MATRIX REPORT

Pakistani Ex-Foreign Secretary, Salman Bashir

Pakistan’s former foreign secretary Salman Bashir argues that in the post Afghan-US peace deal era, the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan holds the real key to road to peace in Afghanistan and the region.

MATRIXMAG asked Bashir as to what the US needs to do to gainfully preserve the Afghan peace deal, and also make India resume meaningful dialogue with Pakistan? Here is what Salman Bashir offered in response:

The US finally came around to realizing that the war in Afghanistan is not winnable. It has correctly opted for a political settlement. The Doha talks and the peace process among the Afghans aimed at national reconciliation accords with the aspirations of the Afghan people for peace and prosperity rooted in national ethos and Afghan societal traditions. Different Afghan parties would have differing priorities as far as power sharing in a united, sovereign Afghanistan is concerned. This together with their requirements for share in national resources especially financial needs would constitute a principal impediment in realizing a pragmatic settlement. The peace deal that has been worked out between the US and the Taliban does not specifically address these aspects, which have been left to the ensuing intra Afghan process. To make the process result oriented and for sustained and durable peace the US along with other members of the international community notably Pakistan, China and Russia must now start to putting together a pragmatic framework to assist Afghanistan in economic and social development. Without firm economic foundations any superficial peace agreement would prove fragile. The Quad format meetings with an economic assistance agenda for Afghanistan could have helped creating the optics and requisite synergy among principal partners for making a good beginning in genuinely assisting Afghanistan. Attention must now shift and quickly to the economic needs of Afghanistan.

Although during his India visit the US President Trump reiterated his offer to help both India and Pakistan talk out their differences, yet Salman Bashir see no formal US position on the issue yet.

As far as US role in facilitating a useful dialogue between Pakistan and India is concerned, it seems that the US although concerned over the tensions and the very real possibility of a flare up has not yet positioned itself to play an effective role. The geo-political imperatives relating to US apprehensions about China have overshadowed intra- regional considerations. US needs to take an objective view of the situation in the region and live up to the high values that it has always espoused. Only by applying uniform standards of human rights and fundamental freedoms can US hope to make a meaningful contribution. As for now the US is too inclined towards India and has turned a blind eye to the flagrant and systematic violations of human rights of the Kashmiri people and of the large minority communities in India that are being subjected to inhuman oppression. US must impress upon India to create conducive conditions for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, which can only happen if the Indian state stops its repressive campaigns in Jammu and Kashmir.

But how can a peace deal help stabilize Afghanistan and return to peace if India Pakistan remain at odds? Isn’t India-Pak relationship central to lasting Afghan peace? Salman Bashir says the Indo-Pakistan relationship is indeed central not only to Afghanistan but to the entire region.

The region cannot be peaceful and stable if Pakistan and India remain engrossed in rivalry and continue in an adversarial mode. Afghanistan is an extension of that rivalry, visible in many ways. Until this rivalry gives way to a demonstrable constructive engagement between the two countries not only on the bilateral front but also on Afghanistan, the goal of enduring peace in that country and the ideals of regional trade connectivity will continue hang in air.