PAKISTAN AFGHAN RELATIONS

A PAKISTANI PERSPECTIVE

By Ambassador Mahmud Durrani at the National Defense University

Jan 24, 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to be here at the NDU, with which my relationship began about a quarter of a century back. I thank General Barno for giving me an opportunity of reviving my relationship with this great institution of learning. Surprisingly, it was Afghanistan then (around 1980) which brought me to the NDU and it is Afghanistan again which has brought me back to this part of DC.

In the 80s, it was a joint effort by Afghan freedom fighters, Pakistan, the US, and the rest of the free world that finally defeated the Soviets. It is my firm belief that once again it will have to be a united effort by all of us, which will finally defeat the Al Quaida-Taliban combine. Any weakness or kink in our collective armor will only benefit the enemy. Therefore, the centrality of developing a better political relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the critical importance of trilateral coordination between Afghanistan, ISAF and Pakistan at the operational as well as the tactical level.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to give you my perspective of Pakistan Afghan relations. It is at best a Pakistani's perspective, by a Pakistani with Afghan roots. I will keep my comments brief to allow a more profitable Q & A session.

Let me not dwell too deeply into history except to say that our two countries share a common religion, shared social values and racial links. The people of the North West of Pakistan enjoy strong historical ties with the people of South Eastern and South Afghanistan. Both countries are natural trading partners while Pakistan provides Afghanistan with its best trade routes to the outside world. I am sure you know that almost 200,000 people cross the Pak Afghan border each day. Unfortunately this has now become a part of the problem.

Since the Soviet invasion, Pakistan has been a host to over three million Afghan refugees and they have been our guest for all this time; and regretfully this too has become a part of today's problem. Hopefully, we will be able to resolve both these problems, provided if we act collectively.

Today the bigger problem between the two proud nations is the trust deficit. Pakistan in spite of its best efforts to fight terrorism is not seen to be doing the right thing. Besides being accused of not doing enough we are in fact being accused of aiding and abetting the terrorist. Senior US and Afghan officials have said Pakistan needs to do more to eliminate safe havens for the Taliban in Pakistan. NATO commanders in Afghanistan, on the other hand are saying that Pakistan has helped international forces far more than is widely known. In a recent interview Lt. Gen David Richards, the outgoing NATO Commander in Kabul said, and I quote “Pakistan is determined to bear down on the insurgency but when they help us, they get no credit for it. No one says thank you” unquote.

I think it would be appropriate to determine Pakistan's motives. Is it stability or instability in Afghanistan that is in Pakistan 's strategic interest? Let me just say that instability in Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion in 1979, has had a serious blow-back effect on the internal stability of Pakistan . The resulting extremist culture and an abundance of weapons have caused a serious law and order situation and a broader security dilemma. Is fostering religious extremism, at home or in Afghanistan in Pakistan's interest? Certainly not. In fact Pakistan is today fighting for its soul and is committed to defeat extremism.

Ladies and gentlemen, peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan is vital – most of all for the long-suffering people of this unique country, but also for Pakistan and its reform agenda. This is no rocket science.

Let me now tabulate a few of the steps taken by Pakistan for the stability of Afghanistan:-

•  Pakistan has extended substantial support towards the success of ISAF military operations in Afghanistan, using the hammer and anvil concept right from Tora Bora to date.

•  We have provided all assistance to the Karzai government in the parliamentary and presidential elections.

•  Despite our military standoff with India in 2001-2002 we did not reduce our military deployments along the Afghan border.

•  We have killed over 600 Al-Qaida operatives including their top leadership and arrested/extradited over 1000 terrorists.

•  We have deployed more than 80,000 troops and suffered losses over 700 dead and over 1000 wounded. Incidentally many of our military operations required us to fight our own people, many times against popular domestic sentiments resulting in serious negative implications for our internal stability.

•  Pakistan is also actively participating in the reconstruction process in Afghanistan. In spite of our fiscal constraints we have pledged $ 300 million; $ 125 million have already been disbursed. The projects assisted by Pakistan relate to infrastructure, health, education, transport and agriculture.

•  We continue to capture Taliban terrorist when actionable intelligence is provided. These arrests indicate our strong commitment.

•  Thanks to the effort of the Government of Pakistan , today bilateral trade, which was around $ 200 million a few years back, today hovers around a record level of $ 1.5 billion. Naturally this has benefits for Pakistan as well.

•  The strategic reorientation of Pakistan's society, based on the concept of enlightened moderation will also help develop stability in the Afghanistan .

If in spite of all these efforts our friends and allies doubt our commitment, then what can I say.

Let me give you another argument why Pakistan's desires peace and stability in Afghanistan. Essentially for a very selfish reason. Pakistan keeps on harping on being a trade and energy hub for the broader region with access to the Central Asian States. This can only happen when there is peace and stability in Afghanistan.

There are speculative theories that Pakistan wants a particular type of government in Kabul. I can assure you that any government that the Afghan people choose for themselves will suit us. In spite of the blame game, Pakistan is comfortable with President Karzai, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in September (06).

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my strong belief that if we want to overcome the mistrust that I touched upon earlier we must talk frankly but, please, not through the media. Today I too will speak frankly. At times, it is convenient to externalize the causes of Afghanistan's current problems, especially the resurgence of the Taliban. Talibans, I am afraid, are essentially an Afghan phenomenon.

Of course, there are some elements of the Taliban and their sympathizers who crossed over into Pakistan following the post- 9/11 military intervention by US and coalition forces in Afghanistan and melded with the 3 million Afghan refugees or blended in our tribal belt. With the support of the Afghan Government and UNHCR, we are planning to repatriate our Afghan guests, starting with four of the refugee camps. Hopefully repatriation from two camps will commence in March this year. This is primarily a step to stop the movement of terrorists between our two countries, because refugee camps close to our border provide a haven for the terrorists.

Pakistan has taken major steps to prevent cross-border movement by Taliban militants and by other terrorists across the rugged 2400 KM border. With 200,000 people crossing the border daily it is very difficult to sift the bad guys from the good guys. The cross border movement of terrorists, out of and into Afghanistan, is not because of us but in spite of us.

The lessons of history, especially Afghan history, point out that military force alone does not offer an answer to the problems of alienation and insurgency. A comprehensive strategy, compromising military, political and economic components, will be more successful. Pakistan has pursued this approach of reconciliation and reconstruction in the agreement concluded with tribal leaders in North Waziristan Agency. This agreement has led to a decline in violence and militancy in the Agency. There is no basis for assertions that it has increased violent incidents in Afghanistan. On the contrary, NATO statistics show that violent incidents have since declined.

We believe such agreements will eventually isolate the militants and terrorists. We also feel that such agreements could be replicated on the Afghan side, especially in the South and South-East, to strengthen the tribal and traditional leadership structures, end political alienation, cease hostilities and promote reconstruction. On a small scale this has been done by the UK forces in Musa Qila. We are glad this approach of using tribal leaders was endorsed at the Summit meeting between President Musharraf, Karzai and Bush in Washington last September.

Finally, let me assure this audience, once again, that it is in the strategic interest of Pakistan to have a confident, secure and friendly Afghanistan as its neighbor. As history has proven time and again instability in Afghanistan has almost always had a negative fall out for Pakistan . We do not want problems on our borders with Afghanistan . I can assure you that Pakistan has many other internal problems to keep us occupied for a long time. We will heave a sigh of relief when stability returns to Afghanistan and our tribal areas.

Extremism and terrorism, my friends, is a common threat for Pakistan and Afghanistan and we have to fight this collectively. Pakistan is doing and will continue do everything within its means to contribute towards regional and global security.

Note: Regret repetition but necessary. Thanks for the attention.

Jan 24, 2007