KABUL: Pakistan’s new foreign policy chief denied yesterdaybacking Afghanistan’s breakup or planning to end the Afghan war with a power-sharing role for the Taliban during a fence-mending visit to Kabul aimed at lowering cross-border tension.
Sartaj Aziz, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s adviser on foreign affairs, said Islamabad wanted a reset on diplomacy with Kabul after a sharp deterioration triggered by botched efforts to aid US efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar. “A peaceful, stable and united Afghanistan is in the vital interest of Pakistan,” Aziz said after meeting Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul. “Without peace and security in Afghanistan, peace and security in Pakistan cannot be ensured.”
Aziz, an 84-year-old political veteran and former minister, was appointed foreign policy adviser after Sharif decided to hold on to responsibility for international relations following his May election victory. Aziz was almost immediately embroiled in a furore after Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry accused him of having raised the idea of power-sharing between the government in Kabul and the Taliban to help end the 12-year-old Afghan conflict.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government has always rejected power-sharing with the Taliban, who shut their political office in Doha two weeks ago after Kabul accused insurgent leaders of behaving like a government-in-waiting.
Karzai’s powerful chief of staff, Abdul Karim Khurram, then aired suspicions last week that the office was part of a plot by either the United States or Pakistan aimed at “breaking up Afghanistan”.
Reuters
