kabul felt the administration was aiding the double game played by the military and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
“While we believe there are elements of the military and the ISI who endeavour to weaken the Afghan state, their narrative seems to be getting some kind of buy-in from other state institutions and that’s a major concern,” he said.
The ISI played a role in the events in Doha, Ahmadi said, adding that some or all of the Taliban delegates held a meeting with ISI officers in Doha.
“We do monitor these things and we know there have been regular interactions,” Ahmadi said.
Reuters
