Pakistan can do better on Afghanistan

The Taliban’s return to power in Kabul three years ago was inescapable. The US and its allies were nowhere near victory even after nearly two decades of war and the failed project of incongruent “nation-building” had sent trillions of dollars down the drain.

It came as little surprise when in August 2021, the US withdrawal finally arrived and was mired in absolute chaos. Not only did US troops withdraw hastily but they also left behind state-of-the art military equipment for the Afghan Taliban, who were able to capture Kabul without shedding any blood on August 15 that year. By the end of the month, all foreign forces had left Afghanistan and President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country.

For Pakistan, by any stretch, it seemed the ‘fall of Kabul’ was going to be a good development. Then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, even described the Taliban victory as Afghanistan winning freedom from “the shackles of slavery.” This obviously didn’t go down well with Washington DC.

In August 2021, India, which had created massive space for itself in Afghanistan over 20 years to the detriment of Pakistan, was holding the rotating monthly presidency of the UN Security Council. One day before its presidency was to end, India convened a UNSC meeting and got resolution No. 2593 adopted along the lines of the Doha agreement. In short, the international community was of the view that pressure on the Taliban must be maintained in order to force change on them. There was no appetite to recognize the Taliban government as it was. The US and other Western countries went a step further and froze Afghan assets abroad worth about $7 bln.

As has recently been done by China and the UAE, Pakistan must in discreet consultations with Kabul restore full diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.

- Abdul Basit

Interestingly, the Taliban themselves called their government “interim” so as to imply that they were open to accommodating other domestic stakeholders and forming an inclusive government as and when possible. No one was convinced. Even Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who had recognized the Taliban government in 1996, were cautious this time. 

This was not what the Taliban expected from Pakistan. On the contrary, they were counting on Islamabad to take the diplomatic lead in recognizing their “legitimate” government. To their chagrin, Pakistan lost no time in explicitly conveying that it would not fly solo and that recognition would only come as a result of a bigger, regional consensus.

That’s where it all began and from thereon, Pakistan has been losing diplomatic mileage in Afghanistan to its own detriment. During the Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan held in Islamabad in December 2021, the Taliban delegation led by interim foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, was made to sit in the last row. This, whereas the Afghan seat at the conference remained vacant. Muttaqi was also missing from the official foreign ministers’ group photo. Kabul showed its anger and snubbed Islamabad by not sending its foreign minister to the 48th OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Islamabad in March 2022.

Whereas the Taliban government did not seem sincere in addressing Pakistan’s genuine concerns apropos the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the forced repatriation of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan to their homeland created deep and avoidable tensions. Moreover, the off and on closure of borders for trade and Pakistan’s military strikes inside Afghanistan, targeting TTP militants, added to the mutual acrimony. 

Bilateral relations between the two countries at present are at their lowest ebb. Mutual expectations could not take form in the last three years. But the stakes for Pakistan are much higher than they are for the Taliban interim government. Diplomacy cannot be left to wait for a deus ex machina.

Pakistan must take a cue from China and the UAE. I have been saying and writing during the last three years, that Islamabad must closely collaborate with China on Afghanistan. The trilateral mechanism that existed prior to the Taliban’s returning to power should have been revived forthwith. But so far, this is not the case. It is time for Pakistan to gradually wean itself away from the position of “a regional consensus,” and create more diplomatic space for itself. As has recently been done by China and the UAE, Pakistan must in discreet consultations with Kabul restore full diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with Afghanistan.

Perhaps, Pakistan can do better if this is somehow done simultaneously with Saudi Arabia. Islamabad can, and should, pull it off provided it breaks this bout of diplomatic complacency.

- Abdul Basit is President, Margalla International Relations Institute, Islamabad. He was previously Pakistan's ambassador to Germany and Pakistan High Commissioner for India. Twitter: @abasitpak1