Since the fall of Kabul, Pakistan has been quietly engaging with key international and regional stakeholders with a message that Afghanistan should not be left alone and the incoming government there, likely to be led by the Afghan Taliban, should be given a chance.
As per the report of Express Tribune there was a considered view among the policymakers in Pakistan that the international community must not prejudge the Taliban.
This was the message Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi carried during his recent four-nation visit that took him to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. He is likely to undertake more visits to the countries, having stakes in Afghanistan’s future, reports Tribune.
But the officials said while Pakistan had been advocating support for the new setup in Afghanistan, this did not mean that it was not asking the Afghan Taliban to form an inclusive and broad-based government. So far, the officials added, the Taliban have given positive signals.
Al-Jazeera, a Doha based Qatari channel, has reported that the Taliban are working on a plan to set up an inclusive caretaker government. The interim setup will include members not just from the Taliban but also from other ethnicities and groups, it added.
“This is exactly what we have been telling the Afghan Taliban,” said a senior Pakistani official, who believes that before any international recognition the Taliban need domestic acceptance too. “And that is possible only if they [Taliban] take along all the ethnic groups in the country,” the official added.
Foreign Minister Qureshi confirmed in a statement on Saturday that Pakistan was in touch with the Afghan Taliban leadership for the way forward. He said the Taliban were giving positive signals. “If they [Taliban] are giving positive signals the world must encourage them,” the foreign minister stressed.
He also urged the international community to avoid any repeat of past mistakes and do not leave Afghanistan alone. “If Afghanistan is left alone that would be a disaster for everyone,” he said, stressing the need for remaining engaged with a country that has been at war for the last four decades.
