Af-Pak Relationship

Why in news?

• Imran Khan, newly sworn-in Prime minister of Pakistan received a goodwill message from the president of Afghanistan.
• Both the states are suffering from the terrorism they once helped nurtured.

What are the issues of various countries in the region?

• The north-south national divide continues to be a decision-making obstacle for Afghanistan.
• While for Pakistan, the presence of India in Afghanistan is an issue to be solved.
• The American view of Afghanistan has changed.
• America plane to leave after setting up a strategic bulwark against China in the region with India’s help.

How Pakistan is affected?

• It has been looking more closely at the increasingly hostile Pashtun terrorists inside its own tribal belt.
• Actions taken to clean up the sanctuaries of terror have hurt the local population.
• The affected local population is staging protests now.
• However, regular terrorist attacks on the Shia of Quetta and Chinese workers in Balochistan signal penetrations that Pakistan can no longer tolerate.
• Further Pakistan also keeps on hinting at the Indian presence in Afghanistan.

What are the roadblocks in the better relationship?

•  Afghanistan has never really accepted the Durand Line as the frontier separating “the nation”.
• However, non-Pashtuns of Afghanistan would readily accept the Durand Line.
• Pakistan has ignored the non Pashtuns of the Afghanistan
• The US is to leave the region.
• The Taliban refuse to talk to the US but are travelling in the region discussing the conflict.
• Their attack on Ghazni before Eid left the city helpless for days.
• The Taliban refused the truce Ghazani offered.

What is the recent development?

• Zalmay Khalilzad is going to be the new American special envoy to Kabul.
• Khalilzad is a Pashtun from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

What does the appointment of new special envoy mean?

• The US is not happy with the situation developing in favour of China and Iran.
• So USA is sending Khalilzad as its troubleshooter.
• As Khalilzad is in Kabul, Pakistan is going to find it difficult to engage with Afghanistan on the lines it is familiar with.
• Though the new Prime Minister of Pakistan known to be a leader capable of taking tough decisions, he has learned to be “flexible” on the Taliban
• As head of its ruling party, he had to deal with the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the Taliban terrorists can kill people.
•  Taliban has financially supported religious schools connected with the killers in the province.

What lies ahead?

• With new leadership in Pakistan the relations between the two countries will be closely watched.
• However with a not so friendly special envoy assisting the President of Afghanistan in Kabul, Pakistan has to engage with all stakeholders to stabilize the region.

Source: Indian Express