Pakistan’s Afghan policy, Doha peace talks faulted

KABUL (Pajhwok): Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan has drawn flak from speakers at a lively session in Lahore.

The session — Chaos in Afghanistan and Talking to Banned Organisations — took place at the Asma Jahangir Conference on Saturday.

Abdullah Khenjani and Lotfullah Najafizada from Afghanistan, who had obtained visas prior to the fall of Kabul, participated in the conference.

Former Pakistani senator Afrasiab Khattak, MNA Mohsin Dawar and Samina Ahmed of the International Crisis Group were also on the panel.

Addressing the session, Khattak said the Taliban knew how to reward their commanders, However, they did not know how to serve the people, he claimed.

Without a proper government system, Afghanistan had become a fenced prison after Pakistan fenced the Durand Line, he remarked.

Pakistan’s Afghan policy was framed by someone other than the prime minister, Khattak alleged, asking Islamabad to stop supporting the Afghan Taliban.

He called Afghan and Pakistani Taliban two sides of the same coin. The Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan and the Taliban, he insisted, pursued the common agenda of “political Islam”.

Dawar hit out at the Pakistan government for denying visas to Afghan invitees. He said Pakistan was open to militants, but not to real Afghans.

Pakistan’s support to the Afghan Taliban was a source of strength for outlawed outfits like TTP and TLP, the MNA believed.

Najafizada linked recent political developments in Afghanistan to a collective failure. He asked the Taliban and the world at large to discuss the future.

There were flaws in the Doha peace talks, The Taliban had no intention of reaching any settlement; he said, adding the previous government had miserably failed to build institutions.

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