Don’t Blame Pakistan for Afghanistan’s Woes

[Sulman Badshah]

Don’t Blame Pakistan for Afghanistan’s Woes


MAY 17, 2016

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• Time to Put the Squeeze on Pakistan” (editorial, May 12): Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan, which is the result of the collective failure of the international community and Afghanistan’s internal dynamics.
  
  Allegations of duplicity are extremely painful, especially when Pakistan has suffered the most because of the war in Afghanistan. Hundreds of suicide bombings and tens of thousands of civilian casualties are the direct result of continued instability in Afghanistan.
  
  Instead of complaining about the heavy cost imposed on us, Pakistan has consistently cooperated with the United States and coalition forces in sharing intelligence and decimating the terror outfits operating from the region.
  
  Instead of putting the blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and the lack of border management as among the underlying reasons for regional instability.
  
  Pakistan does not benefit from instability in Afghanistan. We wish its people peace and prosperity. To this end, we are pursuing mutually beneficial economic integration. This month our leaders inaugurated the CASA-1000 electricity transmission project, which will bring Pakistan and Afghanistan closer.
  
  The Quadrilateral Coordination Group — consisting of the United States and China in addition to Pakistan and Afghanistan — has rightly agreed that long-term peace in Afghanistan can be achieved only through reconciliation between the various Afghan stakeholders. It is imperative that this peace initiative be given a chance to succeed in achieving what war has failed to in the last 15 years.
  
  NADEEM HOTIANA
  
  Press Attaché, Embassy of Pakistan
  
  Washington
  

 

[!eon]

This squeezing is not enough to agree with Gen. Hamid Gul statement?
Afghanistan tikana he aur Pakistan asl nishana he.

 

[AhsanAmin]

Pakistan should adopt a policy of strict non-interference in Afghanistan's internal matters. It is hard for me to know why people do not understand that Pakistan is the only country that would benefit most from peace in Afghanistan after of course Afghanistan herself.

Our Pashtun Pakistanis are the same people as most people of Afghanistan and we should encourage every possible economic, cultural, educational and scientific exchange with people of Afghanistan. We should try to develop and model Peshawar city as the hub of economic, trade, cultural, and educational activities in KPK and Afghanistan in a way that it is genuinely good for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Let us build a few state of the art modern research universities in Peshawar that also generously accept and train Afghan students so these Afghan students would prefer to go to universities in Peshawar instead of going to any institute of technology in India or countries elsewhere. Let us build an industrial and economic zone close to Peshawar where industry targets the demands of KPK and Afghan people. Let us build specialized market hubs(where Afghan traders would be very generously welcome) in Peshawar city that supply different types of industrial and other goods to different cities in Afghanistan based on the improved model of how the markets in cities of Karachi and Lahore supply goods to other local cities around. Connect Peshawar and Kabul with a large road or possibly a motorway. There are so many other good and innovative things we can do to make sure there is a great, lasting and mutually beneficial cooperation between Pakistan(especially KPK and peshawar) and Afghanistan.

While doing this we will have to tell ourselves that if we take a positive and genuine approach to peace and development in Afghanistan, our relations would be built on a truly lasting foundations. Pakistan traditionally took a truly myopic approach of manipulating Afghan people so that they become our close allies. This approach backfired and inflicted pain on both countries.I would like to say that we can make Afghans our close allies only when we use wisdom and take genuine, positive and constructive efforts in a way that these efforts help the people of both countries. In modern age, you cannot force other people/nations to be your friends, you have to make them friends by doing genuine things that actually win their hearts. Every Pakistani wants to be friendly with Afghan people and we would like them to be our great allies but we cannot achieve this without genuinely winning their hearts.

I would also suggest that just two of Pakistan and Afghanistan hold a strategic dialogue so that Pakistan ensures that foreign forces leave Afghanistan and Afghanistan does not help Indian intelligence or Army in anyway. Of course, India could do her part in peaceful economic development of Afghanistan but anti-Pakistan activities would not be allowed in Afghanistan by her government. Pakistan in return would help win the Afghan government every legitimacy and try to put a lasting end to Taliban insurgency.

 

[war&peace]

You want to shut down the business of many people in Kabul....who just earn their living by blaming Pakistan for everything.

 

[unbiasedopinion]

Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan, which is the result of the collective failure of the international community and Afghanistan’s internal dynamics.

Sensible line to begin with....on Similarly context India cannot be blamed for the water woes happening in pakistan. please remember this line when any pakistani blame India.

Sorry, out of context but true.

 

[shah1398]

Similarly context India cannot be blamed for the water woes happening in pakistan. please remember this line when any pakistani blame India.

As a matter of fact presently water woes are much more worse in India than in Pakistan and we would never blame India for any water crises till India adheres to Indus Water Treaty. On our part we ourselves also carry equal blame for not constructing enough dams in time.

Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan, which is the result of the collective failure of the international community and Afghanistan’s internal dynamics.

This blame someone policy of Uncle Sam to hide its own failures is not new. Its been there for decades. In case of Afghanistan that someone is Pakistan.

 

[AhsanAmin]

Here is a link to wikipedia site about proposed Peshawar to Kabul Motorway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshawar-Kabul_motorway

 

[Shapur]

Pakistan should adopt a policy of strict non-interference in Afghanistan's internal matters. It is hard for me to know why people do not understand that Pakistan is the only country that would benefit most from peace in Afghanistan after of course Afghanistan herself.

Our Pashtun Pakistanis are the same people as most people of Afghanistan and we should encourage every possible economic, cultural, educational and scientific exchange with people of Afghanistan. We should try to develop and model Peshawar city as the hub of economic, trade, cultural, and educational activities in KPK and Afghanistan in a way that it is genuinely good for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Let us build a few state of the art modern research universities in Peshawar that also generously accept and train Afghan students so these Afghan students would prefer to go to universities in Peshawar instead of going to any institute of technology in India or countries elsewhere. Let us build an industrial and economic zone close to Peshawar where industry targets the demands of KPK and Afghan people. Let us build specialized market hubs(where Afghan traders would be very generously welcome) in Peshawar city that supply different types of industrial and other goods to different cities in Afghanistan based on the improved model of how the markets in cities of Karachi and Lahore supply goods to other local cities around. Connect Peshawar and Kabul with a large road or possibly a motorway. There are so many other good and innovative things we can do to make sure there is a great, lasting and mutually beneficial cooperation between Pakistan(especially KPK and peshawar) and Afghanistan.

While doing this we will have to tell ourselves that if we take a positive and genuine approach to peace and development in Afghanistan, our relations would be built on a truly lasting foundations. Pakistan traditionally took a truly myopic approach of manipulating Afghan people so that they become our close allies. This approach backfired and inflicted pain on both countries.I would like to say that we can make Afghans our close allies only when we use wisdom and take genuine, positive and constructive efforts in a way that these efforts help the people of both countries. In modern age, you cannot force other people/nations to be your friends, you have to make them friends by doing genuine things that actually win their hearts. Every Pakistani wants to be friendly with Afghan people and we would like them to be our great allies but we cannot achieve this without genuinely winning their hearts.

I would also suggest that just two of Pakistan and Afghanistan hold a strategic dialogue so that Pakistan ensures that foreign forces leave Afghanistan and Afghanistan does not help Indian intelligence or Army in anyway. Of course, India could do her part in peaceful economic development of Afghanistan but anti-Pakistan activities would not be allowed in Afghanistan by her government. Pakistan in return would help win the Afghan government every legitimacy and try to put a lasting end to Taliban insurgency.

Very good post.

I geniunely believe people in both countries want the best for each other but there are some people who benifit from war and turmoil and unfortunately those people hold the power in both countries. Our people to people relationship has always been good, we just need more dialogue and cooporation at state level.

I think Imran Khan will be the leader who can finally resolve some of these disputes between both countries as far as I have concluded from his speeches.