Khalilzad suggests Af-Pak talks on de-escalation deal

KABUL (Pajhwok): Former US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has asked Kabul and Islamabad to consider negotiating an agreement to prevent further escalation, including a direct conflict.

Khalilzad wrote on X: “To preclude further escalation, including a direct conflict, Islamabad and Kabul, should consider negotiating an agreement …”

The accord should provide for "guarantees and enforcement mechanisms" that will prevent the use of Pakistani and Afghan territory by any group or individual, including the TTP and Daesh.

“There is a crisis in relations between #Afghanistan and #Pakistan. Islamabad accuses the Taliban, a group it supported and provided sanctuary for when it was fighting U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces, of providing support for the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) fighting its own forces.”

The ex-US envoy said: “The Taliban government, while denying Pakistani statements, accuses Islamabad of providing shelter and support for ISIS, who are attacking Taliban security forces and civilians. Pakistan is denying these claims.”.

Pakistan has expelled several hundred thousand Afghan refugees as part of its coercive diplomacy against the Afghans.

The Doha agreement did not deal directly with the challenge of terror threats to each country from the territory of the other, he said, adding it was understood that the two countries would negotiate on this critical issue bilaterally and it was time to start the process.

After the attack in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan asked the caretaker government in Kabul to arrest the perpetrators of the incident and TTP leaders and hand them over to Islamabad.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) says Tuesday’s attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan has nothing to do with it.

IEA spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the national Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) that measures must be taken inside Pakistan to prevent such incidents.

He said the area where the attack happened was hundreds of kilometres away from Afghanistan and was under the control of Pakistani security forces.

Mujahid said linking every issue to another country was not a solution.

sa/mud